The 5-Minute Startup CTO #54
Impossible conversations, Product learnings, Project planning, Integrated testing
Hi everyone,
Here are this week’s top recommendations on People, Product, Process and Tech.
👭 People
First, a twitter thread exploring how to approach difficult conversations. Straight from ‘How to Have Impossible Conversations’, by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay.
![Twitter avatar for @eriktorenberg](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/eriktorenberg.jpg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,h_314,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F931e78c8-a2e5-4e8e-acdd-41a731a398bb_1x1.gif)
🥫Product
Next, an interesting interview with April Underwood exploring her experience leading Product both at Twitter and Slack. A lot of ground covered here: culture, growth, network effects, etc.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F587db198-b4dc-4809-bc80-69fc6f1057c7_1114x298.png)
🔄 Process
How much to plan a software project, and when? A tough question with no easy answer. Marco Otte-Witte recently blogged about common pitfalls and good practices. Not sure I agree with it all - but worth a read to see what you think.
The conclusions though seem spot on: focus, address uncertainty early, and communication is key. I’d add: involve the team who will do the work in the planning. If you’ve planned before assembling a team, re-plan again with them.
⌨️ Tech
Finally, an essay by Alexey Golub on testing, more precisely the limitations of unit testing, false implications of the testing pyramid and benefits of integrated testing.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2a4f0e06-661a-4820-8ba2-d5f3784da479_1058x574.png)
A lot resonates here, and a sensible conclusion could be to use a mix of unit, integrated and end-to-end tests, in proportions which completely depend on the nature of your application, preferably all owned by developers?
Until next time, have a great week!
Fabrice
The 5-Minute Startup CTO: every Sunday, 3 top insights in 5 minutes for startup CTOs and Tech Leads. Hand-picked by Fabrice, a UK-based consulting CTO.