• Platform Engineering Teams Done Right: Platform teams at netflix. There were several in Adrian’s mind working at different layers of the stack. (Infra, o/s+networking, middleware, application tooling, etc.) Neat characterization. As always this separation of responsibilities very much depends on context, and how a business thinks about this stuff. (Size often matters and velocity of change)
  • How Spry Fox works: Love these ideas around remote work so much. I think we eventually found a few but there are others here we can try at work. Want to copy all this advice into one place. See below:

Some useful remote work things we do at Spry Fox

  1. Split the team up into cross-functional strike teams with their own channel. Focuses conversation / reduces noise.
  2. Try to reduce private messages. Public conversation keeps more people on the same page.
  3. Pin a notes doc at the top of the strike team channel. Use it for every meeting. No searching for links.
  4. Design AMA channel: Instead of answering the same vision question 10 times, everyone sees the answer.
  5. Facilitators as a skillset. Is someone watching out for conversations getting off the rails? Noting multiple topics happening at once? And summarizing? Breaking out into a huddle when things are stalling?
  6. Ending meetings early. If we are done the agenda we stop. Most standard meetings end 30 minutes early.
  7. In the time left after a public meeting, ask people if they want to use it for small breakouts. They’ve got time, so they can use it in a smaller, project-based fashion if needed.
  8. Async updates. No need to do daily huddles. Or even status meetings. Put it in the doc.
  9. Culture of raising a flag if blocked or confused. It is okay to ask for help! That’s how to keep things moving.
  10. We don’t schedule meetings for the full hour or half hours. Leave 10 minutes at the end so people’s brains can relax. HUGE improvement in stress levels. Scientifically backed! https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/brain-research

Source

  • The Cruise Industry Is On a Course For Climate Disaster: Cruising isn’t particularly environmentally friendly. A few companies are trying to find a better way. Big ships will never be good. (Engineering problems of weight of batteries / other ways to store + use energy are intractable currently.) Small ships and different ways of doing things might make it better. People do love to travel this way, so it’s important to try to be better.