Gene Kim's Wiring The Winning Organization
Plus, effective self-reviews and the relationship between perfectionism and procrastination
Season 4 kicks off with a conversation with
, author of several renowned books, including "The Phoenix Project," "The DevOps Handbook," and most recently, "Wiring the Winning Organization."In this episode, Gene candidly shares the trials behind writing what he considers one of his most challenging books, why partnering with Steven Spear as a co-author was a joy, and the key principles needed for creating high-performing teams.
Illustrating these ideas, Gene and
draw on examples from diverse realms, including the intricacies of software development, the complexities of healthcare, the socio-technical system behind Amazon’s success, and everyday tasks like moving a couch.Note: This conversation is a follow-up to last year's episode with Steven Spear. You can listen to Steven's episode here.
“The job of a leader is to ensure that everyone can do their work easily and well.”
Episode Highlights:
01:00 Teaming up with Steven Spear
05:00 Slowification, Simplification & Amplification
14:00 Applying concepts from the book to your org
21:30 Examples of "miswired" orgs
28:00 Trends in the DevOps community
The Download
The Download is engineering leadership content we’re reading, watching, and attending that we think you might find valuable.
1. Effective self-reviews
After a holiday season spent consuming copious amounts of cheese and hiding from our inbox, the piece below is a great (and rude) reminder that there are still a few details from 2023 to wrap up.
If you delayed your self-review like we have and need some pointers, look no further than
’s recent article in .
2. Oh, what I could do with an hour
A lot of ink gets spilled in software engineering circles on the importance of entering flow states to complete deep work (including the last edition of this newsletter).
At this point, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s impossible to accomplish anything without an entire afternoon to yourself. Patrick Dubroy makes the case that working in increments of one hour or less can be highly productive - but it takes practice.
Read: Getting things done (in small increments)
3. Perfectionism 🤝 Procrastination
The relationship between perfectionism and procrastination is nuanced, with some aspects of perfectionism generally increasing procrastination and others generally decreasing procrastination.
Whether your procrastination is due to fear of failure, anxiety or the “perfectionism-procrastination cycle,” acknowledging the relationship between perfectionism and procrastination can help you develop anti-procrastination techniques for use in daily life.
Read: Perfectionism and Procrastination: How They’re Connected and What to Do About It
🚀 Dive into the World of GenAI with LinearB!
Uncover the transformative impact of GenAI on software delivery processes and the metrics used to measure that impact in this must-attend workshop for engineering leaders.
Workshop Topics Include:
In-depth analysis from our GenAI Impact Report.
Success stories: How leaders are leveraging GenAI.
Key metrics: Adoption rates, benefits, and risk assessment.
Live Demo: Practical steps to measure your GenAI project’s impact.
Understand and quantify the real impact of Generative AI in your projects and elevate your strategy for the new year.
4. Start your year off right: Learn how to learn
The surprising truth about learning in software development? Our common beliefs about memory and learning styles often clash with scientific evidence.
With New Year’s resolutions fresh in mind, there’s no time like the present to improve how you learn.
The insightful article below unveils ten research-backed insights, revealing the complexities of human memory and challenging conventional approaches to learning in tech.
Read: 10 Things Software Developers Should Learn about Learning
5. Protecting GitHub’s 100M Developers
One of our favorite episodes from last year was with Jacob Depriest, VP & Deputy Chief Security Officer at GitHub.
It’s a far-ranging conversation that explores the NSA, North Korea, cybersecurity, Copilot and AI. Recorded live at the DevOps Enterprise Summit, it’s worth watching on our YouTube channel.
Upcoming Events
January 25, 30 | Online
Highlights: GenAI is rapidly changing the software development landscape, but how do you measure its impact on your engineering org and the potential ROI? LinearB's upcoming digital workshop will help shine a light on the metrics you can use to measure the impact of your GenAI initiative.
A nice podcast with transcript. Thanks