The hottest Management Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Business Topics

dancing martial arts masters of the bicycle factory

Dan Davies - "Back of Mind" • 216 implied HN points • 31 May 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Assembling a folding bicycle involves over a thousand components and skilled bike builders for final assembly.
  2. Piecework payment system led to highly skilled assemblers who could work at incredible speeds.
  3. Transitioning to a production line system from piecework can be culturally disruptive and challenging, impacting the identity and skills of employees.

Datadog, Inc. Investment Thesis

The Wolf of Harcourt Street • 459 implied HN points • 14 Apr 23
💰 Finance Management
  1. Datadog is a leading company in cloud-based monitoring, with a diverse customer base and a focus on R&D for innovation and growth.
  2. The cloud monitoring industry is dynamic, with risks like disruption from new technologies and increased competition, but Datadog's market leadership positions it well to benefit from industry growth.
  3. Datadog utilizes a 'Land and Expand' strategy, showing potential for growth as businesses continue to adopt cloud computing technology, offering opportunities for revenue expansion and market share increase.

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

Ginger River Review • 98 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
💼 Business Management
  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.

TBM 223: Why Aren't They Saying Anything?

The Beautiful Mess • 1335 implied HN points • 27 May 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Many people notice issues but don't speak up, especially in dysfunctional environments.
  2. People may not raise problems due to lack of confidence, fear of job loss, or not knowing how to bring up the issue.
  3. Leaders need to actively encourage feedback and address barriers to speaking up.
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Conviction-Led Contrarianism

Investing 101 • 138 implied HN points • 24 May 25
💼 Business Management
  1. It's important to think differently and go against the crowd sometimes. Instead of just trying to fit in, being a contrarian can lead to amazing innovations.
  2. Don't let what other people think stop you from pursuing your ideas. Often, we worry too much about others' opinions, but we can be more free and creative when we focus on what we truly believe.
  3. Always aim to have strong reasons for your beliefs. It's great to be a contrarian, but make sure you're right and not just being difficult for the sake of it.

Platform Papers 2023 Year in Review

Platform Papers • 139 implied HN points • 19 Dec 23
💼 Business 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.

Vitamins and painkillers — or remedy?

The Jolly Contrarian • 119 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Business offerings can be classified as painkillers (address immediate problems) or vitamins (guard against problems over time).
  2. Painkillers may provide quick revenues, but vitamins are stickier, build better relationships, and offer stable income over the long term.
  3. In the legal operations world, the focus should be on diagnosing and providing practical advice, rather than just masking problems or offering generic solutions.

When Orgs Become Siloed

Suzan's Fieldnotes • 98 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
💼 Business 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.

TBM 314: Using Enabling Constraints for Situational Awareness

The Beautiful Mess • 396 implied HN points • 07 Oct 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Rapid growth can lead to chaos and mistakes in organizations. It often happens when teams are expanded quickly without proper planning.
  2. Using enabling constraints can help manage the mess during fast changes. They act like simple rules to keep teams focused and aware of potential issues.
  3. It's important to regularly check on how things are going, especially when many people are involved in projects. This helps catch problems before they become serious.

🦜CD PROJEKT RED: Understanding CDPR, The Paradigm Shift Epic 📚📖 - This 'Cyberpunk' Is Laying The Groundwork for '2077'! (Part 1/2)

Value Investing Substack • 196 implied HN points • 15 May 23
💼 Business Management
  1. CD Projekt Red faced challenges similar to American Express' Salad Oil Scandal, but their Big Gaming moats could offer a favorable risk-reward balance.
  2. The botched release of Cyberpunk 2077 raised questions about third-party negligence and customer response, but only 2% requested refunds.
  3. CD Projekt Red is aiming for transformation by adopting industry standards and potentially entertaining acquisition offers, while maintaining large insider ownership.

Duct Tape

Lessons • 196 implied HN points • 05 Apr 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Building a team after finding success is like patching holes in a leaky bucket.
  2. Prioritize hiring anchor leaders based on long-term importance and areas where duct tape won't suffice.
  3. Use duct tape solutions like interim leaders to fill temporary gaps while focusing on key leadership searches.

Vitamin A for Engineering Teams: Dogfooding your product

The Healthy Engineering Leader • 39 implied HN points • 13 May 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Vitamin A is important for clear vision, similar to how understanding customer needs helps engineering teams succeed. It helps teams develop a better grasp of their products.
  2. Dogfooding means team members use and test their own products. This practice helps catch bugs and fosters a deeper connection with the user experience.
  3. To promote dogfooding, leaders should encourage testing, celebrate contributions, and refine the process. This creates a culture of empathy and accountability within the team.

Beyond Gruntlement

The Radar • 59 implied HN points • 03 Apr 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Rubbish ideas remain rubbish, no matter what justifications are given.
  2. Honesty and respect are crucial in how organizations treat their employees.
  3. Individual employees should not compromise their integrity for the sake of dishonest tactics at work.

Hiring Agile Coaches

It Depends / Nimble Autonomy • 19 implied HN points • 30 Jun 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Agile coaches play an important role in helping teams improve their processes. A good coach can guide teams to recognize their own mistakes and improve without directly fixing their problems.
  2. When hiring agile coaches, it's essential to look for candidates with a solid background in product development and broad knowledge of agile methods. This experience helps them understand the 'why' behind agile practices.
  3. Building a successful agile coaching practice should start small, hiring one coach at a time. This allows the coach to establish what the role means in the organization before adding more coaches.

TBM 224: The Black Box

The Beautiful Mess • 1190 implied HN points • 01 Jun 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Work issues can be like a black box - unseen and complex workings
  2. Just having visibility over the box doesn't guarantee resolving its issues
  3. Introducing new measures without understanding the actual problems may not help

TBM 229: Winnable and Unwinnable Games (Part 3)

The Beautiful Mess • 1110 implied HN points • 07 Jul 23
💼 Business Management
  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

A Kick in the Teeth

The Radar • 59 implied HN points • 29 Mar 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Amazon shocked managers with a pay freeze despite record profits and successful quarters, damaging trust and morale.
  2. The pandemic revealed the dedication of Amazon managers, who now feel undervalued due to frozen pay based on share price fluctuations.
  3. Amazon's leadership actions risk eroding trust and confidence, raising questions about their motives, behaviors, and commitment to mutual benefit.

7 proven mental models for engineering managers

Leading Developers • 218 implied HN points • 04 Feb 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Use mental models to help make better decisions as a manager. They can guide you to avoid mistakes and think more clearly.
  2. Consider the opposite of what you want to achieve. This helps in identifying what to avoid and improves decision-making.
  3. Always think about the long-term effects of your choices. It's important to consider not just what happens now, but what could happen later.

Managing Inside Growing Companies

Lessons • 176 implied HN points • 21 Feb 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Managers inside growing companies need to accept that change is constant, and it's important to focus on facilitating the process of finding solutions rather than having all the answers.
  2. It's okay for managers to acknowledge and accept the things they cannot control, and instead, focus on what they can control to set their team up for success.
  3. Helping people on your team grow and learn is a crucial aspect that managers can control and should prioritize in a growing company environment.

The Satisfaction of Paying Bills

Kamui Whisky Newsletter • 176 implied HN points • 30 Sep 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Paying bills can bring a deep sense of satisfaction, especially after overcoming financial hurdles in a startup.
  2. Paying invoices quickly can have a positive impact on relationships with contractors, small businesses, and vendors.
  3. Prioritizing timely payment of invoices and bills is not only responsible but can also be a rewarding practice.

These boots are made for strappin'

Top of the Lyne • 176 implied HN points • 20 May 23
💼 Business Management
  1. In a competitive marketplace, being a late entrant can provide advantages like already solved product-market fit and the ability to focus on differentiation.
  2. Being an outsider in the industry can offer unique perspectives, broaden market focus, and lead to unexpected advantages in customer base.
  3. Successful growth strategies for startups include setting clear goals, charging for the product to get valuable feedback, and optimizing marketing tactics for maximum impact.

✨ Constellation Software - Rolling Up Vertical Market Software

Overlooked by Alexandre Dewez • 176 implied HN points • 13 Mar 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Constellation Software is a Canadian company that has achieved success by acquiring vertical market software businesses
  2. The key ingredients behind Constellation Software's success include a decentralized culture, disciplined M&A strategies, and strong fundamentals in the businesses they acquire
  3. Vertical Market Software businesses have strong fundamentals, are mission-critical, face low competition, and are capital-efficient

The Four Anxieties of Engineering Leaders

Maestro's Musings • 140 implied HN points • 02 May 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Engineering leaders worry about losing top performers to burnout. These key team members are crucial, and their departure can hurt projects and team morale.
  2. There's a constant push and pull between achieving exceptional results and maintaining a healthy team culture. Leaders need to find a balance that works for everyone on the team.
  3. Most current metrics used to measure engineering success are flawed. They focus on activities rather than real impact, making it hard for leaders to see what's truly happening in their teams.

Is the Data Orchestration category going away?

The Orchestra Data Leadership Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 04 May 24
🕹 Technology Management
  1. Data Teams still prefer classic open source tools over workflow orchestration functionality on Data and AI platforms.
  2. The Data Orchestration category might be fading as orchestration becomes embedded in other platforms and pricing becomes a concern.
  3. A robust system of control and management for data and AI pipelines is vital, encompassing aspects like alerting, lineage, metadata, infrastructure, and multi-tenancy support.

TBM 202: Something Has To Give

The Beautiful Mess • 1309 implied HN points • 24 Feb 23
💼 Business Management
  1. Overcrowding in an environment leads to stress and aggression among the inhabitants.
  2. High cognitive load can result in slower decision-making, errors, and overall stress.
  3. When overwhelmed, people tend to focus on immediate tasks, leading to decreased performance and potential system failure.

RDEL #25: How can engineering managers improve the OKR and goal setting process?

Research-Driven Engineering Leadership • 99 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Improving the OKR process can enhance team development by focusing on effective goal setting methods.
  2. Investing in data quality and transparency and promoting communication can address challenges in working with others and ensuring alignment on goals.
  3. Striving for consistency, promoting learning communities, and guiding teams in OKR implementation can lead to successful adoption and use of OKRs across the organization.

TBM 272: The Biggest Opportunity (Part 2)

The Beautiful Mess • 661 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Skilled pragmatists in companies can represent a major opportunity for improvement. They are reliable and capable but may not go above and beyond due to skepticism about the value of extra effort.
  2. When trying to improve behaviors in a team, it is crucial to be specific about the desired actions and outcomes. Vague terms like 'drive' or 'passion' can lead to misunderstandings.
  3. Listening to individuals in different categories can provide valuable insights for understanding motivations and barriers to certain behaviors in a team. Embracing diversity in perspectives is key to achieving more together.

Don't ignore the neon signs in your organization

Ruben Ugarte's Growth Needle™ • 59 implied HN points • 19 Mar 24
💼 Business Management
  1. It's important to notice when something isn't working in your organization. Ignoring these signs can prevent progress and improvement.
  2. Sometimes organizations stick to a plan just because they believe hard work will eventually pay off. This can lead to repeated failures instead of trying new approaches.
  3. Listening to small, offhand comments can reveal bigger problems. These 'neon signs' can show the need for a change in strategy or direction.

How I Transitioned from Individual Contributor to Manager -- Twice

The Uncommon Executive • 59 implied HN points • 17 Mar 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Moving from an individual contributor to a manager role can be challenging, especially in product management where prior management experience is often required.
  2. Key factors for transitioning to a management position include being a high-performer, having influence across the organization, and the presence of a business need for a manager.
  3. Securing sponsorship, networking effectively, and identifying the right mentor or manager to learn from are crucial steps in transitioning to a management role.

Overhead Costs vs. Marginal Costs

In My Tribe • 227 implied HN points • 28 Dec 24
💼 Business Management
  1. Overhead costs are the ongoing expenses of running a business, while marginal costs are the expenses incurred by producing one additional unit.
  2. Many businesses today focus more on overhead costs because it's hard to measure the contribution of individuals in a team setting.
  3. Understanding these costs is important for making better decisions about managing a business.

Shareholder fall guy

SuperJoost Playlist • 178 implied HN points • 12 Oct 23
💼 Business Management
  1. John Riccitiello's exit from Unity may not be as positive as it seems, and it hints at larger issues.
  2. CD Projekt Red is seeing success with its Cyberpunk franchise, showing growth and positive reception.
  3. Ubisoft is working to address workplace toxicity, despite past issues, showing progress in creating a safer environment.

Entropy is Easy

Polymathic Being • 83 implied HN points • 13 Jul 25
💼 Business Management
  1. Improvement requires energy; everything naturally degrades without it. Just like a cup of coffee cools down without heat, our goals and processes need ongoing effort to stay effective.
  2. 80% of success comes from behavior and culture, while only 20% is about the visible processes. It's not just about having everything in order; it's about how people think and act daily.
  3. To overcome challenges at work and in life, focus on key habits and apply discipline. By actively managing tasks and accountability, growth becomes easier over time.

Seven traits of a good boss

The Intersection • 158 implied HN points • 14 Aug 23
💼 Business Management
  1. A good boss motivates employees to reach new heights like a coach pushing a player to excel.
  2. Good bosses have a unique superpower that inspires admiration and aspiration in those they lead.
  3. Bosses who take decisive action, support their team, listen to their needs, show care, and admit mistakes create a positive and empowering work environment.