Tech Lead Journal

“If a user is even reading documentation that a technical writer has produced, they’re probably already annoyed." Helen Scott is a technical writer and Java Developer Advocate at JetBrains. In this episode, we discussed many things about technical writing, such as the technical writer role definition, the traits of a good technical writer, and how to create a good technical content, including a few gotchas that a technical writer needs to be aware of. Helen also shared with me the concept of community mentoring, and how it can be helpful for the mentee, the mentor, and the community altogether. Towards the end, Helen shared some content creation and sharing tips/hacks based on her popular blog post. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:46] Technical Writing - [00:10:48] Good Traits of a Technical Writer - [00:14:25] Elements of Good Technical Content - [00:19:59] Inlining Technical Content - [00:25:38] Examples of Good Technical Doc - [00:27:27] Open Sourcing Documentations - [00:29:38] Structure of Good Product Documentation - [00:31:31] Blog Posts to Attract Talent - [00:36:37] Community Mentoring - [00:38:04] Hacks for Content Creation and Sharing - [00:45:25] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:24] _____ Helen Scott’s Bio Helen is a Java Developer Advocate at JetBrains. She has over 20 years’ experience in the software industry which has been gained in a variety of roles including developer, technical writer, product owner, and advocacy. Helen is passionate about the journey of learning and discovery. She enjoys challenging herself to learn new tools and technologies and sharing the highs and inevitable lows of that journey through the content that she creates. Helen believes that the role communication plays throughout our personal and professional lives is critical and often overlooked. She strives to put communication front and centre of all her interactions and loves working with and meeting like-minded people. Follow Helen: Website – https://www.helenjoscott.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/helenjoscott LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenjoscott/ GitHub – https://github.com/helenjoscott Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/29.

“The output of a manager is the output of the manager’s team plus the output of the organization that they influence." James Stanier is the SVP Engineering at Brandwatch and author of “Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager”. In this episode, we explored on how one can become an effective software engineering manager and how to build and run effective engineering teams. We started off by discussing why the tech industry is facing a skill crisis because of the inability of many managers to manage people effectively and the challenges faced by engineers when transitioning to become managers. We then dived deep into the best practices to become an effective manager, such as getting oriented, delegating effectively, letting go of control, and nurturing one-on-ones with your teams. James also pointed out the hardest things that engineering managers have to deal with, which are projects and humans. We then wrapped up with James’ tips on how to handle failures and move forward. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:15] Why Writing Engineering Manager Book - [00:09:08] Skill Crisis in Tech Industry - [00:12:34] Individual Contributor Track - [00:15:33] Getting Oriented Tools - [00:17:45] Effective Manager - [00:21:47] Delegating Effectively - [00:27:06] One-on-Ones - [00:32:10] Projects and Humans Are Hard - [00:38:05] On Project Management - [00:40:26] Letting Go of Control - [00:42:24] Balancing Time - [00:46:49] Managing in Startup vs Enterprise - [00:48:29] Handling Failures - [00:50:24] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:55] _____ James Stanier’s Bio James Stanier is SVP Engineering at Brandwatch. He has built web scale real time data processing pipelines and teams of people: both are equally challenging. He has written about his experiences on his blog The Engineering Manager, and has turned it into a book called “Become An Effective Software Engineering Manager”. Follow James: Website – https://theengineeringmanager.com Twitter – https://twitter.com/jstanier LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanier/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/28.

“I truly believe that what set the superstars or people who are very successful is the ability to tell to themselves to quit. Winners quit fast and quit without guilt." Doron Shachar is an Israeli entrepreneur living in Vietnam over the past 12 years and the founder & CEO of Renova Cloud, an AWS and GCP Consulting Partner in Vietnam. In this episode, we looked at the essence of Israeli entrepreneurship as we first learned about Doron’s childhood & education in Israel and how he built valuable leadership skills throughout his years in the scouts and the army. As we unpacked the Israeli’s approach of problem-solving, risk-taking and overcoming failure, Doron then shared how he ventured into Southeast Asia and ended up staying in Vietnam. We discussed how Vietnam is evolving in terms of technology trends and adoption, including how Vietnamese businesses are adopting cloud as part of their digital transformation. Doron also shared some tips on how entrepreneurs should prepare for a successful venture into Southeast Asia. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:13] Entrepreneurship in Israel - [00:09:58] Entrepreneurship Advice - [00:16:31] Venturing to Vietnam - [00:19:25] Vietnam Among Other SEA Countries - [00:27:15] Vietnam Differentiators - [00:29:52] Cloud Adoption in Vietnam - [00:33:23] Advice to Succeed in Vietnam - [00:38:23] Upcoming Trends in Vietnam - [00:41:20] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:45:04] _____ Doron Shachar’s Bio Doron Shachar founded Jetview Southeast Asia in 2007 to join the fast growth and development of the Vietnamese mobile and telecom market. Under his leadership, Jetview has become a recognized agency and representative for new services and innovative technologies in the emerging Vietnamese market. In 2017, he founded Renova Cloud, an AWS and Google Cloud Consulting Partner with a highly integrated team of skilled engineers, architect and DevOps, providing services towards transition of the legacy workloads to frontline technologies in Cloud, DevOps and Automation. Doron earned a chemical engineering degree from Shenkar University in Israel and an MBA from Boston University in the US. In addition to being an active volunteer for human rights & quality government in Israel, he is also a passionate runner, swimmer, and fan of rock music history. Follow Doron: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/doron-shachar/ Email – doron@renovacloud.com Renova Cloud – https://renovacloud.com/?lang=en Jetview SEA – http://www.jetviewseasia.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/27.

"Most people confuse a technical capability with technology. Ultimately, technology is a technical capability plus the human outcome that it creates." Tim Kobe is a design leader, author, and founder of Eight Inc., a global award-winning strategic design firm also widely recognized as “Apple’s best kept secret”. In this episode, we looked at how successful brands build radical impact by creating ground-breaking human experiences with design. We started off with Tim’s career journey, the founding of Eight Inc., and how he ended up working with Steve Jobs for over 12 years, including coming up with the original design of the iconic Apple’s flagship stores. Tim also shared how he sees Steve Job’s mission to democratize technology and how he helped Apple built a unique branded experience. We then dived deep into Experience Design (XD), starting with understanding the human outcomes to building the strategy and tactics to create value with a unique human experience. We also discussed how Asia is evolving in Experience Design and how COVID has been dramatically changing the world. Tim also spoke about the massive impact of AI & ML that is yet to be witnessed. Towards the end, Tim shared insights about some future trends that he is currently working on to transform the industries and shape the future in human connection from retail, banking, real estate, telecommunication, and even government! Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:29] Apple’s Strong Brand & Best Kept Secret - [00:11:55] Apple Stores Concept - [00:16:20] On Steve Jobs - [00:19:39] Experience Design (XD)- [00:21:14] Design Thinking - [00:27:49] Digital Products & Design - [00:28:59] COVID Impact - [00:32:32] AI/ML in XD - [00:37:08] Asia’s Promise & Notable Brands - [00:44:02] The Future Trends - [00:50:21] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:01] _____ Tim Kobe’s Bio Tim Kobe is a design leader, author, and founder of the globally recognized strategic and experience design firm Eight Inc. For almost 30 years in design and a leader in Innovation and Branded Experience, Eight Inc. has worked with companies such as Apple, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Nike, Coke, Knoll and Citibank. The firm takes on an interdisciplinary and holistic approach, working across traditional disciplines including strategy, architecture, exhibition, interior design, product, communications and branding. Many projects have received international design awards and have been published across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Eight Inc. has studios in San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, Tokyo, London, Singapore, Dubai, Istanbul and across China. Kobe is a keynote speaker and speaks on topics surrounding design, innovation, technology and business valuation for many internationally known forums. He has been featured and recognized for his work in prominent publications like Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, The Economist, Dezeen and Fast Company. Follow Tim: Twitter – https://twitter.com/TimKobe LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkobe/ Email – kobe@eightinc.com Eight Inc – https://eightinc.com/ Our Sponsor Check out Tech Lead Journal cool swags at techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/26.

Sandro Mancuso, a software craftsman and co-founder of Codurance, shares his journey from Brazil to becoming a leader in the tech industry. He discusses the essence of software craftsmanship, advocating for maintainable and adaptable code that developers can trust. Sandro delves into software modernization, emphasizing pragmatic approaches and the necessity for continuous learning and collaboration in tech teams. He also highlights the balance between innovation and practicality, urging technologists to align their work with business objectives while embracing craftsmanship in their careers.

“When you recruit an engineer on your team, you actually want to make sure from their first day on, you give them the smoothest entry into your company and help them and assist them in as many ways as you can to become productive as fast as possible." Tanaka Mutakwa is the VP of Engineering at Names & Faces and the founder of the Tech Leadership community in South Africa. In this episode, Tanaka shared with me his best practices for onboarding new technical hires and developers into the team. We started off by discussing tech landscape, startup scenes, and tech communities in Africa (in particular South Africa). Then we dived deep into the onboarding best practices ranging from technical aspects (such as tools and technologies), domain knowledge, and importance of soft skills. Tanaka also shared with me a lifestyle brand/movement that he has been championing called “NoDaysOff”, which has a mission to inspire people to chase their goals and dreams consistently. Listen out for: Names & Faces - [00:06:06] Career Journey - [00:07:31] Tech Landscape in Africa - [00:13:13] Tech Communities in Africa - [00:19:54] Onboarding New Software Engineers - [00:24:26] Pair Programming - [00:31:36] Importance of Documentation - [00:34:15] Domain Knowledge - [00:36:44] Developers Lack of Interest in Business - [00:38:48] Understanding Tech vs Business Constraints - [00:42:40] Importance of Soft Skills - [00:44:36] Tips for Improving Soft Skills - [00:50:01] NoDaysOff - [00:52:31] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:12] _____ Tanaka Mutakwa’s Bio Tanaka Mutakwa is the VP of Engineering at Names & Faces. His job is to make everyone in the engineering organisation successful by influencing architectural decisions, establishing best practises, setting work cadences and cultural norms and overcoming the issues that get in the way of the team’s success. Tanaka is also the founder of a lifestyle brand / movement called NoDaysOff and the founder / organiser of the Tech Leadership community in South Africa. Follow Tanaka: Website – https://www.mutakwa.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/generalmutakwa LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/trmutakwa/ “The New Developer” newsletter – https://thenewdeveloper.substack.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/24.

“I always deliver myself against these four things: you should stay true to learning; be curious, understand what is going on; optimize for people, don’t optimize for money; and if you want to do something, there’s only one reason to do it, that you want to do it." Ajey Gore is an Operating Partner at Sequoia Capital India who was previously the Group CTO of Gojek. He helped build a strong Gojek engineering team with his passion, strategic insight, and innovative mindset, which was highly crucial in transforming Gojek to become Indonesia’s first decacorn. In this episode, Ajey shared his deep beliefs and motto of “earn people, not money” in various aspects of his career and life. We started from his sharing of his journey at Thoughtworks and what he learned there that helped shape a lot of his growth and leadership. Ajey eventually made a bold move, starting his startup journey which led him to founding CodeIgnition which was then acquired by Gojek. Ajey shared a lot about his exhilarating challenges and journey in Gojek, which includes the different Gojek scale and stages he went through, crucial technologies, and architecture decisions. He also shared his views about hiring and leadership that played critical parts to Gojek’s success. We also discussed briefly the importance of community contributions and his advice for fresh graduates to succeed in their career. At the end, I asked Ajey a philosophical question on how we should figure out what to optimize for in our life and career. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:08:11] Role in Sequoia - [00:10:36] Impact of COVID for Startups - [00:12:20] ThoughtWorks Journey - [00:14:38] Earn People, Not Money - [00:18:38] Moving to Startup - [00:22:34] Starting CodeIgnition - [00:23:50] Acquired by Gojek - [00:26:47] First Role in Gojek - [00:28:31] Gojek Scale and Stages - [00:30:01] Crucial Technologies and Architecture - [00:34:59] On Hiring - [00:39:14] On Leadership - [00:45:19] Community Contributions - [00:47:58] Advice for Fresh Graduates - [00:49:26] What to Optimize in Life - [00:51:27] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:48] _____ Ajey Gore’s Bio Ajey is an Operating Partner - Technology with Sequoia Capital India, based in Singapore. He works closely with Sequoia India and Southeast Asia’s portfolio CTOs and CPOs to provide insight and expertise in building and scaling engineering, data science, product and design functions, and helps them build and mentor high-performing teams across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Sequoia, Ajey was the Group CTO of Gojek. Ajey earlier founded CodeIgnition, which was acquired by Gojek. He has also served as the CTO for hoppr, which was acquired by Hike Messenger, and was Head of Technology for ThoughtWorks. Ajey has a B. Com degree in Commerce, Mathematics, and Statistics from University of Allahabad and a PG Diploma in advanced software technology/Computer Science from NCST. Follow Ajey: Website – https://ajeygore.in Twitter – https://twitter.com/ajeygore LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajeygore/ Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/23.

“A retrospective is a time set aside where you are looking at what has happened, you’re appreciating what happened, and you’re learning from what happened. And then you improve the ways of how you’re doing things." Aino Vonge Corry is an independent consultant, agile coach, and the founder of Metadeveloper. She recently published her book ”Retrospectives Antipatterns” that describes the antipatterns and mistakes that she has made from facilitating retrospectives for the past 15 years, and what we can learn to avoid those. In this episode, we had a deep discussion about retrospectives and what we should pay attention to in order to facilitate a great retrospective, ranging from elements of a good retrospective, importance of Prime Directive, cultivating trust, facilitation skills, and coming up with good retrospective outcomes. Aino also shared her interesting story on how she ended up writing ”Retrospectives Antipatterns” and what we can learn from her experience. Towards the end, Aino shared her insights on how we can use retrospective to apply in our personal lives. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:24] Teaching the Teachers - [00:10:57] Metadeveloper - [00:13:43] Retrospective - [00:14:48] Postmortem - [00:16:31] Elements of Good Retrospective - [00:17:56] Retrospective Prime Directive - [00:21:51] Trust in Retrospective - [00:23:32] Role of a Facilitator - [00:27:08] Dealing with Different Cultures - [00:30:31] Presence of Managers in Retrospective - [00:32:36] Good Retrospective Outcome - [00:35:21] Retrospective Participation - [00:36:47] Retrospective Preparation - [00:39:12] Retrospective Fatigue - [00:43:16] Retrospective Action Items - [00:45:54] Retrospectives Antipatterns - [00:47:41] Writing Book Tips - [00:50:36] How to Read the Antipatterns - [00:52:06] Personal Retrospective - [00:56:07] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:51] _____ Aino Vonge Corry’s Bio Aino Vonge Corry is an independent consultant, who sometimes works as an agile coach. After gaining her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2001 she spent the next 10 years failing to choose between being a researcher/teacher in academia, and being a teacher/facilitator in industry. She eventually squared the circle by starting her own company, Metadeveloper, which develops developers by teaching CS, teaching how to teach CS, inviting speakers to IT conferences, and facilitating software development in various ways. She has facilitated retrospectives and other meetings for the past 15 years during which time she has made all the mistakes possible in that field. Follow Aino: Website - https://metadeveloper.com Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ainovongecorry Twitter - https://twitter.com/apaipi Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/22.

“Programmers have to come out of their cubicles. Innovative software development doesn’t happen with one person in a cubicle with great ideas. Because it’s not just even about code. Anybody can write code. It’s about what does the code accomplish. And if the code accomplishes something innovative, great!" Vaughn Vernon is a leading expert in Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and reactive software development. He is well-known for his best-selling DDD books and IDDD workshops. In this episode, we discussed many things about Domain-Driven Design and Event-Driven Architecture (EDA). Apart from the fundamentals, Vaughn shared many of his insights around the two, such as why developers should learn more about DDD, the most important aspect of DDD, the benefits of EDA, eventual consistency, event storming, and event sourcing. Towards the end, Vaughn also gave a sneak peek about his new book “Strategic Monoliths and Microservices” and why he wrote it. Listen out for: Vaughn’s career journey - [00:06:44] Domain-Driven Design - [00:16:47] Why DDD can be expensive - [00:21:43] Why developers need to know DDD - [00:23:59] DDD most important thing - [00:27:15] How to start with DDD - [00:30:05] Event-Driven Architecture - [00:32:28] Benefits of EDA - [00:36:00] Eventual consistency - [00:40:13] Event storming - [00:45:22] Event sourcing - [00:49:13] Vaughn’s new book - [00:53:09] Vaughn’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:00:26] _____ Vaughn Vernon’s Bio Vaughn Vernon is an entrepreneur, software developer, and architect with more than 35 years of experience in a broad range of business domains. Vaughn is a leading expert in Domain-Driven Design and reactive software development, a champion of simplicity, and he is the founder and chief architect of the VLINGO/PLATFORM. Along with his three best-selling books, Vaughn was recently commissioned by Pearson/Addison-Wesley as curator and editor of his own Vaughn Vernon Signature Series. Follow Vaughn: Website - https://vaughnvernon.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/VaughnVernon LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaughnvernon/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/21.

“The most important thing we can do in order to get whatever success we want—build the best product you can. Invest all your energy in making the product absolutely best that you can think of. If you really focus on building an absolutely best product possible, everything else will follow." Arno is an inspiring tech leader with decades of experience in two major creative companies—Apple and Adobe. I’m honored to have him sharing his career journey and passion in this episode. Arno shared his amazing start of his career at Apple, especially when Steve Jobs came back and led the company back to focus, which was the key success factor that brought Apple to where it is today. The entire company had to adapt to Steve Jobs’s new ways of working and to work in an iterative fast paced approach, at the time when Agile was not yet widely known, including how Arno led a complete rewrite of the macOS Finder. Then Arno shared his next illustrious career at Adobe, where he had the opportunities to explore different projects and establish his engineering leadership skills. Arno led an audacious move when he proposed Adobe to open source XMP, a bold action when open sourcing wasn’t common back then. He also shared his lessons in dealing with halted projects, and the perspective that we should embrace when that happens. Arno then shared his invaluable wisdom on how to build products that people love and what to focus on in order to create successful products. Right at the end, Arno shared with me what made him decide to end his career and pursue the things he is truly passionate about. Listen out for: Arno’s career start - [00:08:07] Journey at Apple - [00:11:44] Steve Jobs impact - [00:14:17] Apple’s key success factor - [00:19:08] Working in agile manner - [00:20:40] Building without clear direction - [00:24:38] Tips when revamping product - [00:26:53] How to decide a technical rewrite - [00:30:36] Journey at Adobe - [00:33:00] Contributing to open source - [00:37:18] Dealing with canceled projects - [00:40:33] Director of products - [00:43:56] Building products people love - [00:45:36] Arno’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:42] Why Arno decided to pursue his passion - [00:53:09] _____ Arno Gourdol’s Bio After a tech career at Adobe and Apple, Arno now travels around the world to capture beautiful landscapes with his camera—living life to the fullest spending time on things he is passionate about. Arno is also an active contributor to some open source projects that he is passionate about. Follow Arno: Website- https://www.arno.org/ Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnog/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/arnog Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/arnog/ GitHub - https://github.com/arnog Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/20.