Guilherme Coelho

Incorrect Generalizations with Amitai: einfach = simple vielfach = complicated nullfach = impossible

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From: CEO, To: CPTO Subject: Headcount Freeze... Your mind races as you consider how you are going to hit targets. A sense of panic sets in. What about my open VP Engineering (VPE) vacancy? That one can't be frozen. Surely not... You call your CEO. → 𝗖𝗣𝗧𝗢: Hi Charlotte, Just got your message. I intend to progress with the VPE hire as agreed last week. → 𝗖𝗘𝗢: I'm glad you called. I wanted to discuss that role in person. The VPE is included in the freeze. -- 😱 You are speechless You are from a product background A small "t" CPTO You 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 a VPE to help mature engineering and ensure technology is having as much 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 as possible. You have enough challenges to deal with in product. This was acknowledged and agreed with the board You are not sure how much longer you can cope without a VPE -- → 𝗖𝗘𝗢: Can the Engineering Managers help? → 𝗖𝗣𝗧𝗢: I don't think so. We did not expand this layer as our team grew. We should have but we didn't get budget approval. This has left Engineering Managers with large remits and workloads are becoming unmanageable. Furthermore, Tech Leads are now expected to line manage, many of them doing this for the first time. Engineering Managers are spending the vast majority of time supporting first time managers. They are operational I need strategic. Hence the VPE. → 𝗖𝗘𝗢: Do you have any other suggestions? → 𝗖𝗣𝗧𝗢: I'll have a think and get back to you. -- 🌟 Hi CPtO 👋 I'm Ryan, The Product Minded CTO and I am going to take your pain away. Budgets are tight. I get it. What if I told you that access to 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻, 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹, 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 engineering 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 can be achieved for a 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 of the 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 of your proposed perm VPE? 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 → 𝗖𝗣𝗧𝗢 How does it work? I'll come into your organisation several times a week and lead engineering for you. • I'll seek to understand your business goals and assess current state of engineering • Work with the engineering managers to create an engineering strategy that unlocks your desired outcomes • Train your Tech Leads how to be great people managers and team leaders 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲… → 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 are inspired, aligned and performing to a high standard → 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 right sized enabling you to work effectively at scale → 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 an asset rather than a liability. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻... • Innovation driving top line growth • Costs actively managed • Risk within appetite. 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 • Flexible (I'll stay as long as you are getting value) • Affordable (No bonus, equity, benefits) • No long term headcount commitment • Outcome focussed • Can start tomorrow! 𝗗𝗠 "𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣" to continue the conversation

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Nature is healing: https://lnkd.in/dztKzJw4

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Excited to be at LeadDev Berlin for the first time! Chatting with other lead devs and engineering managers, I've noticed a pattern: Tech decisions: We all struggle with choosing the right stack. It's not just about the coolest tech, but what fits our teams and projects best. People management: As technical folks, we often find the "people" part challenging. Balancing coding time with leadership duties is a common hurdle. Imposter syndrome: Many of us feel we're not 'manager material'. It's reassuring to know I'm not alone in this. It's comforting to realize these aren't unique problems. We're all figuring it out as we go. What's your biggest challenge as a tech leader? #LeadDevBerlin

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Systems > SMART goals - especially in software development In April, I participated in the Berlin company run for the second time. So I was interested to see how I did compared to last year. I don't use Strava or heart rate monitors much, so I didn't know what to expect. Still, I was pretty sure I could beat last year's performance. That's because I've been doing a variety of workouts 5 times a week for the past few months. 📌 Set up a good system and the score takes care of itself The same goes for software development. If you want to increase your test coverage, start pair or ensemble programming on tests. If you want to get better at public speaking, find ways to practice in meetups and team all-hands. If you want to make progress on your project, start with a workshop and have regular discussions on Slack and in meetings. SMART goals makes sense when you have predictable processes. I don't find that useful in software development or in my personal life. And not motivating either.

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Scaling culture through 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 and 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 with minimal friction. "People are not behaving as we expect" A common observation from execs in scaling companies. Let's stop for a moment. Has anyone explicitly shared the current culture? Culture, simply put, is the "way things work around here" If culture is not explicitly defined. People pick up on culture through observation: → Who gets acclaim and promotions? → Leadership values and behaviour → Who gets fired → Process However, as companies scale, observation alone breaks down: → Rapid influx of people from differing cultures can cause friction → Company leaders are less visible day to day → Opaque staffing decisions → Process misunderstood 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 Culture becomes diluted or misaligned to the original intent. Frustration all around 𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀? 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 and 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 - beliefs that are deemed important 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 - rules of thumb that guide decision making A quick example from Apple. Value        → Design Principle  → Attention to detail 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 Don't be tempted to directly copy from a successful company. You are not Apple. Think carefully about your own beliefs and principles as a leadership team. What has driven your success so far? 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Several years ago the company I was working for got acquired. New CEO comes in and makes the culture we can expect explicit. This is how I run the business: • 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 and why • 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 and how they have been helpful   Furthermore they had some additional performance principals that outlined valued behaviours. The result? 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 People understood the rules. Are your cultural ideals explicit or implicit?

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Give Rails a chance, or if not, at least watch DHH's highly entertaining and inspiring RailsWorld keynote about Rails 8, especially if you are in the web development business. The sentiments about simplicity and developer empowerment really resonated with me. Even if you don't adopt Rails, it seems important to question assumptions about what modern web development is, whether it needs to be so complicated, and what effect that has on business. I'm excited to build something again...with Rails. https://lnkd.in/ggkYzjhe

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OKRs and OKR systems kill companies: 🍋 They produce misleading and irrelevant "information". 🍋 They consume lots of money and lots of time. 🍋 They induce gaming, fear and lack of transparency. 🍋 They obfuscate performance. 🍋 They deviate attention from the business. There is a better way of designing performance systems that: 🌶 requires no planning or budgeting 🌶 requires no target-setting or target negotiation 🌶 eliminates "fake indicators", "cumulative indicators" and other BS 🌶 makes team performance comparable to other teams' performance 🌶 makes company performance comparable to external benchmarks 🌶 actually puts decision-making power back where it belongs: into teams that do the work 🌶 makes books "open", produces and maintains transparency, forever 🌶 makes reporting fast and understandable 🌶 reduces cost of reporting and performance measurement by 80 to 90%, easily This way of designing performance systems is called #RelativeTargets. Every organization can do it. Every organization #should do it. There are decades of research behind it and case studies from some of the world's best companies, including Toyota, Handelsbanken, dm-drogerie markt, Buurtzorg and MorningStar. 🥕 Learn about Relative Targets here: www.relativetargets.com 🥕 Read a white paper: https://lnkd.in/eepYvg2f 🥕 Watch an intro video: https://lnkd.in/eMhNB3Dc Comments welcome!

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What do users want from Bonterms? That when they send out a Standard Agreement it's quickly accepted by the other side. That's why for our Cloud Terms (SaaS) we: • started from a template that had already supported billions in SaaS revenue • went through six drafts, three sub-committees and multiple meetings over seven months by (our now) 100-lawyer Committee to get the balance right between customer and provider. Our Cloud Terms have been accessed over 26K times and we have all kinds of evidence that we got the balance right (more on that soon). But it's always nice to hear it from someone else: 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝟳𝟬% 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 TermScout (top of the list). ("Customer Favorable" is the coin of the realm in these rankings as they otherwise compare agreements 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘴.) Bonterms Standard Agreements cover the full stack of enterprise commercial transactions and are free to use. Link to the TermScout report and our Standard Agreements below. Have you met your customer (or vendor) on a Standard Agreement yet? #standardagreements #sales #procurement  

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Think building integrations in-house is worth the hassle? Think again. In our latest post, we uncover the hidden costs many teams miss, or discover too late: 😵 Developer resource drain: A production-ready integration often takes months, not weeks, to get right. ⏳ Lower product velocity: A slower time to market can impact customer conversion and satisfaction + lower dev productivity. 🔄 Ongoing maintenance costs: The more APIs you integrate with, the more complex things get—welcome to maintenance hell. We cover these challenges in further detail in the post to help you decide: is in-house worth it? Link in comment 🔗

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Just watched this podcast episode from Aakash Gupta and I've had a major mind shift when Christian Idiodi said, "...many people know how to survive an environment...". I've worked on and led initiatives with clear goals and timelines and but had to suffer [what I perceived] people intentionally sabotaging the work. I've experienced people who intentionally not made themselves available for meetings; given different information to different resources / caused conflict; prioritized their ego over progress and accuracy; manufactured roadblocks and wouldn't help overcome them; modified meeting notes to a point that they no longer reflect what was discussed or decisioned; became upset when milestones were achieved; refused to say "I don't know"; ignored VOC feedback; micromanaged efforts (even when they didn't have the competency to be involved); etc. And, when asking "Why?" to the above behaviors, they'd get upset. Despite being frustrated, my team and I still delivered the product on-time and with high quality because we were focused on the users. Mind you, we had scars and questioned the longevity of our tenure in the environments. But, we got the job done. One thing that I didn't think about was "survivorship". It all makes sense now. #product #trauma #empowerment #learning

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How to implement platform engineering at scale 🚀 I contributed to a panel chat with the talented Daniel Bryant, Franziska Hinkelmann, Ph.D. and Smruti Patel! Not forgetting our awesome host George Peter Hantzaras! Thanks again to Olivia Christian, Agnes Toullec for the opportunity. 🤗 https://lnkd.in/evbF8smT Platform engineering is often seen as ‘the answer’ for orgs who want to scale their cloud presence and increase their overall efficiency. But actually implementing platform engineering isn’t always straightforward - especially for large orgs with legacy systems and ingrained cultures. Learn how you can overcome these challenges... #LeadDev #PlatformEngineering #Panelchat

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Challenges with Storyblok in dev teams? This is how we guide you through. We work closely with development teams and get deep insights into their specific challenges with Storyblok. Even experienced developers sometimes encounter obstacles they can't overcome by themselves, which can raise doubts about Storyblok as a CMS. Here’s our process when developers approach us for assistance: 👉 We actively listen to understand the developers' issues so we can address them effectively. 👉 Then we provide tailored guidance to help developers to solve and overcome these challenges. 👉 We organize weekly calls to continually refine the developers use the platform and to fasten their technical growth. This approach ensures that all team members can use Storyblok efficiently and reliably. What challenges with Storyblok have you faced?

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WTF Google? Aren't you "all-in" when it comes to making PWA discovery and installation easier? 90% of all apps in the app stores could have been a PWA, but it doesn't help if you make decisions like this in the Chrome UI. Please turn back this idiotic decision to have "Install Page as App" & "Install <app-name>" sit under "Cast, save and share" 🤯🤬😱!!! Agree? #pwa #freethepwa #whoneedsgatekeepers #chrome #webapp

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I’m giving away free SaaS coaching—but there’s a twist. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞-𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. Do you know a software team ready for this? I’ve spent years helping SaaS teams build software that sells. As Director of Innovation + UX at one of Germany’s largest SaaS companies, I’ve: 1️⃣ Written 3 books on innovation and workshops. 2️⃣ Run 500+ workshops across 35 countries. 3️⃣ Helped $200M+ products find grow. Now, I’m giving back. I’ll coach 3 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 using my proven growth methods. Here’s the twist: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞-𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞. And others will learn from your journey too. This is for indie-hackers and small SaaS teams ready to experiment, learn, and grow. Know someone who’s up for the challenge? Tag them below or share this post with them. Let’s build software that sells. P.S. Would you join a live-streamed coaching experiment?

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Who can find job on LinkedIn Today: From Developer to C-Level Last week, we finished our 12th LinkedInPUMP group. With this group, we have over 150 participants and an incredibly high NPS. Here are the key conclusions from 12th Group: 1/ Developers and Analysts are in Trend Again! It was amazing to see all the analysts and developers in LinkedInPUMP group getting flooded with messages from recruiters. It’s not just 1, 2, or 5 messages each — it’s 10-20! Now I can say for sure: if you want international job offers in development and analytics, come to me! We hacked the system! 2/ C-Level can get a job only through Networking. Unfortunately, no one in Europe is eager to hire not local COO, CEO, CFO (and also Directors). The only option is proactive networking, using connections with former colleagues, including “Russian-speaking companies.” We found that many C-level professionals do not have clear positioning and personal branding when entering the international market. So by the end of the training, all our C-level participants repackage themselves and find “their niche.” We have a lot of experience in this. 3/ You can promote your Services and work in a company at the same time. What to do if you work in a company and want to earn extra money (by selling services, consulting)? It’s easy - we found a way to combine both, and the system gives very fast results. If you have the desire! 4/ Not only IT specialists can build an International Career. Here is a list of professions that have good chances for European job offers (if experience allows): Project Managers, Product Managers, all types of M&A, all types of marketing, HR (with an advantage for Talent Acquisition and Recruiters), Finance (controlling, treasury), Logistics (a bit harder, but there are options). It’s great that we built a training system where everyone achieves results! In 9 days, we start the LAST LinkedInPUMP group this year! You won’t find a better opportunity — in November, people are still active, so you can grab the last job openings before the New Year holidays. Hurry if you want to get a job offer by spring! Sign up here! https://lnkd.in/efEE2JAf

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I'm very interested in how companies manage to combine business and open source, and this interest has grown since I joined Storyblok. At Storyblok we have an entire team dedicated to open source SDKs, and most of the engineers who build our headless CMS also contribute and maintain our packages. This costs money, of course, and comes with other problems, such as having to maintain not just one product, but a collection of tools exposed to the public, each potentially with its own set of problems and maintenance overhead. Why do we do this? This is not an easy question, and I think many companies and individuals can answer it in different ways. My entire career has been built on open source, so I know many of its benefits, but for a company it's different, and I'm starting to find some interesting answers. For starters, open sourcing our SDKs and tools promotes transparency, allowing developers to understand and trust our integrations. It also fosters innovation through collaboration, leveraging the collective expertise of the global developer community. This accelerates problem solving and creates valuable learning resources for developers at all levels. And engineers are happier when they contribute to open source, which is no small thing. I'm curious, what are your thoughts on the role of open source in business? I will continue my exploration... #opensource #business

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I’ve been thinking a lot about this. The post below highlights a troubling trend: SaaS companies explicitly opting out of serving the EU market because of regulatory challenges. And honestly, I can relate. As an EU citizen, it’s often easier to start something targeted at the US market and distribute it there than it is to operate within Europe. The US market is massive, vibrant, and—crucially—easier to navigate from a regulatory perspective. On the other hand, Europe, with its patchwork of regulations, feels like a minefield. GDPR, while well-intentioned, often becomes a barrier rather than a facilitator for innovation. Take the cookie banners, for example—those intrusive pop-ups we’re forced to navigate on nearly every site. They’ve become a meme at this point, something everyone ignores or blindly clicks through. What’s the point of regulations like this if they alienate users and stifle innovation while doing little to actually protect privacy? We’re seeing innovation bypass Europe. How did it come to this? Where is Europe heading if the cost of compliance outweighs the reward of serving the market? It’s sad to see, but it’s the reality we’re living in. Unless something changes, I fear this trend will only accelerate. Europe needs to rethink its approach if it wants to compete on the global innovation stage. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Have you had similar experiences, or do you see a way forward?

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Here at willhaben talking to experts about Architectural Decision Records and how modern software is built 🚀 - with Katrin Freihofner Fabian Friedl Checkout Straion 😉 if you are interested in making smart decisions! #software #decisions #architecture #process

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