Weekend Reads #1

What to read this weekend to stay up to speed with the World

Photo by Quaritsch Photography on Unsplash

We are going into a downturn. There's no question about it. Now's the time to figure out how we can get through these difficult times. This requires understanding what is going on in tech, tackling challenges that have not gone away with the downturn, and, even better, getting back on track by prioritizing work that generates impact.

• 'We were burning through money like no one's business': the economic downturn surprised many tech companies. This article by Business Insider provides a cautionary tale on how overspending - and the consequences of it - can significantly impact a would-be unicorn.

• YC advises founders to 'plan for the worst' amid market teardown: this one is not exactly new, but it's a must-read for startups today. YC provides some of the most actionable, direct, and straightforward advice for companies preparing or going through a downturn. Must-read if you lead teams or companies or want to understand what's happening around you.

• Oncall Compensation: insightful article from the fantastic The Pragmatic Engineer, one of the top sources of engineering information available. On-call compensation is a topic I have always found a bit difficult to navigate - there are so many different views on the subject from startups, large companies, US vs. EU, etc.

• How to Spark a Consumer-Grade UX revolution: This is one of my articles recently published by the good folks at InfoQ. This article addresses how teams can kickstart a change towards consumer-grade UX without having to move the entire organization. This is interesting as, typically, such projects span multiple teams and are complex to coordinate and execute. But it doesn't have to be that way.

All, things are not so great right now. But I believe that the industry will get over this sooner than you might think. Do your homework, understand what this status quo means for you and execute through it. See you on the other side!

PS: This is the first edition of what I hope to be a running series. I have gotten amazing feedback from many folks who’ve read my content. This feedback is fundamental to making this work, so please feel free to hit me up and let me know if you like this and how I can improve 😎. Thanks!