The hottest Operations Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

On organizational structures — the QRF team model to crush interruptions

Joseph Gefroh • 19 implied HN points • 15 Feb 22
💼 Business Management Operations Agility
  1. Implementing a QRF team model can help prevent interruptions in engineering teams, allowing them to focus on high-priority tasks.
  2. The QRF model works effectively by splitting an engineering unit into two teams - one focused on the roadmap and the other on handling interruptions.
  3. QRF solves problems found in other agile approaches by prioritizing interruptions and preventing operational issues from being undervalued.

Death Trap on the Volga: Stalingrad

Big Serge Thought • 4 implied HN points • 09 May 23
💾 History Warfare Operations Strategy Tactics
  1. Stalingrad marked a pivotal shift in the momentum of World War II, leading to the irreversible loss of strategic initiative for the Germans.
  2. The German operations in 1942 faced strategic challenges due to the emerging global conflict with Anglo-American powers and a continental land war with the Soviet Union.
  3. The German failure during Case Blue was driven by inadequate forces, lack of fuel, and a flawed operational plan, culminating in the decision to assault Stalingrad.

A Checklist for Building with GraphQL

William Blankenship • 2 HN points • 21 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Development Engineering Tooling Maintenance Operations
  1. You need at least two engineers for GraphQL service: for mentoring, supporting, and preventing bottlenecks.
  2. Invest in tooling like query complexity guards, introspection, and alerts for runtime safety and service performance.
  3. The skillset needed for GraphQL service is similar to that of a database engineer, focusing on schema design and tool implementation.

Tiered Availability Review

software + caffeine = blog • 1 HN point • 17 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Operations Metrics Meetings Engineers Executives
  1. Having regular forums within your engineering organization is crucial for driving accountability for availability.
  2. Different levels of availability reviews cater to specific audiences and purposes, from individual engineering teams to executives.
  3. Building momentum for these forums requires buy-in from engineering teams, executives, and directors, and it's essential for sustaining the process.
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Startup Chief of Staff Program @ Equal Ventures

Equal Ventures • 0 implied HN points • 05 Oct 20
💼 Business Startup Venture Capital Career development Operations Applications
  1. Equal Ventures launched a program to connect early-career generalists with early-stage companies, offering Chief of Staff opportunities.
  2. Participants will get matched with startups, receive training to accelerate career growth, and possibly prepare for senior roles or founding their own company.
  3. The application is open to U.S. and Canada operators with tech startup, consulting, or finance experience, who are self-directed and data-driven.

On hiring - A-players and the folly of the ideal candidate

Joseph Gefroh • 0 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
💼 Business Management Operations Hiring Strategy Leadership
  1. Startup leaders often seek perfect, 'A-player' candidates but end up damaging their companies by delaying hiring unnecessarily.
  2. A-players aren't flawless - they have weaknesses and can't excel at everything. It's better to hire adaptable 'B-players' with potential.
  3. Fix your hiring strategy by focusing on teamwork, being realistic about needs, and considering a mix of generalists and specialists.

On hiring - A rapid hiring process for busy startup engineering leaders

Joseph Gefroh • 0 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
💼 Business Management Operations Hiring Leadership Entrepreneurship
  1. Efficient hiring involves building a pipeline and moving candidates through it with minimal effort. Creating a streamlined process like a Kanban-style project can help manage the hiring stages effectively.
  2. From a candidate's perspective, simplifying the hiring process by highlighting only 3 key stages can make the process feel lightweight and easy to follow. A clear and concise hiring workflow can be a competitive advantage.
  3. Utilizing different sourcing channels, such as LinkedIn, can be a valuable way to find candidate leads with low effort but high value. Building and leveraging a strong professional network can significantly impact the hiring process.

On development - How to design an effective intake process

Joseph Gefroh • 0 implied HN points • 06 Feb 21
💼 Business Management Operations Startups Processes Organization
  1. Implementing an effective intake process is crucial for managing growth and improving teamwork. It helps individual developers work efficiently, allows for effective planning across the organization, and ensures clear prioritization.
  2. An intake process shines a light on hidden work, making it visible to everyone and aiding in proper planning and resource allocation. It promotes transparency and avoids inefficiencies caused by requests slipping through the cracks.
  3. Having a structured intake process provides valuable signals that can guide decision-making. By collecting data on requests and their handling, the team can identify trends, address issues, and streamline priorities for better outcomes.

Parallel Distributed Shell

Certo Modo • 0 implied HN points • 22 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Operations Incident Response
  1. The parallel distributed shell is a CLI tool helpful for troubleshooting in large-scale systems.
  2. It allows engineers to simultaneously run commands on multiple hosts, offering a 'break-glass' solution.
  3. Various options exist like dsh, pdsh, hyper-shell, and AWS Run Command for managing infrastructure when traditional methods fail.

SRE Essentials

Certo Modo • 0 implied HN points • 06 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Engineering Operations Software Automation Reliability
  1. Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams drive higher operational maturity, remove sources of toil, and improve service reliability.
  2. Establishing strong SRE practices involves shared operational responsibility, measuring customer success, using error budgets to prioritize work, and learning from failures in a blameless manner.
  3. Properly staffing on-call rotations and ensuring humane work-life balance are essential for SRE team success.

On-Call Retrospectives

Certo Modo • 0 implied HN points • 01 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Operations Improvement Team Collaboration Metrics Automation
  1. On-call retrospectives help teams stay connected to the real operational challenges they face and provide insights on how to enhance the on-call experience.
  2. Holding weekly meetings where team members share metrics, experiences, and discuss improvements can lead to a more efficient and enjoyable on-call rotation.
  3. Taking notes during the retrospective and translating them into actionable tasks for improvement can result in smoother on-call shifts and increased team productivity.

The Proposal: Will you Red Team Me?

Locks and Leaks • 0 implied HN points • 13 Mar 24
💼 Business Management Risk Assessment Operations Leadership Communication
  1. The Red Team Proposal is crucial for gaining buy-in, being prepared, and protecting against potential issues during assessments.
  2. Including legal safeguards and seeking approvals help in showcasing professionalism and increasing the likelihood of approval from leadership.
  3. A well-prepared Red Team Proposal should contain components like introduction, prioritization, context, intelligence & analysis, timeline, TTPs, safety plan, and more, making it a vital document for a successful red team operation.

How to build safe and efficient systems. The Merchant Navy’s Top 6 Lessons for Tech Leadership [Storytime Saturdays]

Technology Made Simple • 0 implied HN points • 12 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Systems Shipping Operations
  1. The Merchant Navy operates at a massive scale, which offers valuable lessons in managing large operations efficiently.
  2. The industry plays a crucial role in global supply chains, moving billions of tons of goods that we rely on daily.
  3. Despite facing challenges like rough weather and long voyages, the Merchant Navy manages operations with relatively small crews of 20 to 30 members.

Xometry (XMTR)

Nihar’s Thoughts on Stocks • 0 implied HN points • 07 Sep 23
💼 Business Marketplace Revenue Competition Growth Operations
  1. Xometry is a marketplace business with core services for buyers to order parts and supplier services with different revenue percentages and margins.
  2. The business recently faced deceleration and challenges in Q3 '22, impacting growth and profitability forecasts.
  3. Marketplace businesses like Xometry face struggles with product customization, order size, and consistent ordering patterns, impacting scalability and business efficiency.

Some Thoughts on Operations

The Elbow • 0 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
💼 Business Operations Management Productivity Creativity
  1. All work involves some degree of operations; it's about the 'how' in achieving tasks rather than the 'what'.
  2. A good operations mindset combines persistence like a golden retriever and boldness like Larry David.
  3. Operations work requires creativity, detail-oriented thinking, and an iterative approach to problem-solving.

Taming the Annual Budget

Build To Scale • 0 implied HN points • 24 Oct 23
💼 Business Finance Management Strategy Operations Budgeting
  1. When setting an annual budget, use a top-down approach for better efficiency and success in funding key initiatives.
  2. Departments need to create their own annual plans that align with overall company goals to ensure success and mitigate risks.
  3. As the business evolves, flexibility is key in budget management, with regular check-ins to adjust spending and headcount based on actual performance.