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The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

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Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#111
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few thoughts. If you want a better analogy that doesn't belittle senior leadership, try Go instead of Checkers. One of the keys to successful management and leadership is understanding sustainability. Incremental changes over a period of time beat a huge lift followed by burnout and stasis.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

It will happen in the future, but we need algorithms capable of empathy to replace human leaders. Let’s say we’re not close.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#112
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few thoughts. If you want a better analogy that doesn't belittle senior leadership, try Go instead of Checkers. One of the keys to successful management and leadership is understanding sustainability. Incremental changes over a period of time beat a huge lift followed by burnout and stasis.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

That's why CEOs make less $ than software engineers right?

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#114

This reads like a commercial, but I'm not going to downvote it. I read the book and liked it, along with about a hundred other books on culture over the years. There is a similar pattern: a problem, an old way of doing things, a hero, a change, and a beautiful sunset with our hero riding off. I think there are really, really good things in these kinds of books, especially if you identify with the problem and hero. At…

Culture Code is a fantastic book. I'm almost done reading it. My main takeaway: decent cultures are built by good people doing good things. In some ways, it's really as simple as good leadership. (Kindness, empathy, filling people's cups, listening skills, etc.)

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#115
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few thoughts. If you want a better analogy that doesn't belittle senior leadership, try Go instead of Checkers. One of the keys to successful management and leadership is understanding sustainability. Incremental changes over a period of time beat a huge lift followed by burnout and stasis.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

You are an optimist in a way. What you seem to be forgetting is that the leadership does make the decisions. What do you think are the odds of making a decision hurting their bottom line? It is a rhetorical question.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#116
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few thoughts. If you want a better analogy that doesn't belittle senior leadership, try Go instead of Checkers. One of the keys to successful management and leadership is understanding sustainability. Incremental changes over a period of time beat a huge lift followed by burnout and stasis.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

You're joking right?

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#117
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

That's why CEOs make less $ than software engineers right?

I don't really agree with commenter above, but this argument is blatantly wrong. Executives are paid the way they are just because they are in charge of, among other things, compensations.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#118
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

If leading people is so goddamn easy compared to software engineering, why do so few engineers want to move into people leadership, and why do so many of them absolutely suck at it? I think you are severely discounting the skills it takes to lead people, and you are also making an extremely optimistic assumption that companies in the future somehow would be magically more meritocratic than existing companies, when th…

[deleted]

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#119
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

If leading people is so goddamn easy compared to software engineering, why do so few engineers want to move into people leadership, and why do so many of them absolutely suck at it? I think you are severely discounting the skills it takes to lead people, and you are also making an extremely optimistic assumption that companies in the future somehow would be magically more meritocratic than existing companies, when th…

I don't disagree with you about leadership being hard. But the argument you use to get there is easily rebuttable:

> If leading people is so goddamn easy compared to software engineering, why do so few engineers want to move into people leadership,

a) because they wouldn't enjoy it as much as their current job?

b) because for engineers, being a manager does not give them status amongst their peer group.

> and why do so many of them absolutely suck at it?

a) citation needed. Is it provable that engineers are particularly worse at leadership than the rest of the population per capita?

b) if engineers tend to suck at being managers, it doesn't show that managerial roles are harder than engineering ones. How good are managers at attempting engineering roles, for comparison?

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#120
post #91
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I know, his “cancellation” stems from one thing, and one thing only: He says that Trump is skilled at being convincing (and explains how, at length). This, in the eyes of others, makes him a Trump apologist, and must therefore be shunned. If you had a link to that weird tweet I would like to see it; it would be interesting to see if I agree with your characterization.

It's not just the Trump thing. He loves to butt heads with the social justice types in a way that makes him look awful. Wrote some creepy antifemist blog-posts too. In the wake of a shooting (can't remember which) he tried to push his WhenHub product as a journalism tool. And his fence-sitting support of Trump has always been "now I'm no Trump fan but here's a long list of things Trump is good at and I'll be very def…

Again, actual references to your allegations would be useful.
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