Links

Think of me as a web crawler with taste.

Classnames

Paul Robert Lloyd:

This small website provides a list of words that you can refer to when naming something like an HTML class, custom CSS property or JavaScript function. Each word links to a page on Wordnik, an online dictionary that does the hard work of providing multiple definitions and listing related words.

Atlassian Doubles Down on Distributed Work

Annie Dean (via Jeremy Anderberg):

“What I can say is that when we look at the challenges at work today, I think it’s pretty well accepted that our greatest challenges have to do with distraction, the lack of ability to focus, the fact that we can’t prioritize important work fast enough because we’re letting our calendars dictate on time. And when you look at those as the key problems and impediments to productivity, fixing where we work is not the answer to any of them.”

Manage Your Capacity, Not Your Time

James Stanier:

regardless of how much autonomy and self-directed time you accumulate, optimal allocation of your capacity is not a box packing problem where you must allocate every single minute of your day. This is an anti-pattern.

If we’ve been lucky enough to work with leaders that manage their capacity well, then we may have been surprised that when we reach out with something urgent, they are able to respond quickly and effectively: perhaps they’ve offered to jump on a call straight away. This isn’t luck or anything to do with you. It’s just good capacity management on their part. Make sure that you’re always available for your team when they need you.

Career Advice

Moxie Marlinspike:

As a young person, though, I think the best thing you can do is to ignore all of that and simply observe the older people working there. They are the future you. Do not think that you will be substantially different. Look carefully at how they spend their time at work and outside of work, because this is also almost certainly how your life will look. It sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how often young people imagine a different projection for themselves. Look at the real people, and you’ll see the honest future for yourself.

Your Non-Linear Problem of 90% Utilization

Jason Cohen:

90% utilization is causing more failure than you realize, not just in burn-out, but in productivity and output.

Worse, in many organizations everyone is operating at 90%, which then reacts like the three-server system, where the inevitable hiccup from any one person causes a ripple effect that hurts several other people or projects. Since they are over capacity, rather than absorb the spike, they too will ripple the problem to others—a cascade like the the run-away chain reaction of an atom bomb.

Culture is the Track Record

Luca Dellanna:

Leaders who think organizational culture is a set of concepts attempt to change it using words and concepts – and inevitably fail, because organizational culture is not a set of concepts.

It’s a track record.

In particular, it’s the track record of which behaviors are a waste of time and which lead to good personal outcomes.

Walk the talk, people.

Participatory Leadership

Simon Harris:

Participatory leadership is knowing when to lead, when to be led, and when to get out of the way. It’s connecting people, creating and holding the space for them, helping with jobs to be done, and allowing things to play out. It’s fostering a sense of ownership and accountability by actively involving and guiding others in problem-solving and decision-making. It’s recognising that no individual possesses all the necessary information or expertise, and that we don’t need to have all the knowledge and all the answers. It’s being comfortable being uncomfortable.