Archive - Engineering Calm

Great Managers Are Painters, Not Photographers.

When I became the CTO of my previous company, the transition was rough.

Nov 22, 2023 •

TBM 252: How to Troubleshoot Status Updates and Syncs

I've often wondered why some companies can develop strong habits around introspection, weekly goals, weekly reviews, progress logs, and regular updates.

Published on The Beautiful Mess • Nov 2, 2023

October 2023

Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

I still remember very clearly the day I talked to a friend about the company I was about to start.

Oct 11, 2023 •

September 2023

August 2023

OKRs? More like, R U OK?

I started my first job as a software engineer in the early 2000s, and since then, I’ve been part of 9 different teams in companies of all sizes…

Aug 30, 2023 •

Don't fool yourself: The team is the unit

Presented with a major disruption to how we were working, I was concerned about momentum and team morale; at that moment, I decided to become an…

Aug 23, 2023 •

Don't Confuse Trust With Getting Along

If you ask any team if they trust each other, they would probably say they do.

Aug 16, 2023 •

What a truly engaged engineer looks like

The truth is that most productive engineers normally look like they are not working much. I think it is fair to say that at this point, we all know that…

Aug 7, 2023 •

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