Reposting this: a summary of Google’s research into what makes a successful team. Really fundamental, easily digested stuff.

I was always bad (very bad) at “clever” algorithmic questions.  I was good at structure and organization.  A good team needs both.  This may be obvious, but if you’re hiring for clear, organized mind then don’t expect brilliance in solving mind-twisters.  And vice versa.

Just because it’s fun.

This is purely self-indulgent.  I used to write reasonably large (for the time) systems like this and it was, in fact, pretty tricky.

A long article, worth sticking with for some pretty shocking numbers.  We do this to ourselves…

“The employees in this study spent only half their workday on actual “work episodes,” which included any and all work-related activities. Strikingly, most of these work episodes lasted 10 minutes or less, with an average of just three minutes per work episode. And even more interesting, nearly two-thirds of the work episode interruptions were self-generated, and most of those involved some form of mediated communication using a technological device”

A good, practical look at where our distractions come from and what you can do about it - what to switch off.

Puts a gentle finger on the fact that “busyness” is a class signifier, like shopping at Whole Foods (yep - see the article).  Which may give a little hint as to why it’s hard to let go of…  Worth a quick read.

A list of “I’m just not going to do that” things that helped the author turn time and stress around.  It does include “Never schedule morning meetings, sleep in when needed”, which may not be entirely practical.  So - make your own list.

Set limits with your co-workers without being rude.  Includes a practical list of limits  and how to set them.

One of the hidden traps of finding “strategic” or “thinking” time is that compared to answering another fifty emails it can feel like “wasted time” (maybe no great strategic thought will show up!  A wasted hour!).  A good article in support of the necessity of “wasting” time to make longer-term gains.

If you are managing engineers, read this.  It’ll be uncomfortable, and it’s likely you’ll be a better manager afterwards.

Speaking of uncomfortable: a pretty lengthy post in praise of not just embracing serendipity and uncertainty, but going with it, using the metaphor of jazz improvisation as a basis.  Bonus: some cool jazz stories.

Yep.  All the ways we can fool ourselves doing user research.  A good refresher.

The Breather crew go massively overboard in designing their onboarding kit.  And why not?  Kind of inspiring.  And introduces the heretofore unknown (to me) concept of “powerful swag”.

Saying “no” is hard, not just in time management. A good reminder.

Some practical ways to say “no” - useful.  Keep it around.

Interesting “on the one hand/on the other hand” view of irrational decision-making (bias) vs rationality.  We need our “irrational”, heuristic decision-making: it’s fast and works in the face of uncertainty. And it can lead us astray.  Good, balanced read.

This is really, well, awesome.   It’s a comprehensive, summarized list of cognitive biases. Easily browsable, fun to read, worth scanning whenever you’re looking at a decision.   Eye-opening.  Essential.

One bias (or set of biases) that is common in our industry (IMHO) is the low-knowledge, high-confidence trap.  Almost by definition we’re inventing something new, so certainty is low, but confidence has to be high, otherwise we wouldn’t do it. It helps to be conscious that we actually don’t know what’s going to happen.  Humility helps avoid big mistakes.

I read this nodding my head thinking “yep, yep, right, exactly”.  Simple, clear conclusions about what happens when a company, or team, grows past the point where it’s all about one on one relationships, and some things you can do about it.