4 ms·

1. Communication Skills - not just “how to do a presentation,” or “actively listen,” but how to suss out the communication style of others, and relate to them i

1. Communication Skills - not just “how to do a presentation,” or “actively listen,” but how to suss out the communication style of others, and relate to them in a way that they’ll engage with. Some people are listeners. Some are readers. Some like data. Some want a summary. Some want to know what’s in it for them. Some want to know what’s in it for the team. 2. Defusing conflicts - a decent portion of conflicts come from (in my experience) lack of communication (see #1). 3. Building effective relationships - honestly - I have to work on this one constantly but it helps with #2. 4. Energy management - I also have to work on this one constantly - I used to be able to swing an overnighter and wrap up a project. That worked for a long time, until it didn’t, and I failed, and I questioned my effectiveness as an engineer. Now, having a bunch of projects (some big, some small, some urgent, some important, some necessary but unimportant, etc) being able to recognize signs that I’m in a feedback loop of going too hard, or focusing on the wrong things. 5. Organizational Theory - I’m actively studying this area now. In the last few years I’ve shifted from designing hardware and software systems to setting up or changing teams. 6. Being ruthless about focus and saying no - I could use some tips here. A while ago I wrote that I wanted to be the “go-to” person for a subject. Now that I am, sometimes I question how to balance sharing expertise while still getting what’s most important (to me) done. :-)

jvanderbot 4y ago
My god it's all the things I do every day, and I didn't even realize it. And I bet I'm just awful at it without even knowing it! Great list.
- mikehollinger 4y ago
  > My god it's all the things I do every day, and I didn't even realize it. And I bet I'm just awful at it without even knowing it! Great list. Thanks. I really love the prompt / question. I jokingly call the above "superpowers," but I'll be blunt: By paying attention to the above you'll be a little bit better than those that don't. And with such a low bar, you'll be a force multiplier for good. Even a little bit is better than doing nothing (a waste), or causing drama (actively bad). When combined with an understanding of systems and engineering practice, it's a really, really good combination.
redpenguin101 4y ago
Do you have any recommended materials for gaining skill in organizational theory?
- mikehollinger 4y ago
  > Do you have any recommended materials for gaining skill in organizational theory? Absolutely. First, start with Manager Tools [1]. This is my go-to for stuff a couple of times a week. Start with their "getting started" page and they map out how effective relationships work within an effective organization. Second, have a look at Peter Drucker. Depending on where you want to go, he's probably literally written a book on the topic. The Effective Executive [2] might be useful, depending on your job. I haven't read his others. Third, tangentially, is Good Strategy / Bad Strategy, by Richard Rumelt [3]. It's not organizational theory, but its adjacent, in that it pretty ruthlessly dissects good and bad strategies for various organizations and entities, and tries to summarize what a "good" strategy looks like if you have to form one, or what a "bad" strategy looks like if you're subject to one. I link to a video here because the guy's a great speaker, and for us here, he looks (in 2011) at why NVIDIA was dominating the market at the time. :-) Skip to 47m 06 seconds for the NVIDIA bit. As an aside, the way he explains the 3D marketplace, and -gets it right- makes me trust everything else he wrote. He explains how 3DFX was crushed. Along with everyone else. He explains how NVIDIA's simulators, and driver expertise helped them to fundamentally disrupt the market. And then continue to stay ahead of it, and eventually become multiples bigger than Intel, who at the time was the behemoth in the space. [1] https://manager-tools.com/get-started https://manager-tools.com/get-started [2] https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-effective-executive-peter-f-drucker https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-effective-executi... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZrTl16hZdk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZrTl16hZdk <-- 90 minute video, but he narrates a lot of the points from the book.
- bradwood 4y ago
  If you're in software, check out Team Topologies.
  - mikehollinger 4y ago
chris-laffra 4y ago
See: C4E - Communication for Engineers. https://chrislaffra.com/c4e https://chrislaffra.com/c4e

jvanderbot 4y ago

My god it's all the things I do every day, and I didn't even realize it. And I bet I'm just awful at it without even knowing it! Great list.

mikehollinger 4y ago
> My god it's all the things I do every day, and I didn't even realize it. And I bet I'm just awful at it without even knowing it! Great list. Thanks. I really love the prompt / question. I jokingly call the above "superpowers," but I'll be blunt: By paying attention to the above you'll be a little bit better than those that don't. And with such a low bar, you'll be a force multiplier for good. Even a little bit is better than doing nothing (a waste), or causing drama (actively bad). When combined with an understanding of systems and engineering practice, it's a really, really good combination.

redpenguin101 4y ago

Do you have any recommended materials for gaining skill in organizational theory?

mikehollinger 4y ago
> Do you have any recommended materials for gaining skill in organizational theory? Absolutely. First, start with Manager Tools [1]. This is my go-to for stuff a couple of times a week. Start with their "getting started" page and they map out how effective relationships work within an effective organization. Second, have a look at Peter Drucker. Depending on where you want to go, he's probably literally written a book on the topic. The Effective Executive [2] might be useful, depending on your job. I haven't read his others. Third, tangentially, is Good Strategy / Bad Strategy, by Richard Rumelt [3]. It's not organizational theory, but its adjacent, in that it pretty ruthlessly dissects good and bad strategies for various organizations and entities, and tries to summarize what a "good" strategy looks like if you have to form one, or what a "bad" strategy looks like if you're subject to one. I link to a video here because the guy's a great speaker, and for us here, he looks (in 2011) at why NVIDIA was dominating the market at the time. :-) Skip to 47m 06 seconds for the NVIDIA bit. As an aside, the way he explains the 3D marketplace, and -gets it right- makes me trust everything else he wrote. He explains how 3DFX was crushed. Along with everyone else. He explains how NVIDIA's simulators, and driver expertise helped them to fundamentally disrupt the market. And then continue to stay ahead of it, and eventually become multiples bigger than Intel, who at the time was the behemoth in the space. [1] https://manager-tools.com/get-started https://manager-tools.com/get-started [2] https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-effective-executive-peter-f-drucker https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-effective-executi... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZrTl16hZdk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZrTl16hZdk <-- 90 minute video, but he narrates a lot of the points from the book.
bradwood 4y ago
If you're in software, check out Team Topologies.
- mikehollinger 4y ago

chris-laffra 4y ago

See: C4E - Communication for Engineers. https://chrislaffra.com/c4e https://chrislaffra.com/c4e