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45 links, first saved July 15, 2018, latest October 18, 2026.
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- Speeding up code review with `small-change` | Irrational Exuberance
- Revised rules of engineering leadership. | Irrational Exuberance
- "Good engineering management" is a fad | Irrational Exuberance
Will Larson with a great article talking about something I've observed and adapted to, but not articulated nearly as well as him. Excuse the lengthy excerpt: In each of these…
- Career advice in 2025. | Irrational Exuberance
- 2024 in review. | Irrational Exuberance
- No Wrong Doors | Irrational Exuberance
I had not heard of this No Wrong Doors approach but I like the approach. I've seen issues like this many times in my own organizations. The internal operations of a large team are…
- Notes on how to use LLMs in your product. | Irrational Exuberance
Will Larson shares his "notes" as he has been working on adding LLM capabilities to products. There are some really good thoughts here that should help product people figure out…
- Predictability. | Irrational Exuberance
- Notes on Enterprise Architecture as Strategy | Irrational Exuberance
Will Larson commenting on Enterprise Architecture as Strategy by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David C Robertson. Some very good frameworks here for technology leaders.
- The Engineering executive’s role in hiring. | Irrational Exuberance
- Building personal and organizational prestige | Irrational Exuberance
- How to plan as an engineering executive. | Irrational Exuberance
Another great post from Larson this time about three core planning processes that teams need to engage in. As you take these ideas into your next planning process, my biggest hope…
- Onboarding peer executives. | Irrational Exuberance
Like much of Larson's writing this is exceptionally well thought out. While intended to be an onboarding tool for a peer, this is a great article to use for yourself to cover the…
- Setting engineering org values. | Irrational Exuberance
Another great post from Larson on something that I've personally had some experience with as well. At SPS we have Technology Principles to serve the function that Larson describes…
- Internal comms for executives. | Irrational Exuberance
Great approach to communication for leaders.
- Meetings for an effective eng organization. | Irrational Exuberance
Larson again with a great overview of core meetings to run an effective engineering organization. I would agree with nearly everything he has included in here, and have done much…
- Make an effective executive LinkedIn profile. | Irrational Exuberance
- Getting a job as an engineering executive. | Irrational Exuberance
- Measuring an engineering organization.
- When shouldn't you roll out business reviews?
- Company, team, self. | Irrational Exuberance
Larson reflecting that you must thing about the humans in mix, and what brings them energy, as you think about the priority of the work that you tackle. Back to the main topic:…
- Twitter. | Irrational Exuberance
Larson joined Twitter in March 2007. I joined in December 2006, 4 months earlier. But who's counting. 🤓 Larson explains the various periods of Twitter very well. I remember many…
- Reminiscing: the retreat to comforting work. | Irrational Exuberance
I like Larson's framing here, "reminiscing". it sounds so much more appropriate than other more negative terms. I would suggest that everyone goes to this kind of "reminiscing"…
- One-on-ones with executives.
I’m a fan of Larson's writing and was particularly curious when I saw this one. His previous article on presenting to executives is spot on. I found his ontology of types of…
- Bar raisers, hiring committees, and other complex ways to improve hiring quality.
- Inspection and the limits of trust.
- How to safely think in systems | Irrational Exuberance
I've read Thinking in Systems myself but this article makes me want to re-read it (and maybe Don't Think of an Elephant ). The callouts to three issues to watch for in Systems…
- Can senior leaders make friends at work? | Irrational Exuberance
I can definitely relate to the central theme of this article. I’ve also found that tenured managers eventually run into perspective-altering events at work that make them cautious…
- An interlude. | Irrational Exuberance
I have shared a good number of posts from Will Larson's blog and I enjoyed his book An Elegant Puzzle . This post is a personal story about suffering a stroke. It’s hard to say…
- Mailbag: How to deal with unhappy users on your Internal platform?
Great topic and interesting to hear Larson's take on this. His solution? Often when folks are frustrated with lack of power, it turns out to be an interface design issue, and I…
- Self-publishing Staff Engineer.
Will Larson shares the nitty gritty details of self-publishing his own book. If you are considering writing and publishing your own book, this is a great resource to frame up how…
- How to present to executives. | Irrational Exuberance
- Write five, then synthesize: good engineering strategy is boring.
Creating an engineering strategy can be very daunting. It is hard to build consensus, and you particularly struggle with it being done from the inside and missing market input.…
- Using QR Codes in printed books.
I found this interesting since I have an idea someday to publish my links in a book each year and having a QR code next to each one would be an obvious thing to do.
- Performative leadership.
- Stuff I've learned about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion over the past few years.
Will Larson with another solid post this time reflecting on work that he has seen and done on diversity. A very solid read for leaders to reflect on themselves.
- Trapped in a Values Oasis. — Irrational Exuberance
Will Larson talking to something I've seen, and even personally struggled with at times. I have also come to appreciate how using it in the wrong circumstances can create a…
- To lead, you have to follow.
Short, but powerful message for anyone in a leadership role. I think this is one that is often overlooked too. Something that perhaps you only get after messing up more than a…
- Staff engineer archetypes.
Super interesting deep dive on some specific variants (archetypes) of the staff engineering role. Worth reading and considering as a way of expressing the specific types of…
- Share stories, not advice.
I have also done this for a while now. I think it is a much better approach. Your advice is based on your experiences, and your specific strengths and weaknesses. Sharing a story,…
- Maintaining platform-product fit.
I read this article and felt I had lived it a few times. Larson's observation here on the formation point of a platform and then the struggle as other capabilities get built on…
- Your first 90 days as CTO or VP Engineering.
Seriously good advise for entering a new role as a leader.
- 2019 in review.
- An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Eng Management.
This looks like a very good book. I have a few copies on the way to the office. Thanks to Sam Pierson for the link.
- Sizing engineering teams
Good overview of how to think about team size. I’d agree with all of it. These questions were the gateway to the obscure art of organizational design. As I've gotten more…