Here’s a small rhetorical shift you can try: whenever you’re prompted to say “imposter syndrome,” substitute the phrase imposter phenomenon instead. The latter was the term used in the original paper introducing the concept, while the former has emerged in the decades since. But where phenomena are rooted in the observable world, “syndrome” both medicalizes and pathologizes the people with the experience. That is, by talking of an imposter phenomenon, we turn our gaze to the material circumstances that give rise to a false sense of inadequacy; while when we talk of a syndrome, we locate the problem within the confines of an individual’s body—and limit our ability to respond and attend to that problem to what is within that individual’s control. The more I hear the phrase “imposter syndrome,” the more I worry we are recreating the very thing we are trying to eliminate, through the simple fact that our language excludes the worldly conditions from which it grows. But small changes in language can lead to big changes in the way we think and act; try it and see what happens. (Or, better yet: try talking about how an environment or situation leaves you feeling impostered.)
Recent entries from the blog.
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In a preprint, Catherine Hicks, Carol Lee, and Morgan Ramsey outline research that identifies four factors for developer thriving: agency, motivation and self-efficacy, a learning culture, and support and belonging. I take two things away from this proposal: one, I think it’s very relevant that it rests on being able to be seen as being wrong (whether because you made a mistake, or because you disagree with someone). That is, an environment in which everyone can safely be wrong is one in which good work can happen. Second, while this research focuses on developer thriving, I see nothing here that wouldn’t also apply to other functions—especially the many peers (designers, researchers, product managers, and so on) who work alongside developers. Best of all, all of the factors can be managed to, so team leaders who care about thriving should take note.
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Ben Cotton has a short and smart post about avoiding “hero” work—that is, the kind of work where you do whatever it takes to get something done, even if what it takes is hard on your spirit, body, and kin. There are lots of good reasons to never go into hero mode but Cotton calls out one in particular: that it’s something of an anti-pattern for building a sustainable culture. The conditions necessary for hero work are the same conditions that most people describe as toxic; every all-nighter and skipped kid’s birthday party is one more dose of poison. Eventually, as in any tragedy, the hero is abandoned as people leave for safer shores. Every opportunity for a hero is then also an opportunity for something better: a collective, thoughtful, and creative response that doesn’t treat people as a disposable resource.
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Over on my other blog (yes I have two blogs, yes blogs are cool again), I have a short post about how hedge words are good, actually. There are times when I would still counsel to avoid them—notably, when applying for a job, one of those rare and unfortunate performances where hubris is expected. But that’s the exception that proves the rule: we are at our best when we are open to learning something new, when we prioritize creativity over certainty. Doing that means keeping a lighter grip on the things we think we know, and finding joy in asking questions.
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One small tip that’s served me and many of my clients over the years: anytime someone says something nice about you, record it in a central place that you can go back to. Keep up this habit for even a few months, and you will start to have a little resource for the days when your inner critic tries to tell you that you’re no good at anything. I’ve kept a folder called “praise” for over fifteen years, and it’s been a salve on many a rainy day. Even more than that, it’s a steady reminder of the people I’ve loved working with—and for whom the admiration is mutual. That leads me to a bonus suggestion: on the days you do find yourself tapping into that folder for a needed pep talk, do one of your favorite colleagues a favor and give them something they can put into their praise folder. You’ll both feel great for it, I promise.
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Something that comes up frequently when I’m working with people (and which I’m forever trying to remind myself) is that we use the phrase “making” decisions very intentionally: you do not discover a decision, or calculate it, or measure it, or even arrive at it. A decision is a thing that you make. It’s a creative act. Recognizing that, I think, provides some direction for how to think about creating space for the work of making decisions. It’s less akin to making space for completing tasks or attending meetings, and more like making space for art.
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PSA: This coming Sunday, the clocks skip ahead an hour in the US and Canada, heralding the beginning of the erroneously-named daylight saving time. Now is a great time to look at your team’s calendar next week and see if you can take a few steps to make the mornings a little easier on people: can you start a bit later, or move early meetings to another time, or skip some meetings altogether? Can you keep people off the road during peak commute times? (Car crash fatalities spike in the week after the spring clock change.) Can you normalize taking a short afternoon nap so folks can refresh and be more productive? These are all small things, but if they are in you’re power, they can make a difference. Take care.
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Great piece from Sahaj Kaur Kohli about setting boundaries when you may have been brought up in a culture in which this is uncommon or frowned upon. The context here is setting boundaries with family during the holiday, but I think the principles here are very applicable to setting boundaries at work—especially given the huge variety of cultural backgrounds we all navigate in our workplaces. Among the bits of good advice here: you can say no without saying no directly. I’m a big fan of speaking directly, but I’m also a fan of adapting to the needs of the circumstances in front of you. Or, to put it another way, saying “no” directly and clearly is a good hammer to have in your toolbox, but some days you may also need a wrench.
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Cory Doctorow asks, “What kind of bubble is AI?” And I think the most interesting thing about his answer is he looks at what might happen after the bubble bursts. For my own part, I’m already observing that a lot of people have taken their cues from repeated rounds of layoffs and concerted efforts to pursue product strategies with the express purpose of putting people out of work: rather than just looking for the next job, they are looking to build something interesting with the other folks who’ve also been tossed aside. As Doctorow notes, there’s a lot of potential in that kind of post-bubble universe, and I think we’re already starting to see it come to life.
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Cat Hicks asks an important question: do we know that engineering managers do triage work? Her research suggests that we do not, or that if the information is known it is not often acknowledged. I’m more interested in a related question: how does triage work differ from other kinds of work? How does an engineering manager (or any manager, for that matter) recognize that the moment requires triage rather than, say, a strategic plan? What’s the equivalent of a bleeding head wound in a software org, or a school, or a nonprofit? I think that often just being able to ask that question—is this a situation that requires planning and prevention, or do we need to be in triage mode?—of yourself, your peers, your supervisors and direct reports, can be extremely telling. The first and most critical skill with triage is recognizing when it is needed.
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I’ve talked quite a bit recently about the labor movement in the tech industry, and now I want to hear from you. Are you a manager (or someone with aspirations for management) navigating a unionization effort in your workplace? If so I would be grateful if you took a few minutes to fill out a short survey. I’m looking to better understand the kinds of challenges that managers face when workers organize, and what types of support or scaffolding they may need to successfully navigate this shift in the industry. The survey is completely anonymous (though you have the option to share your contact information) and should take no more than ten minutes to complete. Take the survey here.
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Digging into the data about remote work, Nick Bloom discovered that remote work “massively reduces overhead,” “drives down recruitment and retention costs,” and—no surprise from regular readers—resulted in a “massive 13 percent increase in productivity.” This is not to say that we should nix all offices everywhere—some people genuinely need or want to be able to go to an office, at least some of the time. But coercive RTO plans that lay claim to offices being more productive or somehow more efficient have some explaining to do: the data shows otherwise.
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Erin Kissane’s four-part piece on Meta in Myanmar is required reading for anyone working in any part of the tech industry right now. Her in-depth analysis makes plain how culpable Meta was—and still is—in accelerating genocide in Myanmar. But in reading it I was also struck by the ways that ordinary organizational design can create such a gulf between (1) the product managers, designers, and engineers working to build a product, and (2) the people who are being actively harmed by that product—such that the harm stands little chance of being interrupted. There are no easy solutions to this problem, but Kissane notes that we have the obligation to listen out: “[Listen] out for signals that we’re steering into the shoals. Listening out like it’s our own children at the sharp end of the worst things our platforms can do.”
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Join me and Ethan Marcotte for a free online discussion about his book, You Deserve a Tech Union, next Thursday, October 19 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. We’ll dig into the history of organizing in the tech industry (spoiler: there is history here), why unions matter at this point in time, and how you can go about getting one. Plus you can bring your own questions as we’ll open the floor to audience Q&A. RSVP here.