The Reliable Team Trap | Exec Engineering #198
Also: how AI is splitting the engineering manager role in two, what separates the top 1% of engineering teams from the rest, and the communication habit that changes how your team gives feedback.
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The Digest
Reorgs happen (Ben Balter)
25 reorgs in 13 years taught one GitHub veteran what actually survives an org chart shuffle: reputation, relationships, and documented work. Help your team invest in those, and a reorg stops being something to fear and starts being something to use.
Speak in the affirmative: “Do this” versus “Don’t do that” (Wes Kao)
Good feedback is directional. Flag what went wrong, then point toward what should happen instead. That small shift, from correcting to directing, is what separates managers who develop people from managers who just evaluate them.
The people aspect of building high-performing teams (James Samuel / Effective Software Leads)
Motivation is the most important lever a manager has, and it only works when you understand it at the individual level. A manager who does not know what each person on their team is reaching for is essentially flying blind.
The Reliable Team Trap (Kevin Goldsmith / It Depends: Lessons in Technology Leadership)
The team that never drops the ball is the team nobody worries about. And the team nobody worries about is the team nobody consults. Being indispensable where you are is the quietest way to make sure you never go anywhere else.
The engineering manager role is splitting in two (Stephane Moreau / LeadDev)
AI is shrinking team sizes fast enough that small teams either need an embedded technical leader or no dedicated manager at all. That fork is what is splitting the EM role in two, and the preparation for each path looks nothing like the other.
How to Set Quarterly Goals That Your Team Actually Achieves (Karol Wójciszko / Engineering Leader’s Playbook)
Four things make the difference between a goal that gets achieved and one that gets abandoned: time blocked on the calendar, a concrete first step, visibility across the team, and an honest review at the end. Get all four right, and the goals that have been stalling for quarters will finally start moving.
The right kind of AI sceptic (James Stanier / The Engineering Manager)
Your engineers are watching how you engage with AI more than they are listening to what you say about it. A leader who shares real experiments, including the ones that produced nothing useful, builds a culture of genuine inquiry. A leader who mandates enthusiasm builds a culture of compliance.
What the Top 1% of Engineering Teams Do Differently with AI (Gregor Ojstersek / Engineering Leadership)
The top 1% of engineering teams spend more on AI tools than everyone else, and still deliver code at a lower cost per unit of output. They review specs before code gets written. They run AI code reviews and make human reviews optional. They deploy more frequently. Building systems that compound is what separates them from the rest.
Dialog
Allen Cheung, former SVP of Engineering at ujet.cx, shares why engineering output depends less on hiring “A players” and more on building environments where average engineers can consistently do great work.
He explains why AI adoption is pushing teams to finally invest in CI/CD, testing, and review discipline, how hiring for complementary strengths only works when teams have the humility to embrace different work styles, and why high team satisfaction can still hide mediocre business performance.
Check it out here:
More reads
Find a way (Cate Hall)
How to Overcome Confirmation Bias (Phil McKinney)
What the Yellow Tie Almost Cost Me (Deb Liu)
Why Isn’t AI Taking Our Jobs? (Cal Newport)
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About Exec Engineering
I’m Yassine 👋 I spend a big chunk of my time digging into engineering management and talent acquisition, especially where the two overlap. I share the most interesting resources I come across in this newsletter, all curated by hand.