Swizec Teller - a geek with a hatswizec.com
👋 ready to invest in your career? Get the Senior Engineer Mindset book 20% off this week only

Senior Mindset Book

Get promoted, earn a bigger salary, work for top companies

Senior Engineer Mindset cover
Learn more

20% off this week

    Swizec's articles in the "productivity" category

    I aim to write mindblowing emails with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them.

    Below are 15 articles filed under productivity. Enjoy ❤️

    Software engineers, exercise, health, and productivity

    Don't worry about the hype, just get some sun, some rest, and remember to hydrate.
    March 31st, 2023

    Done means Shipped

    Don't overthink, just ship
    March 17th, 2023

    Squash merge? Really!?

    Learn why squash merging is your friend - from hating it to loving it! Squash merging helps you keep moving and focus on the work instead of recording the work.
    January 27th, 2023

    Why trunk-based development is best

    Merging finished work straight to main and deploying to production right away, scales to teams of thousands. This approach is counterintuitive to many engineers who may be used to working on their own
    January 24th, 2023

    Scaling teams is a technical challenge

    A founder friend asked me about growing pains on his team. How do you avoid stepping on each other's toes?
    November 29th, 2022

    The art of the cowboy merge 🤠

    how do you catch a critical deadline that cannot be missed? We're talking external stakeholders, millions on the line, and it all hinges on *your* team getting it done on time. No overtime
    September 8th, 2022

    Reader Question: What do collaborative teams look like?

    New members on our team invariably say 2 things: 1. Wow I've never seen a team move this fast 2. This approach feels weird. I'm uncomfortable Teams like this are not common.
    August 27th, 2022

    Reader question: So about that perfect burndown chart ...

    If your approach works so well, why isn't every team doing this?
    August 6th, 2022

    Reader question: Feeling guilt as a tech lead

    Keep getting the guilt, that I'm not able to code, just running around for discussions and solving other issues, managing people. Any idea to manage all the fronts and get rid of this guilt?
    July 23rd, 2022

    A work ritual that keeps me sane

    A coworker asked me for tips on how to stay focused during the day. Here's what I said.
    July 15th, 2022

    How we made the best burndown chart you've ever seen

    My entire career I've never seen a sprint finished on time. The new manager said "Oh I think we can fix that" ... 18 months later he proved me wrong
    April 12th, 2022

    WorkInProgress kills your progress

    If it takes 6 engineers 10 days to complete 6 projects in parallel, why does it take 8 days when you work together 🤨
    August 21st, 2021

    A case for multi-tasking


    January 24th, 2011

    Created by Swizec with ❤️