3 ms·

I feel like these are the type of documents that are written to be written and not to be read. Naturally a "strategy" document is read (and more importantly fol

by msoad 4y ago

I feel like these are the type of documents that are written to be written and not to be read. Naturally a "strategy" document is read (and more importantly followed) by everyone. But I've never seen something that happen in a large organization. Team do their own thing disregarding most of what the leader on top decided should happen. The leader is too busy to involve themselves with actual everyday work. The only actionable item is resource allocations coming out of those strategy documents. The rest is pretty much fluff.

seb1204 4y ago
Well, in my view the leader you described is a manager and not a (servant) leader that is supporting his team.
ketzo 4y ago
I think another, underrated benefit is having something to point at for new people. When an engineer joins the team 6 months into the project, it's important for them to have context on why you're doing what you're doing. Even if you have to qualify it with a bunch of "oh yeah, we're not doing X and Y, and we're doing a different version of Z," it's really nice to get an overview.
simonw 4y ago
My favourite piece of writing about engineering management, bizarrely, is this: The Eleven Laws of Showrunning http://okbjgm.weebly.com/uploads/3/1/5/0/31506003/11_laws_of_showrunning_nice_version.pdf http://okbjgm.weebly.com/uploads/3/1/5/0/31506003/11_laws_of... It's about running a TV show - which has to be one of the most challenging management exercises out there: you have a limited budget, a hard deadline, activist investors ("the network"), you need to recruit 100+ different people in a very short amount of time... and you're also expected to write the first and last episode of the series too! The reason this document is relevant here is that the it talks about the importance of having a clear vision. If you can express a clear vision for the show, you can then distribute that vision amongst your lieutenants - who are then empowered to go and make good decisions without you having to micromanage every step. To my mind, this is the value of strategy and vision documents: they're about helping people in your organization make good decisions independently of top-level leadership.
- bcherny 4y ago
  This advice is for a very specific situation: when there is time pressure to get something done, staff to do it, and the end product has to be thought through more upfront than iterated towards. You’ll recognize this isn’t always the case in tech. Your startup may not know what to build yet and is simply exploring the problem space as quickly as possible; your team may not be staffed up yet; your team may be staffed and very senior, which requires a peer relationship instead of delegation; etc. The skill of a good leader is to match their approach to the situation.
- jfoutz 4y ago
  That is a fantastic doc. It's thoughtful and kind hearted. it puts the focus and responsibility for work right where it needs to be. You could almost say, it's just express the vision and delegate. But the devil is in the details, and there is a deep fear details are what kills you. This actually provides a path to responsibly delegate those details. Great great write up. Obviously it's about making a tv show, but pretty much all of that is applicable to any leader.
deleted 4y ago
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Aeolun 4y ago
I dunno, I’d be happy to get some idea of the priorities of the people on top. If I disagree with my management chain and know the CTO ultimately wants a specific thing to happen, then I can happily escalate until it reaches his desk.
ip26 4y ago
Ideally they don’t need to be read, because they are lived and become the culture. But the document can help clarity of thought and bring in new hires.
jatins 4y ago
Even in this article it feels like the author admits that this document needs to be written just because _somebody_ wants it > Once you become an engineering executive, an invisible timer starts ticking in the background. Tick tick tick. At some point that timer will go off, at which point someone will rush up to you demanding an engineering strategy. It won’t be clear what they mean, but they will want it, really, really badly.

by msoad 4y ago

seb1204 4y ago

Well, in my view the leader you described is a manager and not a (servant) leader that is supporting his team.

ketzo 4y ago

I think another, underrated benefit is having something to point at for new people. When an engineer joins the team 6 months into the project, it's important for them to have context on why you're doing what you're doing. Even if you have to qualify it with a bunch of "oh yeah, we're not doing X and Y, and we're doing a different version of Z," it's really nice to get an overview.

simonw 4y ago

My favourite piece of writing about engineering management, bizarrely, is this: The Eleven Laws of Showrunning http://okbjgm.weebly.com/uploads/3/1/5/0/31506003/11_laws_of_showrunning_nice_version.pdf http://okbjgm.weebly.com/uploads/3/1/5/0/31506003/11_laws_of... It's about running a TV show - which has to be one of the most challenging management exercises out there: you have a limited budget, a hard deadline, activist investors ("the network"), you need to recruit 100+ different people in a very short amount of time... and you're also expected to write the first and last episode of the series too! The reason this document is relevant here is that the it talks about the importance of having a clear vision. If you can express a clear vision for the show, you can then distribute that vision amongst your lieutenants - who are then empowered to go and make good decisions without you having to micromanage every step. To my mind, this is the value of strategy and vision documents: they're about helping people in your organization make good decisions independently of top-level leadership.

bcherny 4y ago
This advice is for a very specific situation: when there is time pressure to get something done, staff to do it, and the end product has to be thought through more upfront than iterated towards. You’ll recognize this isn’t always the case in tech. Your startup may not know what to build yet and is simply exploring the problem space as quickly as possible; your team may not be staffed up yet; your team may be staffed and very senior, which requires a peer relationship instead of delegation; etc. The skill of a good leader is to match their approach to the situation.
jfoutz 4y ago
That is a fantastic doc. It's thoughtful and kind hearted. it puts the focus and responsibility for work right where it needs to be. You could almost say, it's just express the vision and delegate. But the devil is in the details, and there is a deep fear details are what kills you. This actually provides a path to responsibly delegate those details. Great great write up. Obviously it's about making a tv show, but pretty much all of that is applicable to any leader.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Aeolun 4y ago

I dunno, I’d be happy to get some idea of the priorities of the people on top. If I disagree with my management chain and know the CTO ultimately wants a specific thing to happen, then I can happily escalate until it reaches his desk.

ip26 4y ago

Ideally they don’t need to be read, because they are lived and become the culture. But the document can help clarity of thought and bring in new hires.

jatins 4y ago

Even in this article it feels like the author admits that this document needs to be written just because _somebody_ wants it > Once you become an engineering executive, an invisible timer starts ticking in the background. Tick tick tick. At some point that timer will go off, at which point someone will rush up to you demanding an engineering strategy. It won’t be clear what they mean, but they will want it, really, really badly.