The hottest Management Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Business Topics

The Measurement Trap

Fish Food for Thought • 32 implied HN points • 30 Oct 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Relying too much on numbers for management can blind you to important factors. It’s essential to recognize that not everything that matters can be measured.
  2. Nike's recent struggles show how chasing measurable goals can hurt a company's core values. Ignoring brand loyalty and innovation for data-driven decisions can lead to serious problems.
  3. Good leaders need to balance what they measure with understanding the unmeasurable parts of their organization, like team morale and creativity. The best insights often lie outside the numbers.

Something's Rotten in the State of Washington

Ulysses • 6 HN points • 22 Mar 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Boeing faced a downward spiral due to mismanagement involving outsourcing, cost-cutting, and layoffs. These actions affected safety, reliability, and led to tragic consequences.
  2. The decision to outsource important design work to international centers, such as in Moscow and India, resulted in errors and quality issues due to inexperienced engineers and layoffs of experienced staff.
  3. The lack of quality control and oversight in Boeing's manufacturing processes led to significant issues, including faulty oxygen systems and non-conforming parts, raising serious concerns about aviation safety.

Cash, Culture, Creativity

Venture Prose • 219 implied HN points • 13 Mar 20
💼 Business Management
  1. Speed of reaction is crucial under tough circumstances. Act now as every step matters for the future. Be extra-rational about managing cash.
  2. Maintain a strong culture by reinforcing trust, commitment, and results. Regular communication and active listening are key during challenging times.
  3. Challenging situations can spark creativity. Encourage your team to think innovatively and explore new ideas when faced with adverse conditions.

Grit vs. Quit

SatPost by Trung Phan • 127 implied HN points • 04 Mar 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Knowing when to quit is as important as perseverance
  2. Quitting can be difficult due to biases like sunk-cost fallacy and identity
  3. Successful pivots often involve quitting the wrong idea to pursue a better one

Building Codiga: Becoming CEO

Tech Ramblings • 19 implied HN points • 30 Aug 23
💼 Business Management
  1. A CEO's main jobs are to communicate a vision, hire and fire the right people, and ensure the company doesn't run out of money. This might sound easy, but many CEOs struggle with these tasks.
  2. It's essential for a CEO to repeatedly share the company's mission and vision. Keeping everyone aligned with the core purpose helps employees feel motivated to work towards common goals.
  3. Hiring well and letting go of employees who aren't a fit is crucial. Quickly addressing performance issues can help maintain a positive culture and keeps the team focused on success.
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Manager or short order cook?

Sunday Letters • 59 implied HN points • 28 Aug 22
💼 Business Management
  1. Organizations often say they value things like quality, but they might not really mean it. It's important to see if they make real choices based on those values.
  2. If engineers are just completing tasks without context, it can hurt quality and user experience. This 'short order cook' approach can lead to many problems.
  3. When interviewing or leading, ask if engineers can delay releases for quality issues. It’s a good way to understand how much the organization cares about quality.

Transformation, Leadership & Talent: A conversation with David Kenny.

The Future Does Not Fit In The Containers Of The Past • 25 implied HN points • 08 Dec 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Transformation needs to have a clear direction. It's about knowing what you want to achieve, not just how fast you move.
  2. Leaders should build trust by being honest and clear. They need to be open about their decisions and willing to change when new information comes in.
  3. Diversity is key to business success. Having different perspectives helps in solving problems and finding the best talent from all backgrounds.

How To Deal With Ambiguity As A TPM

Building Rome(s) • 20 implied HN points • 27 Jan 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Starting with a clear goal helps the team stay focused and find the right path, even when things get confusing.
  2. Breaking down problems into smaller parts makes them easier to handle and allows the team to address challenges step by step.
  3. It's important to keep moving forward, even when the answers aren't clear. Trusting your gut and adapting quickly can lead to progress.

Organizational lessons from a Director of Analytics at LinkedIn [Storytime Saturdays]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 07 Aug 22
💼 Business Management
  1. Define processes and delegate implementations as you progress in seniority, focusing on strategy and long-term goals, while trusting your team with day-to-day tasks.
  2. Communicate obsessively within your team to align on needs, goals, and challenges, fostering a culture of clear communication and mutual understanding.
  3. Clarity is crucial in business cases and evaluations, ensuring that all stakeholders can articulate the purpose and priorities of a project, promoting productivity and direction.

Divide and Conquer: Mastering the Art of Spin-Outs

Five Links (and three graphs) by Auren Hoffman • 97 implied HN points • 21 Jun 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Spinning out companies can help ideas thrive by focusing on core business and raising additional funds.
  2. Different types of spin-outs include Incubation, Product, Division, and Acquisition spins, each serving a unique purpose.
  3. Success stories like SafeGraph's spin-outs show how effective team leadership is crucial for the new company's success.

Principles and discomfort

Sunday Letters • 59 implied HN points • 31 Jul 22
💼 Business Management
  1. Companies should write down their principles, but they need to focus on real-life situations. It's important to consider what happens during conflicts or tight deadlines.
  2. It's good to prioritize principles so everyone knows what matters most. Listing trade-offs can help teams make better decisions when things get tough.
  3. Successful teams must design principles that reflect real choices and constraints. This way, they can handle stress better and understand what they truly value.

Decisions Before the Decision

DruGroup • 79 implied HN points • 23 Mar 22
💼 Business Management
  1. Before making a big decision, ask yourself five key questions: When do you need to decide, who should be involved, what are your options, where might your choices lead, and how will you respond to outcomes.
  2. Getting the right people in the room can help improve decision-making. Their different perspectives can highlight mistakes and open up better choices.
  3. Thinking through the potential results and responses to your decision can ensure you’re prepared for whatever happens next. It helps make the final choice clearer and gives you more confidence.

The Platinum Rule

Fish Food for Thought • 10 implied HN points • 11 Jun 25
💼 Business Management
  1. The Platinum Rule suggests treating people how they want to be treated, not just how you would want to be treated. This approach can help improve teamwork and morale in any organization.
  2. Understanding what motivates each team member is vital for their success. Everyone has different ways they like to receive feedback and support, so be sure to ask them what works best.
  3. Creating a culture that embraces individual differences leads to better performance and trust. When people feel understood and supported, they're more likely to do their best work.

How TPMs Lose Credibility and What to Avoid

Building Rome(s) • 20 implied HN points • 14 Jan 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Credibility is crucial for TPMs because it's how they build trust with their teams and leaders. Consistently following through on promises and communicating effectively helps maintain that trust.
  2. Small mistakes can lead to big problems. Overlooking details, not following processes, and poorly communicating can damage a TPM's credibility quickly.
  3. Being proactive rather than reactive is important. TPMs should anticipate potential issues to show they're engaged and capable, which strengthens their credibility.

Which derivative are you?

Sunday Letters • 59 implied HN points • 10 Jul 22
🕹 Technology Management
  1. Derivatives help us understand how things change over time. The first derivative tells us how fast something is changing, while the second shows how that rate of change is changing.
  2. In conversations about technical issues, we often focus on the current situation. Instead, we should look at how we can improve that situation over time.
  3. Thinking about changes as derivatives can help us tackle complex problems. By considering not just the current state but how to change it over time, we can better manage projects.

Gather, decide, execute

The Engineering Manager • 19 implied HN points • 31 Jan 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Having a personal system to manage information is really important for effective management. It helps you stay organized and recall important details.
  2. The gather-decide-execute method allows you to process information efficiently. You gather insights, make decisions based on them, and then take action to implement those decisions.
  3. Keeping your system simple and adaptable is key. If it's too complicated or doesn't fit your changing needs, you're less likely to stick with it.

Your Way

Venture Prose • 199 implied HN points • 14 Jan 20
💼 Business Management
  1. Successful companies often build on the strongest aspects of their industry and work backwards. This approach can lead to innovative solutions that address user needs in unique ways.
  2. When evaluating a team for investment, consider their vision (people), timing (time to market), and long-term commitment (built to last). These factors are crucial for sustainable success.
  3. Companies can excel by focusing on building innovative products, strong infrastructure, and effective distribution strategies. It's essential to adapt and evolve these elements while keeping clarity of vision.

How we built a business out of recession - chapter 24 - a series of unfortunate events

The ZIPster • 26 implied HN points • 08 Nov 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Starting a business can be tough, especially when facing constant challenges. It's important to stay focused and adapt to changing situations as they arise.
  2. Making mistakes is part of the learning process in business. Recognizing and addressing them helps avoid repeating the same errors.
  3. Building good relationships with banks and financial partners is crucial for success. Gaining their trust can help secure the necessary funding to grow the business.

Unintended Consequences

Fish Food for Thought • 21 implied HN points • 31 Dec 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Making changes based on certain metrics can lead to unexpected problems. For example, Wells Fargo's sales goals pushed employees to open fake accounts.
  2. Good intentions behind laws and incentives can sometimes backfire. The Cobra Effect shows how trying to control a cobra population led to more snakes instead.
  3. It's important to regularly rethink our goals and how we measure success. Metrics can guide us, but we must also consider their potential downsides and the bigger picture.

A Note to Founders as We Head into 2023: Become the Leader Your Team Needs

Equal Ventures • 19 implied HN points • 06 Jan 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Great companies require great leaders, who are developed through feedback and support from those around them.
  2. In 2023, founders need to focus on fundamentals like unit economics, maintain a steady hand amid market turbulence, and have patience for the long-term success of their companies.
  3. Founders should be decisive on talent, transparent about challenges, and ensure their own needs are met to be effective leaders for their teams.

The Snow Melts At The Periphery

Dev Interrupted • 56 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Initial signs of trouble in an organization often show at the edges, not the center.
  2. Senior leaders should actively stay connected to the outside world to avoid becoming isolated.
  3. Building connections with allies at the periphery can help senior leaders retain the agility and insights of smaller organizations.

How to Run a Data-Driven Engineering Org Without Being a Performance Tyrant

Dev Interrupted • 88 implied HN points • 22 Jun 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Stack ranking is natural human behavior, but it may not be suitable for engineering teams.
  2. Data-driven does not mean stack ranking; software development teams are more like bands where everyone depends on each other.
  3. Avoid data-driven leadership anti-patterns by knowing your 'why', measuring more than individual stats, and not relying on easily available metrics.

30-60-90 For TPMs

Building Rome(s) • 19 implied HN points • 07 Jan 25
💼 Business Management
  1. When starting in a big tech company, your first month should focus on understanding the company's structure and people. It's important to learn the processes and key players to effectively navigate your new role.
  2. At startups, you need to adapt quickly, often ramping up in just a few weeks. Jump in and start contributing right away, as limited resources mean you’ll likely wear many hats.
  3. Building relationships is key in any new role. Prioritize meeting with colleagues and stakeholders to enhance collaboration and gather insights that will help you succeed.

The Power of Recognition in Engineering Leaders: A Deep Dive into the Philosophy and Practice

The Healthy Engineering Leader • 19 implied HN points • 10 Jul 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Recognition is more than just giving rewards; it's about appreciating each person's contributions. A simple thank you can boost team morale and motivation.
  2. Philosophers like Hegel and Honneth highlight that recognition helps people feel valued and fosters teamwork. When team members feel respected, they work better together.
  3. Leaders should be careful to recognize everyone fairly and genuinely. It's important not to overlook quieter team members and to give meaningful recognition without overwhelming the team.

#167 – Turn Every Page

Below the Line from Kevin LaBuz • 9 implied HN points • 01 Jun 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Always be ready to seize opportunities. As Warren Buffett says, 'turn every page' means you should work hard and be thorough, even when the door seems closed.
  2. Patience is key in investing. Instead of rushing to invest, wait for the right opportunity and be prepared to act quickly when it comes.
  3. Surround yourself with positive, trustworthy people. The people you work with can influence your habits and outcomes, so choose wisely.

How to Coach People Effectively

Kartick’s Blog • 17 implied HN points • 08 Feb 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Set clear expectations for coaching by charging a fee and giving homework. This helps find serious candidates and saves time.
  2. Listen actively to the person being coached and tailor your advice to their understanding. Use questions that guide them to their own conclusions.
  3. Keep conversations focused on one topic at a time and use visual aids to clarify points. This makes discussions more effective and organized.

Platform Governance Matters: How Platform Gatekeeping Affects Knowledge Sharing Among Complementors

Platform Papers • 19 implied HN points • 15 Feb 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Strong platform control can encourage complementors' innovation activity instead of suppressing it.
  2. Access control by platform owners shapes complementors' knowledge sharing activities and can impact innovation.
  3. Platform governance, particularly access control, plays a crucial role in motivating cooperative behaviors among complementors for innovation.

✅ Research management: keeping track of literature and building knowledge

Wadds Inc. newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 15 Jun 23
🚌 Education Management
  1. Research management software needs to improve. Many current options just store information but don't help in building knowledge.
  2. Using tools like Notion can improve how you track and review research materials. You can create a system that organizes and summarizes papers effectively.
  3. It's important to find smarter tools and methods for research management instead of just using what's popular. Breaking tasks down can help you work better and more efficiently.

What is agile?

everything is agile • 2 HN points • 04 Jun 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Agile is a framework for building processes to create good software but can be applied to personal and professional life for fulfilling work.
  2. Agile is about intention, balance, being a tool that can be molded, and being experimental and personal.
  3. Agile is not a system but a mindset, not a magical solution, needs real testing, can't be bought, and there's no one true definition - it's adaptable and individual.

Becoming a sales-engineer

Leading Developers • 49 implied HN points • 20 Feb 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Acquiring new skills through new challenges can be exciting and lead to unexpected career paths.
  2. Transitioning from a technical role to sales doesn't mean losing technical skills - understanding the product deeply remains crucial.
  3. Sales engineering roles offer variety, immediate value, and potential for lucrative rewards, but require strong communication and collaboration skills.

Regressions

Venture Prose • 179 implied HN points • 03 Jan 20
💼 Business Management
  1. Regressions happen when services fall below our standards or expectations. It's important to address and prevent them.
  2. As organizations grow, handling regressions becomes more challenging. It's crucial to manage engineering complexities and customer expectations.
  3. Preventing regressions requires setting high standards, holding people accountable, and remaining true to values. Prevention is key to maintaining a trustworthy product and service.

How to Make Your Organization Run Like a Well-Oiled Machine

Sunday Letters • 39 implied HN points • 31 Oct 22
💼 Business Management
  1. Assign roles based on individual strengths to help team members excel. For example, creative people can focus on brainstorming, while organized individuals can handle project management.
  2. Encourage open communication and collaboration by holding regular meetings where everyone can share their ideas. This helps everyone feel valued and can improve overall productivity.
  3. Use the Pareto principle, which says that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. Identify those key activities and focus on them to boost efficiency in your organization.

Attention To Details

Fish Food for Thought • 15 implied HN points • 19 Feb 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Paying attention to small details is really important for success in any area. It's like sharpening a tool—you get better results when you focus on the little things.
  2. Using checklists and working with others can help catch mistakes you might miss. Teamwork and good habits make a big difference.
  3. Balancing big ideas with detailed execution is key. Great leaders not only dream big but also make sure the small steps are done right.

How Scott Boras Became The Most Powerful Agent In Sports

Huddle Up • 22 implied HN points • 11 Nov 24
🎾 Sports Management
  1. Scott Boras is known as the most powerful sports agent in the industry. He has a reputation for making big deals for his clients.
  2. Juan Soto's decision to turn down a massive $440 million contract surprised many. People thought it was a risky move for a young player.
  3. Negotiating big contracts in sports is complex. It's about more than just money; it's about career strategy and future opportunities.