For the past few months I've been introducing sprints into a chaotic startup that's been growing so fast everyone's got whiplash. Since August, 5 engineers turned into 12. I think it's starting to work.

How do you choose what to work on first? As an empowered engineer that's a key skill.

3+1 quick book recommendations to help you think about next year

When yaks aren't procrastination, they might be tunnel vision. You're so focused on the right solution, you miss the good enough solution

A small improvement that lands is better than a large improvement stuck in review

This talk from C3Fest summarizes the key lessons I've learned in the past ~15 years of working in tech startups. It's a high level overview of a new book I'm writing (60% done).

Discover the potential pitfalls of spurious automation and learn a foolproof three-step process to automate any task effectively. Don't miss out on understanding when automation is truly beneficial and when it can become a hindrance.

Doing the work is not the same as getting things done

Unearth the surprising connection between the CIA's Simple Sabotage Manual and your productivity, and learn how to transform tiny actions into big wins. Dive into Swizec's engaging exploration of how small actions can make a huge impact on your progress.

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

Don't overthink, just ship

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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?

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

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

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