Managing Mistakes

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People Driven Development

Eddie Flaisler, Morgan VanDerLeest

18 episodes

1 month ago

There are a number of ways to develop software: Test-driven, Behavior-driven, Product-driven, Customer-driven (to name a few). But once you move into engineering leadership, you're no longer dealing with software directly. It's all about People Driven Development. How do you work with people to drive this engineering product forward? How do you manage people so they feel seen, respected, emotionally safe, challenged, and empowered? How do you deliver business results and also focus relentlessly on people? Eddie and Morgan try to help their fellow engineering leaders through difficult situations where the problem isn't really technology at all.

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Management

Technology,

Business

Managing Mistakes

People Driven Development

45 minutes

9 months ago

Managing Mistakes

Eddie and Morgan delve into a listener's question about dealing with costly mistakes at work, particularly focusing on the tension between accountability and blame within engineering teams. They analyze a real-world dilemma faced by a new director of engineering at a series B startup and extend the discussion to include learnings from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. They discuss the difference between meta root causes of mistakes, strategies to create a risk-aware culture, and the importance of psychological safety. They also reflect on the principle of 'move fast and break things' and its relevance to different business models.

(00:00) - Listener's Question: Balancing Proactiveness and Reactiveness
(01:34) - Meeting the Team Where It Is
(02:49) - Introduction to the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
(04:52) - Organizational Barriers and Failures
(07:12) - Analyzing Public Postmortems
(08:08) - Root Causes of Production Problems
(14:35) - Meta Root Causes and Organizational Impact
(19:08) - Applying Meta Root Causes to the Columbia Disaster
(21:00) - Relevance to Smaller Companies
(23:22) - The Importance of Risk Management
(23:49) - Meta Root Cause: Prioritization Challenges
(24:53) - Psychological Safety in the Workplace
(25:51) - DEI Programs and Industry Trends
(26:43) - Generational Differences in Work Culture
(29:36) - Decision-Making Frameworks
(30:31) - Addressing Burnout and Low Drive
(35:32) - Handling Mistakes and Accountability
(43:35) - The Role of Mistakes in Engineering Cultures