Leadership in Tech
Leadership in Tech
#294 – March 15, 2026
the best leaders are the most willing to look at themselves honestly
How do you know if you’re a good leader?
7 minutes by Mike Fisher
In 1862, Lincoln privately wrote about his doubts and the limits of his own understanding during one of history's hardest leadership moments. That kind of honest self-examination isn't a weakness — it's what good leadership actually looks like. Evaluating yourself means gathering feedback from those above, beside, and below you, then owning what you find. The best leaders aren't the most certain; they're the most willing to look at themselves honestly.
Still writing tests manually? Meticulous AI is here
sponsored by Meticulous
Most teams are forced to make the tradeoff between better coverage and more maintenance effort. But top engineering teams like Notion, Dropbox, Wealthsimple and LaunchDarkly have discovered a new testing paradigm. Built by ex-Palantir engineers, Meticulous creates and maintains E2E UI tests that covers every edge case of your web app - without any developer effort, making it the only tool to improve both product quality and dev velocity.
Six rules for designing company goals
22 minutes by Molly Graham
Good goals create clarity, not noise. A company rarely needs more than three top-line goals, each with a single clear owner and an explicit priority order so teams can resolve tradeoffs without escalating every decision. Non-goals matter just as much, because ruling out real options forces honest prioritization. Goals without a regular review process are just intentions.
The invisible foundation of engineering transformation
5 minutes by Jim Grey
Struggling software teams usually have the same root problem: a fragile codebase that makes every change slow and risky. Before delivery can improve, the foundation needs fixing through automated tests, cleaner code structure, and reliable deployments. This work is invisible from the outside and takes months, which makes it hard to fund. But it's what turns a team that fights the system into one the system supports.
In-person vs remote engineering teams
10 minutes by Corbin Crutchley
Hybrid work arrangements can quietly disadvantage remote employees through lost context, informal conversations, and undocumented decisions that happen in person. Remote work does have real strengths though, especially around documentation, recorded meetings, and uninterrupted focus time for deep work. The tradeoffs include weaker organic team culture and accountability challenges. Deliberate efforts like virtual open offices, lunch sessions, and async social channels can help close that gap.
Workers who love ‘synergizing paradigms’ might be bad at their jobs
4 minutes by Kate Blackwood
A study found that workers impressed by empty corporate buzzwords tend to score lower on analytical thinking and decision making. Those most inspired by vague "visionary" language were also more likely to spread it, creating a cycle that can lift poor leaders and hurt company performance. The findings suggest slowing down when faced with jargon and asking whether the message actually says anything real.
How to Secure Your Mobile App and the APIs It Interacts With
sponsored by Guardsquare
What if your APIs are trusting the wrong mobile apps? Cloned apps. Repackaged builds. Instrumented devices. Automated fraud. Most attackers don’t break in—they log in. On March 31 we’ll unpack what mobile attackers are actually doing and why securing only the app or API is no longer enough. If you build, secure, or manage mobile apps and APIs, this session may change how you think about security.
And the most popular article from the last issue was: