#204 - Stop Inflicting Daily Standups and Computer Science Riddles on Your Devs - David Guttman

#204 - Stop Inflicting Daily Standups and Computer Science Riddles on Your Devs - David Guttman

Are you tired of cargo cult engineering leadership?

In this episode, David Guttman, author of “The Superstruct Manifesto”, shares his intriguing manifesto on building and leading high-performing engineering teams. We explore:

- Why daily standups are overrated and what to do instead
- How to avoid the trap of the "10x engineer" myth
- Why computer science riddles don't belong in your interviews
- The importance of estimates (hint: it's not about the accuracy!)
- How to treat your developers like adults

If you are an engineering leader or founder looking to build a high-performing engineering team, this episode is for you!


Listen out for:
(03:06) Career Turning Points
(07:10) The Meaning Behind Superstruct
(07:44) The Superstruct Manifesto
(09:30) "We Will Not Inflict Daily Standups on Our Devs"
(16:05) Alternatives to Daily Standups
(18:26) Status Report & Accountability
(25:48) "We Will Not Recruit 10x Developers"
(33:19) "We Will Not Test Devs with Computer Science Riddles"
(38:04) Interview Best Practices
(43:12) "We Will Not Let Devs Start without an Estimate"
(51:11) Improving Our Estimates
(53:55) Estimate vs Fixed Deadline
(56:21) 3 Tech Lead Wisdom


David Guttman's Bio
David Guttman is a developer and consultant obsessed with building repeatable systems for recruiting, onboarding, and managing remote software engineers. Over the course of his 20+ years in software development, David has led engineering teams to ship massive and innovative projects, including the content platform that powers Disney.com and StarWars.com (along with over 170 other sites, across dozens of languages and regions); video ad servers that handle over 10 billion requests per day; and an LMS that TIME magazine listed as one of the Best Inventions of the Year 2020. David is also a leader in the tech community.

As the organizer of the monthly event series js.la, the host of the Junior to Senior podcast, and a champion in the Node.js mentorship initiative, he has helped thousands of developers level up. David is the author of two popular JavaScript books, has over 90 open-source packages on npm, and has given talks at tech events and conferences like JSConf and JSFest.


Follow David:
- LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/david-guttman

- Website – david.app

- Superstruct – https://superstruct.tech/

- 📚 Superstruct Manifesto – treatdevslikeadults.com

_____


Our Sponsors

Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.
Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.
Make it happen. With code.


Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.
Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats.


Like this episode?
Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/204.
Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(279)

Software Engineering Laws Every Developer Must Know in the AI Era - Milan Milanovic

Software Engineering Laws Every Developer Must Know in the AI Era - Milan Milanovic

Does moving faster with AI mean you get to skip the laws that governed every software project before it? Milan Milanovic argues the opposite, the old laws of software engineering now apply twice as ha...

10 Aug 1h 1min

Signals & Levers: Systems Thinking to Navigate Software Delivery Illusions - Elisabeth Hendrickson & Joel Tosi

Signals & Levers: Systems Thinking to Navigate Software Delivery Illusions - Elisabeth Hendrickson & Joel Tosi

(04:48) Brought to you by SpeechifyAITired of text-to-speech that sounds robotic or costs too much at scale? SpeechifyAI's new Simba 3.2 model ranks #1 on Artificial Analysis for realness, priced unde...

3 Aug 1h 17min

From Technical Debt to Triple Debt: The Hidden Cost of AI-Generated Code

From Technical Debt to Triple Debt: The Hidden Cost of AI-Generated Code

Is vibe coding quietly draining the thing that makes teams effective: their shared understanding? Margaret breaks down her new “triple debt” model, and why cognitive debt might be the one nobody’s tra...

27 Jul 1h 10min

Ex-Gojek CTO: Why the Age of AI Rewards Builders as Judgment Becomes Expensive

Ex-Gojek CTO: Why the Age of AI Rewards Builders as Judgment Becomes Expensive

If expertise is becoming almost free, why is judgment becoming the most expensive skill in tech? Ajey Gore, former Gojek CTO, explains why the age of AI agents rewards builders over typists.In this ep...

13 Jul 1h 22min

The AI Productivity Paradox: Why 10X Output Doesn't Mean 10X Business Outcome

The AI Productivity Paradox: Why 10X Output Doesn't Mean 10X Business Outcome

What if optimizing for AI output is actually slowing your company down? When code becomes nearly free to produce, the organizations still measuring productivity by output are solving the wrong problem...

29 Jun 1h 5min

The Hidden Stories Sabotaging Your Culture Change

The Hidden Stories Sabotaging Your Culture Change

Why do 70% of change efforts fail — even when leadership is fully committed? The answer isn’t strategy or resources; it’s the hidden stories people unknowingly carry that silently block every initiati...

15 Jun 1h 8min

Creator of Meta's Hack: Your AI Will Always Cheat — Here's How to Stop It

Creator of Meta's Hack: Your AI Will Always Cheat — Here's How to Stop It

What if your AI coding agent is quietly cheating on your tests — and how do you stop it? Julien Verlaguet, who built the type system Meta used to migrate tens of millions of PHP lines, is now building...

8 Jun 1h 18min

Eric Ries: Why Good Tech Companies Go Bad, and How to Stop It

Eric Ries: Why Good Tech Companies Go Bad, and How to Stop It

Why do companies with the best intentions end up betraying their customers, employees, and mission? Eric Ries calls it “financial gravity” — an invisible force that pulls even the most principled comp...

1 Jun 1h

Populært innen Teknologi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
teknisk-sett
shifter
elektropodden
rss-ai-forklart
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
rss-ki-praten
hans-petter-og-co
pedagogisk-intelligens
rss-alt-som-gar-pa-strom
smart-forklart
fornybaren
rss-polypod
rss-bouvet-bobler
nasjonal-sikkerhetsmyndighet-nsm
rss-fish-ships
energi-og-klima
rss-fisketimen
kortslutning
rss-kunstig-intelligens-med-elisabeth-maren-og-morten