Management Writing

• Governance is a process where you ask other people for permission to do things and the governing body serves to enforce consistency in things.
• Stewardship is much more collaborative process and involves tending to what exists, guiding rather than dictating what will be.
• If you lead through intimidation, or if you lead through fear, then that's not leadership.
• You have to lead through collaboration and cajoling(persuading), not control.
• Like trust, respect is also something you earn-and by leading through your actions, not your words.
• Taking a broad, systemic view of the issues at hand
• This is a perfect opportunity to reflect on how you want your team to operate differently going forward.
• Start by identifying which new practices were successful, why they were successful, and under which circumstance they'll continue to be useful.
• Most people will instinctively revert to old routines. So reinforce the new practices and procedures until they turn into habits.
• When you develop a reasonable narrative, you can proactively address these concerns and make the best possible impression.
• Focus on you accomplishments rather than your time spent in each role.
• Emphasize how working alongside different leadership styles has contributed to your professional growth.
• Highlight how each experience exposed you to best practices.
• Shifting your mindset in this way will help you start to build genuine relationship.
• Scrum is a way to take a below average or poor developer and turn them into an average developer.
• It's also great at taking great developers and turning them into average developers.
• Scrum exists because managers don't trust developers to get things done without constant supervision.
• He’s a well-read startup founder whose appetite for rigorous thinking is balanced by an impatience for hollow ideas
• Look for opportunities to build up your team's capacity, and delegate when you can.
• This self-audit will help you paint a more realistic picture of how your future calendar will be populated.
• Take the pulse of your team.
• Stay focus on future opportunities and your collective goals.
• The bottom line is that we have to make a decision today.
• Identify the least disruptive way to gather the information you need from someone else.
• Don't make your request without context.
• Create space for reconciliation and establish a direction for the future.
• Most bad leaders' actions are rooted in good intentions.
• Do your best to oblige(fulfill/carry out/perform).
• You become a good leader by distinguishing yourself, being inclusive, and having an eye toward the future.
• They'll be more likely to bet on you the next time a promotion opportunity opens up.
• Ironically, you appear more confident when you demonstrate the humility and courage to ask about what you don't know.
• Assume good will from the feedback giver.
• Lighting a spark under a disengaged(incompetent) employee won’t happen overnight.
• Open an honest and empathetic(kind) dialogue
• Matching prospective employers and employees is a nuanced(subtle difference) process, and any attempt to automate it requires the utmost rigor(severe)
• When industry leaders, established businesses and newly minted(created) companies collide on the topic of cutting edge technologies, collaboration can spur innovation
• The spirit of interconnection with regard to the IoT ecosystem compelled(strongly urged) us to take part in the tournament.
• Having all this information makes it really easy for me to explain why your work is so great.
• An insistence on politeness can result in a lack of honest communication
• If you’re concerned your organization’s culture has veered(change) into toxic(poisonous) niceness(good things), try these tactics(strategies).
• Be explicit(clear) that you want people to give candid(honest) feedback and ask tough questions
• When people do express dissenting(strongly different) views don’t reprimand(blame) them — thank them.
• Addressing pay inequity in your organization isn't just a moral(beliefs about what is right or wrong) imperative(necessary)
• Don’t assume your perspective is obvious.
• Steer clear of phrases like “clearly,” “obviously,” or “without a doubt,” which are likely to insult your counterpart.
• Answering them will narrow down your options and help you focus on what’s important.
• you’ve gained new skills or experiences that make you especially marketable
• In a turbulent(unrest) environment, straying outside your lane could cause additional chaos or confusion.
• People are more likely to rely on their own judgment and to forgo asking others for feedback when working remotely.
• These interruptions make it hard to do focused work, and are a sign that people don’t feel empowered(authorize) to make decisions on their own
• When someone does make a bad call(decide), bring attention to the lesson learned, and make sure it sticks(sustain/continue).
• Think of a mentor as the north star(guide) that will keep you on track when you’re feeling lost at work.
• Becoming a mentor will teach you how to bring out(release) the best in others, recognize their strengths, give feedback, and coach.
• Accountability(responsibility) is critical
• Make regret productive by thinking about what you can (and cannot) do in the future to avoid this feeling again.
• Ground(consolidate/give basic knowledge about sth) yourself with an intention(purpose) and make a commitment.
• Demonstrate that your team is engaged(participate) no matter where they’re located.
• Think of your presentation as an act of service as opposed to a talent show or self-promotional opportunity.
• But being out of the office often means doing a mountain of extra work before and after
• Your supposedly(believed) relaxing time off can actually exacerbate(increase) your stress
• Thoughtful deliberation(careful consideration) is an essential(elementary) leadership quality that can help you make better decisions and produce better outcomes.
• However, it can also devolve into overthinking, which can be paralyzing(stop/inactive)
• Curb(control) your perfectionism(the attitude to be perfect).
• Determine a date or time by which you’ll make a choice.
• Take note of leaders’ unique approaches(method) and phrases in meetings. What works, what doesn’t work, and why?
• As you become more efficient, you make room for even more tasks and feel even more pressure.
• When you’re feeling overwhelmed, you are better served by attacking the root cause: the sheer(large) volume of tasks.
• For tasks that are assigned to you, think in terms of priorities not time.
• You don’t have to worry about failing to meet a critical commitment.
• Most people know that how you frame(define) a problem will influence how you solve it.
• The metric you use to define success or failure will influence the answers you come up with.
• While it may be tempting(attractive) to do sth
• Envision(image) what you want your career and life to look like.
• You’ll gain a more valuable outlook(insights) by triangulating advice (combining different suggestions) from multiple mentors at the same time.
• Get a sponsor(supporter) with power and have them advocate on your behalf for an immediate1 catch-up.
• Becoming more aware of these factors will help you become more empathetic and sets the tone for a more inclusive team culture.
• Breaking tasks down into smaller pieces can help make your to-do list feel a little less overwhelming.
• start small and be deliberate(thought carefully) about each effort.
• This will not only help identify any concerns, it will also draw attention to the fact that this monitoring is happening and therefore encourage managers to pay careful attention to their allocations.
• I think there is a temptation(desire) to try to have opinions, especially the more senior you get.
• The experience you have built up means that you may have a hard-won lesson that you want to share to stop someone going down a similar trecherous(difficult) path.
• Adopt bigger-picture thinking.
• Crunch(important) often affects a leader’s availability.
• I think we entrepreneurs are vulnerable to admiring the results rather than the process.
• Leadership isn’t confined(limit) to managers; it’s also crucial on the technical track.
• I'm trying to be objective here, pointing out real issues, not personal biases/preferences.

Planning

• When teammates are floundering(not to know what to do), or are going in circles, it’s either because the road ahead is ambiguous(not clear), or it’s because they don’t have what they need to be successful, or both.
• Identify and document the most important outcome
• Identify and document roles

Communication

• I addressed(talk about) this issue with team.
• That's why I engaged(deeply involve) him in the conversation.
• Please raise a red flag when you find something wrong.
• Let's get aligned(on the same page/in consistent with) before we speak to team.
• Please send me this report on a daily basis(daily).
• It's just a spur-of-the-moment(last minute) idea. I haven't yet got chance to run by the team.
• We’re living with unprecedented(new) levels of uncertainty.
• Answer a question to quickly is like prescribing a treatment without being sure what the ailment is.
• It can only serve to increase the risk that you waste your time, make things worse by trying to solve the wrong problem, or both.

Questions

feasibility

• Typically, at some stage in the process of product engineering the design team approach the engineering team and ask for some input on the feasibility of their ideas.
• I find this question to be a useful prompt for those conversations.
• What is the solution we could put together in a day? A month? A year? What are the tradeoffs between them?
• I find it useful as, fundamentally, a lot of engineering decisions come down to tradeoffs and this puts that question right at the forefront.

Asking Requirements

• What’s driving leaders’ concerns?
• What’s behind their push to return?
• What does achieving your goal look like?

Prioritizing

• What’s the next step based on the information I have right now?
• Where would you like me to prioritize this against x, y, and z?

Performance Improving

• What’s one thing I could do today to bring me closer to my goal?
• How will you know if you’re making progress?
• Who do you go to for emotional support now?
• Where are you getting your tactical advice?
• Who helps you understand the ins and outs of your company?

Compensation

• Do you have a sense of why they might have a higher salary than I do?
• What kinds of information get factored into compensation decisions here?(Tenure? Seniority? Scope of impact? Specialty?)
• Are there salary bands? Do you have a sense of where in the band my salary falls? Or my peer’s?
• How often is compensation adjusted here? What’s the timeline?
• What’s the process for correcting someone’s compensation here? Have you seen it done before?

Misc

• Is there dysfunction(problem) simmering(brewing) beneath the surface?
• What matters to you?
• How can you channel(control) feelings of self-doubt into something more
• constructive and productive?
• Will contributing(offer/share) my opinion meaningfully impact the discussion's outcome?
• If it won’t then I can relish in(enjoy) the simple beauty of having no opinion.
• How can you stay engaged when circumstances are constantly changing?