Autonomy and clarity in leadership styles

Autonomy and clarity in leadership styles
9 minutes by Bjorn Roche

A good leader has a toolkit of different approaches and knows which to apply when. There are a number of factors in deciding the right approach, such as how much autonomy each approach allows the team to have, and how much clarity it gives them about what they need to do.

A New Testing Strategy for Engineering Leaders: Autonomous Coverage With Zero Scripting
sponsored by Autify

What if test coverage scaled without adding scripts. This webinar breaks down how autonomous AI agents like Autify AI Tester run and validate real user journeys from plain English prompts across web, mobile, and desktop. A practical look at autonomous coverage and what engineering leaders should evaluate in 2026.

Code is cheap now. Software isn’t.
10 minutes by Chris Gregori

AI tools like Claude have made writing code much easier, but building meaningful software remains just as hard. Chris argues that while anyone can now create simple apps quickly, most are fragile and break easily in real-world use. We're moving toward "personal software" where people build disposable tools for specific problems rather than lasting products. Engineers are still essential because AI can generate code but can't architect robust, maintainable systems.

A random walk
2 minutes by Nikunj Kothari

Randomness and inefficiency are becoming crucial advantages in an AI-dominated world. Nikunj shares examples of accidental successes, like developing a writing habit from insomnia and getting hundreds of startup requests from a random social media post. While AI excels at optimization and pattern recognition, it cannot replicate genuine spontaneity or being genuinely stupid.

Sometimes your job is to stay the hell out of the way
6 minutes by Michael Lopp

Michael shares lessons about managing exceptional engineers that he calls wolves. These highly productive engineers naturally focus on important work and don't seek recognition. Attempts to formalize their roles failed because they don't want titles or management attention. The best approach is creating an engineering-friendly culture and staying out of their way.

Management as AI superpower
10 minutes by Ethan Mollick

Ethan shares his experience with his MBA students who created startup prototypes in just four days using AI tools. Their results were far more advanced than typical semester-long projects from before AI existed. The key to success was treating AI like human delegation rather than clever prompting. Students with management experience excelled because they knew how to set clear goals, give feedback, and recognize quality work.

The real cost breakdown between in-house and nearshore teams
sponsored by AssureSoft

Most CTOs know a salary range, but fewer know the true cost of one additional engineer. Benefits, payroll taxes, recruiting, onboarding, and management overhead add up fast as teams scale. This report compares the fully loaded cost of in-house and nearshore teams and reveals where cost surprises usually appear.

industry

• Tesla ending Models S and X production and shifting to make Optimus robots
• The future of software engineering is SRE
• I left FAANG for a startup and regretted it
• Isometric model of New York
• What has Docker become?

security

• Why does SSH send 100 packets per keystroke?
• US acting cyber chief uploaded sensitive files into a public version of ChatGPT
• Wiper malware targeted Poland energy grid

And the most popular article from the last issue was:

• Leading what you’ve never done before