#204 - Stop Inflicting Daily Standups and Computer Science Riddles on Your Devs - David Guttman

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Feb 3, 2025

David Guttman, a seasoned developer and consultant, presents his innovative ideas on effective engineering management. He argues that daily standups are overrated and offers alternatives for better collaboration. Guttman challenges the '10x engineer' myth and advocates for realistic hiring practices over outdated computer science riddles. He emphasizes the importance of estimates and treating developers as mature professionals. His insights from 'The Superstruct Manifesto' aim to create high-performing teams through tailored solutions that align with business objectives.

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INSIGHT

Costly Stand-ups and Deeper Problems

Daily stand-ups can be costly, taking time away from deep work.
The supposed benefits of stand-ups, like uncovering blockers, may indicate deeper team issues.

ADVICE

Alternatives to Stand-ups

Avoid blindly copying other companies' practices like daily standups.
Address specific team problems with tailored solutions instead of generic meetings.

ANECDOTE

Asynchronous Accountability System

David Guttman's team uses an asynchronous system for accountability.
It uses AI to verify independent deliverables and follows up on missed plans.

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Are you tired of cargo cult engineering leadership?

In this episode, David Guttman, author of “The Superstruct Manifesto”, shares his intriguing manifesto on building and leading high-performing engineering teams. We explore:

- Why daily standups are overrated and what to do instead
- How to avoid the trap of the "10x engineer" myth
- Why computer science riddles don't belong in your interviews
- The importance of estimates (hint: it's not about the accuracy!)
- How to treat your developers like adults

If you are an engineering leader or founder looking to build a high-performing engineering team, this episode is for you!

Listen out for:
(03:06) Career Turning Points
(07:10) The Meaning Behind Superstruct
(07:44) The Superstruct Manifesto
(09:30) "We Will Not Inflict Daily Standups on Our Devs"
(16:05) Alternatives to Daily Standups
(18:26) Status Report & Accountability
(25:48) "We Will Not Recruit 10x Developers"
(33:19) "We Will Not Test Devs with Computer Science Riddles"
(38:04) Interview Best Practices
(43:12) "We Will Not Let Devs Start without an Estimate"
(51:11) Improving Our Estimates
(53:55) Estimate vs Fixed Deadline
(56:21) 3 Tech Lead Wisdom

David Guttman's Bio
David Guttman is a developer and consultant obsessed with building repeatable systems for recruiting, onboarding, and managing remote software engineers. Over the course of his 20+ years in software development, David has led engineering teams to ship massive and innovative projects, including the content platform that powers Disney.com and StarWars.com (along with over 170 other sites, across dozens of languages and regions); video ad servers that handle over 10 billion requests per day; and an LMS that TIME magazine listed as one of the Best Inventions of the Year 2020. David is also a leader in the tech community.

As the organizer of the monthly event series js.la, the host of the Junior to Senior podcast, and a champion in the Node.js mentorship initiative, he has helped thousands of developers level up. David is the author of two popular JavaScript books, has over 90 open-source packages on npm, and has given talks at tech events and conferences like JSConf and JSFest.

Follow David:
- LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/david-guttman

- Website – david.app

- Superstruct – https://superstruct.tech/

- 📚 Superstruct Manifesto – treatdevslikeadults.com

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