It Depends: Lessons in Technology Leadership – Details, episodes & analysis

Join Kevin Goldsmith on the "It Depends" podcast as he explores the nuanced world of performance reviews in technology leadership. Drawing from his extensive experience and his book, Kevin offers actionable insights on making performance reviews more effective and less burdensome. This episode guides listeners through assembling relevant data and providing feedback that genuinely aids employee development. Tune in to transform how you approach performance reviews, making them a powerful tool for leadership and growth. Whether you're a seasoned manager or a new leader, this podcast promises valuable lessons in nurturing talent effectively.

Links to things mentioned in the podcast:

• The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
• Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
• The It Depends Newsletter
• The Assembling the data newsletter issue
• LeadingEng NYC 2024 (use the discount code "Distrokid" for 10% off the registration price)

In this episode of the "It Depends" podcast, Kevin Goldsmith, a seasoned Chief Technology Officer, explores the importance of effective one-on-one meetings between managers and their direct reports. Drawing from his extensive experience, Kevin offers practical tips for making these meetings more productive and engaging, such as taking walks during the meetings or using tactile objects to encourage conversation.

He emphasizes the need for consistency in holding one-on-ones, particularly in remote work settings, and discusses how these meetings are crucial for building trust and ensuring that employees feel valued. This episode is a must-listen for managers looking to enhance their leadership skills and foster better communication with their teams.

Links to things mentioned in the podcast:

• Manager Tools Podcasts on one-on-ones
• The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
• Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
• The It Depends Newsletter
• LeadingEng NYC 2024 (use the discount code "Distrokid" for 10% off the registration price)

Once again, two shorter chapters in this podcast from the book.

How I get my focused work done: When you are a manager, constantly interrupted, how can you get focus time to devote to your projects?

The Known Unknowns: Understanding the mastery curve.

Links: Book/Podcast/Newsletter website: https://itdependsbook.net/ Questions/Comments/Suggestions contact@itdependsbook.net

Two chapters from the book this week! Discussing a deliberate approach to managing your calendar and tracking how you actually are using your time, and then how to approach your work with thoughtfulness and decisiveness instead of just making decisions based on instinct. More information about the book: https://itdependsbook.net/

Ask a question or request a signed copy: contact@itdependsbook.net

The newsletter: https://kevingoldsmith.substack.com/

Taking a day, once, twice, or even four times a year to reflect on how things are going and think about where you want to go next is a valuable practice. This episode includes how to approach this practice and get value from it. This episode also includes Chapter 5 of the audiobook "It Depends: Writing on Technology Leadership 2012-2022" by Kevin Goldsmith. 

It Depends Book website: https://itdependsbook.net/

CTO Podcast link: https://pod.link/1356275803/episode/7a88eac00279eb4bd3172b9a59d21ab7

Jason Cavness Experience Podcast Link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoUR0bj9BGQ&list=PLh4aquRHsHCZfVVGNO7IY9-5Z0IF8XgwZ

Have a question you'd like me to answer? Send it to: contact@itdependsbook.net

Buy the book on Amazon or bookshop.org

One of the questions I most frequently get from engineering leaders or aspiring leads is "how much coding do you do?" or "How do you handle coding and managing?" One of the hardest things for me in my development journey was letting go of developing features on the products I worked on. This episode is all about that. I include Chapter 4 of the audiobook for It Depends: Writing on Technology Leadership 2012-2022, which is all about this step in your development as a more senior engineering leader.

Links:

• The book website: https://itdependsbook.net/
• My talk on the same subject: https://www.kevingoldsmith.com/talks/when-why-and-how-to-stop-coding-as-your-day-job.html
• Have a question you'd like me to answer? Send it to: contact@itdependsbook.net
• Buy the book on Amazon or bookshop.org

Chapter 3 from It Depends: Writing on Technology Leadership 2012-2022

In this episode, we discuss my experience building an exercise to help me better understand what is important to me in a role or company and then how I used the results to help prepare for job interviews. I also discuss some of the mistakes people make when interviewing for roles in a downturn with how they present themselves in job interviews. If you're currently looking for a job, or thing you will in the future (we all will), this episode will be helpful.

Some links:

• It Depends book information: https://itdependsbook.net
• Newsletter: https://kevingoldsmith.substack.com
• Questions/contact (I'll answer them in the podcast or newsletter): contact@itdependsbook.net
• Living in an Employer’s Market as a Developer article: https://blog.kevingoldsmith.com/2020/03/31/living-in-an-employers-market-as-a-developer/

How can top-down culture change be effective? Looking at Microsoft and Yahoo as examples.

Links:

It Depends book: https://itdependsbook.net

Questions/comments: contact@itdependsbook.net

We discuss how critical failure is to innovation and how to handle failure well. We talk about how software used to be written, Clippy and why it was bound to fail, how Spotify uses the Think It/Build It/Ship It/Tweak It framework to build fail-safe products, and more...

links:

• Newsletter: kevingoldsmith.substack.com
• Book: itdependsbook.net
• Videos of the talk: kevingoldsmith.com/talks/fail-fast-fail-smart-succeed.html

Welcome to the podcast! This episode introduces the podcast and includes the introduction to the book "It Depends: Writing on Technology Leadership 2012-2022" by Kevin Goldsmith.

Links:

Book info https://itdependsbook.net/

Blog https://blog.kevingoldsmith.com/