The 5-Minute Startup CTO #54
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.
🥫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.
🔄 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.
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.