The hottest Management Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Engineering Managers Should Not Exist

Victor’s Substack • 41 HN points • 26 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Management Software Engineering Project management HR Consulting
  1. Software engineering managers should not exist as they generally take on multiple roles poorly, whereas specialists could excel at each task.
  2. Engineering managers often were mediocre engineers who compensated by picking up non-engineering tasks and ended up in managerial roles.
  3. Best teams often function well without an engineering manager observing their every move, allowing engineers to focus and be more productive.

How to Share Bad News with a Newsroom (and How Not to)

Second Rough Draft • 157 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
💼 Business Communication Transparency Management Companies
  1. Be transparent when sharing bad news with your newsroom - journalists are professional skeptics and value honesty.
  2. If you have multiple problems, address them separately to avoid confusion and speculation among your team.
  3. Establish a culture of transparency in your newsroom to minimize surprises and build trust with your team.

What Company Earnings Calls Should Be About (But Are Not)

Behavioral Value Investor • 193 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
💰 Finance Investing Long term Management Capital allocation
  1. Over 50% of an earnings call focuses on short-term demand trends, which is not helpful for long-term investors.
  2. Earnings calls should address long-term value, competitive environment changes, and management's strategies for improving competitive advantage.
  3. Investors and CEOs should prioritize questions that affect the business's value in the long term, rather than short-term fluctuations.
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TBM 229: Winnable and Unwinnable Games (Part 3)

The Beautiful Mess • 927 implied HN points • 07 Jul 23
💼 Business Management Decision-making Leadership Problem Solving Organizational Behavior
  1. Hierarchy creates a chain of communication in which information gets oversimplified as it moves up, leading to an unwinnable game
  2. Passing information up the chain results in details being shaped and possibly distorted based on audience and perceived urgency
  3. The ideal conditions for a 'good game' are challenged in scenarios where goals become unclear, feedback loops are long, and motivations are dwindled

The Sheer Stupidity of Sweating the Small Stuff

The Radar • 59 implied HN points • 07 Mar 24
💼 Business Management Leadership Organizational Behavior Resources Corporate culture
  1. Broken windows theory highlights the impact of respecting the environment on criminal behavior, where fixing small issues can prevent larger violations.
  2. Sweating the small stuff in management can lead to top-heaviness, allowing unproductive managers to justify their positions by focusing on trivial matters.
  3. Overemphasizing minor issues can distract from addressing real problems and lead to ineffective management, ignoring actual priorities and resource allocation.

I Screwed Up. Here's What I Learned.

The Radar • 39 implied HN points • 22 Mar 24
💼 Business Leadership Management Administration
  1. Strong leadership is not always sufficient. It's important to balance leadership, management, and administration.
  2. Avoid neglecting any of the three leadership imperatives for too long. Juggling them dynamically is crucial.
  3. Leadership involves more than just love. It requires a combination of heart, brain, and bones to be effective.

3 steps for a FAST promotion to management

Leading Developers • 43 implied HN points • 19 Mar 24
💼 Business Career growth Management Promotion Leadership Professional development
  1. Be the go-to person for your manager by taking ownership of important tasks and being proactive in asking for responsibilities.
  2. Become visible outside your team by working on critical projects for the organization, actively participating in Slack channels, and producing helpful content.
  3. When seeking a promotion, be respectful but firm in asking for what you want, setting concrete goals, and taking proactive steps to achieve them.

Tencent CEO Pony Ma's speech at the firm's annual staff meeting

Ginger River Review • 98 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
💼 Business Technology Finance Media Management AI
  1. Tencent CEO discussed the future of key business segments like WeChat, AI, Platform and Content Group, Cloud and Smart Industries Group, and games.
  2. Internal management and leadership were emphasized, advocating for a return to product experience and detailing strategic approaches for growth.
  3. Focus was placed on global expansion in the gaming industry, the importance of employee morale, signifying revolutionary changes in Tencent's business approach.

When Orgs Become Siloed

Suzan's Fieldnotes • 98 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
💼 Business Leadership Organizational Culture Teamwork Management
  1. Leadership is a shared experience, not an individual effort. A siloed leadership team can lead to a siloed organization. To shift organizational behavior, start at the leadership layer.
  2. Signs of a siloed culture include individualism, rise of 'poop umbrellas', influence behind closed doors, and apathy turning into fear. These signs can lead to missed business goals and a slipping company culture.
  3. Siloed cultures often form unintentionally due to tough market conditions, organizational changes, focus on individual parts instead of the system, and lack of intentional culture. Realignment starts by rallying the team around shared objectives, identifying desired team culture, and rewarding desired values.

The Family

Venture Prose • 1058 implied HN points • 12 Mar 23
💼 Business Startups Entrepreneurship Venture Capital Management Leadership
  1. The Family organization had a lot of ambitious individuals and a strong sense of community, but struggled to find a sustainable business model.
  2. Despite the energy and enthusiasm within The Family, they faced challenges with loose processes, lack of focus, and poor accountability.
  3. Individuals within The Family, like Oussama, played significant roles in both the success and failure of the organization, showcasing the importance of leadership and responsibility.

The Sunderland Vortex

Grace on Football • 845 implied HN points • 28 Feb 23
🎾 Sports Football Management
  1. The creation of the Premier League led to financial risks and rewards in English football.
  2. The 'Sunderland Vortex' traps teams in making short-term decisions to avoid relegation, sacrificing long-term planning.
  3. Clubs without significant wealth in the Premier League are at risk of being caught in the 'Sunderland Vortex' and facing relegation.

Revenge of the Nerds

The Better Letter • 196 implied HN points • 08 Dec 23
🎾 Sports Analytics Baseball Innovation Management Statistics
  1. Baseball's analytics revolution owes its existence to a smart security guard creating statistical analysis accessible and interesting.
  2. The success of 'Moneyball' accelerated the statistical disruption in baseball and led to the widespread use of advanced statistical measures in MLB.
  3. The Bill James approach transformed baseball analysis to be more objective, relevant, and useful, impacting team strategies and decision-making.

8 Ways Organizational Culture Kills Agility

Ageling on Agile • 78 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
💼 Business Organizational Culture Agility Management Teamwork
  1. Implementing Agile in an organization goes beyond just claiming to be Agile; it requires a cultural shift.
  2. Having a hierarchical structure, lack of learning culture, and siloed responsibilities can hinder an organization's agility.
  3. Organizations valuing output over outcome, prioritizing individual efficiency, and fostering HIPPO culture undermine Agile principles and hinder effectiveness.

Are You Doing Product Management or Bullshit Management?

Untrapping Product Teams • 687 implied HN points • 10 May 23
💼 Business Management Product Decision-making Stakeholders
  1. Companies often misunderstand the role of product management, focusing more on pleasing stakeholders than solving end-users' problems.
  2. Bullshit management happens when product managers get stuck in tasks unrelated to actual product management, like gathering requirements from stakeholders or attending numerous meetings.
  3. To escape bullshit management, focus on evidence-based decision-making, empower teams to make decisions, prioritize learning over planning, and resist anti-patterns that hinder product management success.

Platform Papers 2023 Year in Review

Platform Papers • 139 implied HN points • 19 Dec 23
💼 Business Research Marketing Economics Management
  1. 2023 had a record number of articles on platform competition research, with a 16% increase from the previous year.
  2. Marketing articles in platform competition research saw significant growth, accounting for 27% of published articles in 2023.
  3. The main themes in platform competition research covered network effects, platform pricing, winner-takes-all dynamics, and ecosystem governance, highlighting the impact of platforms on their ecosystems.