CTO Insights - Issue #129
CTO Insights - Issue #129
Software Engineering and Technical Leadership
Hello and welcome to CTO Insights #129!
This newsletter is crafted with the aim of delivering top-notch Software Engineering and Technical Leadership content, making your weekly reading more insightful and enjoyable.
This week’s favorite - Dropbox Engineering Career Framework.
And remember, CTO Insights is community-driven and thrives on your input. If you find value in what you read, I encourage you to share it with your friends in tech and your wider community, whether it be via social media, slack, teams, or any other channel you frequent.
Together, we can make every edition of CTO Insights a wealth of knowledge for all!
Featured
IT Talent Platform - Adeva
Adeva is a tech platform that enables CTOs and VPs to source, hire and manage high-caliber international engineering talent.
If you are looking to scale efficiently, join the platform and get access to product and tech consultants experienced working with businesses of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Architecture
Real-Time Messaging
This article offers a comprehensive look at the technical infrastructure that powers one of the most widely used communication platforms in the world - Slack.
It explores the complex challenges involved in delivering messages instantly across a distributed system, and the innovative solutions that the Slack engineering team developed to ensure that messages are delivered reliably and at scale.
Leadership
Time Is Emphasis: Planning Your Calendar as a Leader
Anyone who is busy eventually relies on heavily planning their time to make sure everything fits into the calendar.
If you’re starting to struggle to keep up, this guide might teach you a few tricks that will increase your efficiency.
Unleashing the Full Potential of Your Team with a Systems-Thinking Approach
The article "Systems Thinking Approach" promotes the concept of viewing organizations as interconnected systems, rather than isolated units.
I wrote the article recently, aiming to encourage leaders to grasp the wider implications of their decisions and foster a collaborative culture. By adopting Systems Thinking, leaders can better navigate challenges, adapt to change, and drive sustained success.
Culture
Dropbox Engineering Career Framework
Dropbox believes that employees should have a clear understanding of their role expectations, career opportunities, and how they will be evaluated.
This article highlights Dropbox’s engineering career framework which consists of 4 components: role expectations, career levels, competencies, and growth opportunities.
It’s a lengthy read but it makes up for it with valuable insights.
Product
6 Ways for Product Managers to Drive GTM Outcomes in B2B Companies
The rise of the hybrid product-led and sales-assisted motion in a B2B setting has further changed the dynamic and now demands a product manager who understands the business end-to-end and can bring an integrated GTM mindset to enable overall business success.
The article provides 6 practical directions that can help product managers align their product strategy with the broader business objectives and ensure a successful product launch.
Other
How AI coding companions will change the way developers work
The story explores the potential transformation AI-powered coding companions can bring to the software development industry.
The author paints a picture of a future where AI assists developers in writing better code, detecting bugs, suggesting improvements, and even automating repetitive tasks, thereby freeing up developers to focus on higher-level, creative problem-solving tasks.
Can You Run Without Slack?
Have you ever read a mini-crash course on Slack? Well, this is it. It’s a short article by Martin Fowler diving into the features, benefits, and drawbacks of using Slack.
Here are two quotes from the article I think you’ll love:
While slack is both important and often undervalued, it's a seasoning not the main dish.
But to run without it is like skimping on your oil changes.
Balancing Quality and Coverage With Our Data Validation Framework | Dropbox
It seems Dropbox’s frameworks are quite popular. Here’s another one but this one is to balance the need for quality and coverage in their testing process.
The post dives quite deep into the technical side of things, focusing on the use of schema definitions, data generators, a novel approach to data sampling, and more.
What is on
Exploring the Complexities and Possibilities of Immersive AI
Join Katerina Trajchevska and Richie Etwaru for a 45 mins discussion on Exploring the Complexities and Possibilities of Immersive AI.
Learn about the complexities of building such an advanced product, from the technical challenges to the team management strategies. Plus, discover what the future of work might look like with the latest developments in AI and job redundancy.
The event is free, register here.
Closing Notes
Thanks for making it this far! 🙏
I hope you enjoyed this week’s issue. Use the thumbs up/down buttons to rate and don’t forget to share the newsletter with fellows.