The hottest Management Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Business Topics

Being Swift, Nice & Straight.

Venture Prose • 0 implied HN points • 22 Sep 15
💼 Business Management
  1. In the world of dealing with entrepreneurs and managing portfolios, it's crucial to care about people.
  2. At Kima Ventures, governance is strong, ensuring decisions are made collectively and responsibly.
  3. Discipline, proactivity, software, and support are keys to smooth operations in venture capital, aiding in getting things done efficiently.

On Corporate America

The Unabashed Observer • 0 implied HN points • 08 Mar 24
💼 Business Management
  1. American capitalism creates immense wealth, leading to ongoing conversations about wealth distribution and creation.
  2. Large companies exhibit organizational similarities despite diverse industries, driven by the alignment of incentives for owners, managers, and workers.
  3. Understanding the structure of large corporations can help individuals navigate their own career growth within such systems.

Casual Trauma

The Radar • 0 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Companies are engaging in abusive hire/fire practices, hiring and firing employees within short periods of time.
  2. Companies are prioritizing short-term interests over human consequences, misrepresenting intentions and commitment levels during hiring.
  3. Some companies like Cloudflare are conducting layoffs without providing clear reasons, showcasing a lack of care, empathy, and transparency for employees.

Top Cover

The Radar • 0 implied HN points • 18 Jan 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Safety is a crucial foundation for building a strong value system.
  2. Top-down management approaches can be dehumanizing and ineffective, leading to burnout and lack of commitment.
  3. Establishing 'top cover' by protecting and ensuring safety for the team can lead to better engagement, trust, and value adoption.
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Leadership Domino Effects

The Radar • 0 implied HN points • 04 Aug 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Leadership impact goes beyond actions of an individual leader; it's influenced by organizational structure and resources.
  2. Even in a strong organization, bad leadership can cause significant damage, impacting talent retention and overall performance.
  3. Developing a kind and caring culture in organizations is challenging, often hindered by traditional management paradigms valuing toughness over empathy.

Things Our Ghosts Tell Us

The Radar • 0 implied HN points • 13 Jul 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Theory is important, but experience is much more valuable, especially the knowledge gained through mistakes.
  2. A combination of theory and practical experience is extremely effective for learning and development.
  3. Failure is a powerful teacher, but it's crucial to create a culture where mistakes are embraced as learning opportunities.

Why should you be CEO?

Eddie's startup voyage • 0 implied HN points • 16 Dec 22
💼 Business Management
  1. Building rapport and presenting your authentic self is crucial in leadership discussions.
  2. Effective self-marketing is essential in showcasing leadership capabilities for roles like CEO.
  3. Being driven by a deep desire to win and being willing to fight hard is a key quality for a CEO.

Three Essential Principles and Four Skills Every Great Manager Needs

AI Disruption • 0 implied HN points • 05 May 24
💼 Business Management
  1. A great manager doesn't need to know everything, but should excel at managing people by encouraging and guiding their team.
  2. To be a good manager, it's crucial to ask effective questions that are clear, specific, and open-ended, following techniques like 'Follow the Leader' and 'Reframing Meaning' questioning.
  3. When guiding employees, it's beneficial to listen and offer solutions rather than immediately saying 'no', and asking layered questions based on 'Goal, Identity, Beliefs, Skills, Actions, and Setting'.

RDEL #35: Which team formation is best for corporate hackathons?

Research-Driven Engineering Leadership • 0 implied HN points • 25 Mar 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Hackathons in tech companies foster innovation, creativity, skill development, and team building among employees.
  2. Research shows that pre-existing teams focus on innovations within their regular work, while flash teams explore broader innovations and gain networking and skill development benefits.
  3. For corporate hackathons, consider using a pre-existing team when focusing on demonstrating existing skills and project sustainability, and opt for a flash team to increase networking opportunities and introduce new skills.

RDEL #27: The frequency and impact of destructive code reviews

Research-Driven Engineering Leadership • 0 implied HN points • 29 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Management
  1. Destructive code reviews can negatively impact team cohesion, trust, and psychological safety. It's crucial to address feedback delivery to maintain a positive work environment.
  2. 22% of respondents reported inconsiderate feedback at least once a year, showing a notable frequency of damaging criticism in code reviews. This highlights the importance of promoting constructive feedback culture.
  3. Destructive criticism was perceived to be less valuable and appropriate, especially impacting motivation and mood. Recognizing and addressing such feedback biases can help improve team dynamics.

RDEL #23: The most popular posts of 2023.

Research-Driven Engineering Leadership • 0 implied HN points • 18 Dec 23
💼 Business Management
  1. The best managers create a positive work environment, foster autonomy, and help their team grow in the eyes of engineers.
  2. While better documentation improves team performance, it can contribute to burnout for underrepresented team members.
  3. There is a gender disparity in the code review process, particularly when reviews are manually assigned. Gender biases can also be present in review suggestion tools.

RDEL #15: How do engineering teams manage technical debt?

Research-Driven Engineering Leadership • 0 implied HN points • 23 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Management
  1. There is no perfect way to handle technical debt; every team manages it differently based on their unique circumstances.
  2. Communication is key in managing technical debt - discussing it with stakeholders is crucial to avoid delays in the product roadmap.
  3. Measuring technical debt is essential for improvement; having a clear strategy for paying it down helps maintain a balance within the team.

RDEL #11: What is the relationship between self-reported productivity and system-measured productivity?

Research-Driven Engineering Leadership • 0 implied HN points • 25 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Management
  1. Combining self-reported data with system-measured data provides a more complete picture of productivity in software engineering.
  2. Long coding stretches can positively impact a developer's perception of productivity.
  3. Sharing productivity data with the team can empower engineers and improve overall productivity.

Organisation charts and what they don’t tell us

The Jolly Contrarian • 0 implied HN points • 28 Oct 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Organisation charts often do not reveal the actual functioning and dynamics within an organization, focusing more on formal structure than substance.
  2. Formal communication channels, like reporting lines, do not necessarily represent how work truly gets done in an organization; informal communications and interactions are crucial for progress.
  3. Management should trust and empower subject matter experts by minimizing formal impediments and recognizing the importance of informal networks and interactions within the organization.

Stakeholder capitalism

The Jolly Contrarian • 0 implied HN points • 09 Jun 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Shareholder capitalism emphasizes maximizing profit for shareholders as the primary goal of corporations.
  2. Stakeholder capitalism has gained popularity, shifting focus towards considering the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
  3. The conflict between shareholder and stakeholder capitalism lies in prioritizing monetary interests over ethical values, and the need for corporations to stay focused on generating profits.

Inhouse history part 2: cost and waste

The Jolly Contrarian • 0 implied HN points • 01 Dec 21
💼 Business Management
  1. The rise of the premium mediocre machines in the legal industry has led to a focus on regulatory matters and cost control.
  2. In legal processes, waste is harder to identify than cost, and the concept of 'delivery' becomes crucial for efficiency.
  3. The agency problem complicates efforts to address inefficiencies within legal teams, as individuals tend to protect their own processes despite acknowledging broader inefficiencies.

A Crash Course on Incident Response, Part 3

realkinetic • 0 implied HN points • 05 Oct 20
🕹 Technology Management
  1. Conducting high quality retrospectives following incidents is crucial for improving incident response practices by examining real-life incidents.
  2. Facilitate retrospectives effectively by designating a facilitator, ensuring representation from key participants, and maintaining a blameless environment for open discussions.
  3. Creating incident postmortem documents after retrospectives helps in documenting key information, discussing causes, impacts, resolutions, and lessons learned for continuous improvement.

A Crash Course on Incident Response, Part 1

realkinetic • 0 implied HN points • 01 Jun 20
🕹 Technology Management
  1. Incidents are inevitable, but effective incident management practices can help recover quickly and efficiently with minimal stress and impact.
  2. Proper incident management involves clear communication to stakeholders, focusing on reducing stress and unnecessary decisions and engaging the minimum resources needed for resolution.
  3. High-quality incident communication is crucial, including standardized formats, clear titles, severity assessments, impact indicators, and information on engaged teams and next updates.

Planting Perennials Next to Potholes

realkinetic • 0 implied HN points • 26 Apr 19
💼 Business Management
  1. Focus on what truly matters by avoiding tactical bikeshedding at the individual level. Prioritize efforts effectively to drive meaningful progress.
  2. Combat siloing issues at the team level by fostering alignment and collaboration across different functions within the organization. Break down barriers to enhance productivity and avoid duplication of effort.
  3. Address strategic bikeshedding at the organization level by implementing OKRs as a tool for driving discussions, prioritizing tasks, and ensuring a shared vision. Effective prioritization is key to achieving impactful results.

Trust, Uncertainty, and Being a Great Manager

realkinetic • 0 implied HN points • 20 Nov 17
💼 Business Management
  1. Being a manager requires finding the right balance of involvement - too much or too little can lead to different issues.
  2. Learning how to trust, empower, and support employees helps manage uncertainty and improve awareness.
  3. Common management tendencies like micromanagement, absenteeism, and conflict aversion can negatively impact teams, while great leaders build trust, empower their teams, and deliver results.

OKR Process

realkinetic • 0 implied HN points • 02 Aug 17
💼 Business Management
  1. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) provide a framework for high level planning and resource alignment, helping to negotiate and communicate priorities within and between departments/teams.
  2. OKRs are strategic tools, not task lists, and work well alongside tactical project management methods like Agile. They focus on outcomes and business needs, empowering teams to choose the best solutions.
  3. Developing and applying OKRs is an iterative process involving negotiation, cross-team debates, clear objectives, and grading criteria to drive results and continuous improvement.

The Team is the Product

🔮 Crafting Tech Teams • 0 implied HN points • 25 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Management
  1. The team is the product - focus on investing in and developing your team for success.
  2. Inspire individuals in the team, manage projects effectively, and prioritize the team's development.
  3. Allocate resources and attention to the team itself, which is often overlooked in tech team management.

Clear Focus, Clear Objectives

🔮 Crafting Tech Teams • 0 implied HN points • 25 May 23
🕹 Technology Management
  1. Having every individual in a tech team assigned individual tasks by managers can lead to apathy and low morale.
  2. Clear focus and clear objectives are crucial for making a tech team work together effectively as a team.
  3. Engage with team members, coach them, and debrief projects to avoid issues and promote a positive team environment.

Exercising my puny process muscle

Tribal Knowledge • 0 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Process management is crucial, even though it might feel burdensome at times.
  2. Understanding that process is about people and clear communication is essential for successful collaboration.
  3. Improving involves getting organized, documenting important information, and embracing the necessary maintenance tasks, even if they seem tedious.

A good boss is the hardest to find

Stateless Machine • 0 implied HN points • 11 Jul 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Having a good boss is harder than having good coworkers because you usually only have one boss. With colleagues, you can mix and match different relationships, but there’s less room to do that with your boss.
  2. Relationships with peers often feel like a trade-off. You help each other out, creating a sense of teamwork, while the boss-employee relationship can lack that mutual support.
  3. A boss may not have strong incentives to be a great leader. They prioritize their own goals, which may not align with making you happy, so it can be tough to expect them to act like a supportive figure.

Hard Conway's Law

Space chimp life • 0 implied HN points • 20 Apr 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Organizations reflect their communication styles in the code they produce. This means that how teams talk and work together can directly affect the quality and structure of their software.
  2. Business logic is crucial for both organizations and their code. It acts like a backbone that guides decisions and processes, similar to DNA in living organisms.
  3. We can improve how our institutions work by better understanding and reshaping this business logic. By combining manual processes with systematic coding, we can create more effective and responsive organizations.

A tool to gauge the effectiveness of your succession planning

Ruben Ugarte's Growth Needle™ • 0 implied HN points • 02 Jul 24
💼 Business Management
  1. You need a clear way to check if your team is ready to lead when you're gone. It’s not enough to guess; you want to feel confident in their abilities.
  2. Taking sabbaticals is a smart move for leaders. It lets your team show what they can do without you, which helps you plan for the future.
  3. When planning a sabbatical, set up tasks for both your team and yourself. Preparing them well will help you see how ready they are when you step away.

Friday Thread #03: Running Meetings People Love

Ruben Ugarte's Growth Needle™ • 0 implied HN points • 28 Jun 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Use Decision Agendas to make sure your meetings stay on track and get everything done. This helps keep everyone focused.
  2. Parking Lots are great for managing people who tend to ramble. You can set aside their topics for later, so meetings stay efficient.
  3. Try using Offline Context instead of endless PowerPoint slides to keep people engaged. This can save time and make the meeting more productive.

Measuring the progress and success of a strategy

Ruben Ugarte's Growth Needle™ • 0 implied HN points • 18 Jun 24
💼 Business Management
  1. It's important to measure the right things in a strategy, not just rely on numbers. Sometimes, we need to focus on quality rather than quantity to truly understand our success.
  2. Knowing when you’ve achieved a goal is key. You should have clear indicators so you know when to shift focus instead of endlessly trying to improve.
  3. Using the wrong metrics can lead to serious problems. Be careful to choose metrics that actually support your goals, instead of chasing numbers that don't really matter.

What are your decision-making rules?

Ruben Ugarte's Growth Needle™ • 0 implied HN points • 05 Mar 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Focusing on customers is key for making good decisions. When you think about what the customers want, it helps guide your choices.
  2. Long-term goals should come before short-term profits. Investing for the future can create more success than chasing quick wins.
  3. Measuring the impact of your choices is important. Knowing what works and what doesn’t helps you improve your decision-making.

Three Things to Change Exercise: A Different Kind of Retrospective

QUALITY BOSS • 0 implied HN points • 28 Feb 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Encourage your team to suggest three changes they want to see. This helps everyone share their ideas on what could improve the team's work environment.
  2. Once you gather suggestions, look for common themes and discuss them as a group. This makes it easier to find important issues to focus on.
  3. After identifying top changes, involve the team in brainstorming ways to implement them. Working together on solutions strengthens teamwork and leads to better outcomes.

Deciding What to Work On

QUALITY BOSS • 0 implied HN points • 20 Nov 23
💼 Business Management
  1. The Eisenhower Matrix helps prioritize tasks by looking at both urgency and importance. This way, you'll focus on what really matters instead of just what's urgent right now.
  2. Tasks fall into four categories: do it now if it's both urgent and important, schedule it later if it's important but not urgent, delegate if it's urgent but not important, and delete it if it's neither.
  3. Using this system can help you manage your time better and make sure that you work on tasks that have the most impact. Consistent practice will make it easier to decide what to work on.