Category Archives: management

Pick Your Plot

From ChatGPT:

The author reminisces about their first encounter with gnuplot during their Masters program, highlighting its simplicity and effectiveness in plotting data compared to writing code. They also reflect on their software engineering course, discussing concepts like Brooks’ Law and the importance of communication in project management. The post delves into the challenges of communication pathways in organizations, emphasizing the need for discriminant communication methods to balance efficiency and innovation. It discusses the limitations of formalized communication channels and hierarchical structures, advocating for empowering engineers with agency and ownership over their work. Finally, it proposes a decentralized approach to communication and project management, where clear priorities and feedback loops enable effective collaboration while minimizing misinformation.

Time Off, Time Back

From ChatGPT: The author reflects on their past two years, which included managing a key infrastructural team at Argo AI and subsequently transitioning back to an individual contributor role. They discuss the challenges faced, such as addressing technical debt and managing unrealistic expectations from upper management. The author highlights their efforts in mentoring junior engineers and improving development processes. Following Argo’s closure and acquisition by Ford, the author now works for Latitude AI, a Ford company, where they focus on testing methodologies and have been promoted to Staff Software Engineer. They express excitement about their current role and look forward to sharing lessons learned from their experiences at Argo AI.

Micromanaging

From ChatGPT:
The text discusses the concept of “being in the zone” for developers, where they achieve a state of optimal productivity and creativity. It explores the distinction between those who report to someone and those who do not, emphasizing the importance of agency in professional software development. Micromanagement is highlighted as a violation of agency and human dignity, with an emphasis on understanding the motivations behind such behavior. The text suggests that effective establishment of agency within an organization is more of an art than a science, requiring managers to understand the problem, build proper abstractions for their reports, and dedicate considerable time and focus to the process. It also discusses the importance of managers’ flow states and the need for synergy between their efforts to optimize productivity within an organization.