When you face a tricky professional challenge, chances are high that many of your peers are facing the same thing. At thoughtbot we believe we can save someone a step or two by sharing our experiences and findings publicly, and we often do this through the blog. (Hi, you’re here now!)
And honestly, writing through challenges ends up serving us and our clients well when we face the same situation again in the future. In the thoughtbot Slack you’ll often see someone asking something like “Does anyone remember what that blog post was about avoiding DMs?” or “Do we still have that workshop we ran about technical debt?” or “I could really use that article about why story points are a waste of time!”.
The learnings we share can really run the gamut. A few recent examples of blog posts include everything from how to save disk space (coming soon!), to how to use AI to generate images for conference talks, to how to facilitate great ice breakers for meetings.
Go-to articles for tech team leadership
There are some materials (blog posts, playbook chapters, workshops, guides) we point to time and time again when helping team leaders mature their team and processes. If we’re regularly referencing these resources, we thought you might be as well. We’ve put them together on a dedicated resource page. Consider it the level-up library for your team.
We’ve organized the resource page into the three major areas of focus for tech leadership:
Product delivery and processes - Product delivery is always top of mind for leadership responsible for meeting business goals. You’re under constant pressure to deliver more, faster. Our team provides some guidance on how to balance new feature work with sustainable processes and good documentation.
Tech decisions - While some major tech decision themes stay consistent throughout the years, how you address them is always evolving.
Communication and culture - One of the most important facets of any leadership role is to create a healthy space for your team members to collaborate, be fulfilled in their work, and grow in their careers. A strong product team culture not only leads to successful products that solve real problems, it leads to empowered individuals who can go on to do powerful things.
These guides come directly from our own experiences working with client teams, questions we get at events and mentorship sessions, as well as situations we’ve worked through at thoughtbot.
Check out the resource page and let us know if any of your favorite thoughtbot posts need to be included! For leaders who care about quality code and continuous improvement, it can be a go-to onboarding guide and bookmark for your teammates.