Hacker News with Generative AI: Management

Work-Life Balance as a Manager (yusufaytas.com)
As an IC, you close your laptop at 6 PM, log off, and forget about the work unless you are oncall.  As a manager, you check Slack at 10 PM because someone might need you. Your calendar looks like there’s no time to do anything and you haven’t had an actual deep focus hour in weeks. Sounds familiar? Welcome to management, where your time is no longer yours. Or is it?
Management, Work-Life Balance, Time Management
10 points by jatwork 1 day ago | 0 comments
The CTO Graveyard: 7 Archetypes That Always Fail [video] (youtube.com)
Leadership, Technology, Business, Video, Management
3 points by avivby 3 days ago | 0 comments
Walking the Doge (thedailywtf.com)
One thing I've learned by going through our reader submissions over the years is that WTFs never start with just one mistake. They're a compounding sequence of systemic failures. When we have a "bad boss" story, where an incompetent bully puts an equally incompetent sycophant in charge of a project, it's never just about the bad boss- it's about the system that put the bad boss in that position.
Software Development, Management, Humor
7 points by askl 3 days ago | 0 comments
Yes you built that but at what cost? (abhinavomprakash.com)
You tighten the last screw on the bridge. Feeling triumphant you raise your hands and cheer. Your crew cheers. The bridge is five years too late but it is done. The people you started with are no longer with you. But they were traitors and disloyal people. “Tough times don’t last, tough people do” you utter to yourself, rationalizing the loss of your entire team.
Management, Leadership, Team Dynamics, Success, Cost
9 points by lazyfolder 4 days ago | 0 comments
Ask HN: How to handle pushback on a team switch? (ycombinator.com)
Here's an _imaginary_ but common scenario in the corp tech hemisphere:<p>VP: Gives the IC a dubious signal about a promo in the next cycle, mentioning tenure, budget constraints, or something incredibly vague.<p>IC: Lets go of the promo and seeks to switch teams at the same level in search of more interesting work and possibly to avoid a similar situation in the next cycle.<p>VP: Feels betrayed, claiming they were working hard on the promo case and that it might have happened
Career Advice, Team Dynamics, Software Engineering, Management
38 points by rednafi 15 days ago | 46 comments
DOGE Staff Had Questions About the 'Resign' Email. Their HR Chief Dodged Them (wired.com)
On Friday, staff at what was formerly the United States Digital Service and is now part of Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative met with Stephanie Holmes, who identified herself as a part of the DOGE team and as the staff’s new HR representative.
Elon Musk, DOGE, HR, Staff, Management
66 points by impish9208 19 days ago | 13 comments
Beat the Drum (dannyguo.com)
My former COO gave me a piece of advice when I became a manager. He said that leaders have to deliver the same message again and again and again to make sure it gets through to everyone in the organization.
Leadership, Management, Communication
25 points by dguo 20 days ago | 4 comments
How to work effectively with contract developers (medium.com)
Recently, a friend reached out because his startup had hired a contract development firm to build a new feature. He wanted advice on how to ensure the project’s success. Having managed many teams that included contract developers, I shared what I’ve learned over the years.
Software Development, Management, Contract Work, Startups
7 points by dlevine 21 days ago | 1 comments
Soviet Shoe Factory Principle (wiki.c2.com)
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History, Business, Management, Technology
201 points by dccoolgai 22 days ago | 146 comments
Ask HN: How to explain to execs why gen AI hasn't 10x'd feature dev (ycombinator.com)
Our senior eng team has found that gen AI tools like GPT and Claude haven't significantly reduced the time required to develop features in our system.
Generative AI, Software Development, Management
14 points by macphisto178 25 days ago | 27 comments
Creativity vs. Toil (numeric.substack.com)
A significant part of being a good software engineer, as well as a good engineering manager, involves understanding the psychology that plays out for an individual developer.
Software Engineering, Psychology, Management
8 points by bihla 28 days ago | 0 comments
Hidden Champions (wikipedia.org)
Hidden champions are relatively small but highly successful companies that are concealed behind a curtain of inconspicuousness, invisibility, and sometimes secrecy.
Business, Companies, Success, Management
9 points by aragonite 30 days ago | 1 comments
Brainwash an Executive Today (mataroa.blog)
A few years ago, I had an annual one-on-one with the Chief Technology Officer of an employer with more than ten thousand staff.
Management, Leadership, Humor, Technology
43 points by Tomte 38 days ago | 2 comments
Valve Handbook for New Employees (2012) [pdf] (akamaihd.net)
Valve, Gaming, Business, Management, Human Resources
4 points by Rygian 38 days ago | 0 comments
Cascading OKRs: We can do Better (jessitron.com)
OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) are a framework for validating alignment through the organization. As a company, as a department, as a team: what are we focused on this quarter? What are we trying to make true?
Business, Management, OKRs
32 points by zdw 39 days ago | 10 comments
Bottleneck Dirty Webs (staysaasy.com)
Delegation, specialization, and federation are critical to scaling companies. But scaling doesn’t mean stepping back from everything. Especially for unsavory, cross-functional, time intensive tasks, leaders should position themselves as bottlenecks - owners that feel pressure when the work grows too much, forcing them to find ways to push back on the growth in time and effort.
Management, Scaling, Leadership, Startups
4 points by Garbage 39 days ago | 0 comments
Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior PM? (ycombinator.com)
Inspired by this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42656184<p>I'm starting a new job in a few days as a senior PM at a ~1000 person company, but I've never been a PM before. My career path has been: PhD -> Engineer -> Founder.
Management, Career Advice, Startups, Software Development
61 points by LifeIsBio 41 days ago | 48 comments
Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer? (ycombinator.com)
I'm switching companies, onboarding a team in a senior position. I would like to approach my entrance in a more deliberate manner than I did on the past.
Software Engineering, Career Advice, Onboarding, Management
117 points by rolothrow 41 days ago | 66 comments
Ask HN: Who is accountable for cloud costs in your org? (ycombinator.com)
Ask HN: Who is accountable for cloud costs in your org?
Cloud Computing, Finance, Management, Business
9 points by devashish86 43 days ago | 19 comments
Why are corporations cutting managers? (arnoldkling.substack.com)
Business, Management, Economy
78 points by mooreds 45 days ago | 58 comments
Conscious unbossing (robertwalters.co.uk)
Over half of Gen-Z professionals don’t want to take on a middle management role in their career.
Management, Generation Z, Career
113 points by gpi 48 days ago | 121 comments
The Art and Science of Mess Management (1981) [pdf] (systemswisdom.com)
Art, Science, Organization, Management, PDFs
61 points by yamrzou 48 days ago | 8 comments
The Peter Principle still resonates (cbc.ca)
Published in 1969, The Peter Principle skewered corporate culture decades before Dilbert and The Office became pop culture hits. While it was written as satire, researchers have looked into the treatise to see what can be done to prevent workers from rising to their level of incompetence.
Business, Culture, Management, Satire, Psychology
81 points by empressplay 49 days ago | 75 comments
Ask HN: Moving from an IC Role to Vice President at a young age, any advice? (ycombinator.com)
Long story short, I currently work at a big tech firm (synonymous with a rainforest) on a fast growing cloud product as a solutions architect.
Career Advice, Management, Tech Industry, Leadership
5 points by sfredd 50 days ago | 12 comments
McKinsey, technocratic management, and structural inequality (theatlantic.com)
Technocratic management, no matter how brilliant, cannot unwind structural inequalities.
Management, Inequality, Business, Social Issues
40 points by lifeisstillgood 53 days ago | 13 comments
Complain and Propose (2014) (tidyfirst.substack.com)
"Jean-Louis wants to see you in his office." My boss Eagle Burns' bald head disappeared from the door to my office. Something about his tone suggested that righteous indignation, which I had been nursing for several days, was not the right attitude to pack for my trip. I started getting scared.
Work Culture, Short Stories, Management
90 points by zdw 55 days ago | 31 comments
Time for a code-yellow?: A blunt instrument that works (nilam.ca)
I promised myself never again. Never again would I call a code-yellow. Code-yellows suck, drain team morale, and they leave a lingering distaste amongst all those involved. Yet, during my 8-years at Instacart, they were our most effective and consistent weapon in ensuring we made meaningful progress on our hairiest problems.
Management, Code Reviews, Team Dynamics, Software Development
64 points by BerislavLopac 66 days ago | 114 comments
Parkinson's Law: It’s real, so use it (theengineeringmanager.substack.com)
Parkinson's Law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."
Productivity, Time Management, Management
255 points by thunderbong 70 days ago | 171 comments
The slow death of the hands-on engineering manager (zaidesanton.substack.com)
95% of engineering managers wish to write more code, but feel they just can’t. Today I’m going to share 2 ideas you can implement with only a few hours a week, that will be a huge help for your dev team.
Software Engineering, Management, Productivity, Work-Life Balance
100 points by Liriel 72 days ago | 63 comments
How Networks of Competence Are Crushing Hierarchies of Authority (forbes.com)
Around 2016, Amazon created a team to build an app for all its drivers that would integrate all of the information about delivery schedules, weather, traffic, routes, and the eventual delivery sites.
Management, Business, Technology, Leadership, Networks
20 points by RyeCombinator 73 days ago | 5 comments