Hey! 👋 I hope you and yours are doing well. I’m actually on vacation for the next few days. I know, you can’t believe it?! But I really needed a break. 💆🏽♀️
This brings me to the title of this month’s newsletter. I’ve been wearing multiple hats at work, and each one is completely different.
Nurturing manager 👒, VP of Engineering 🧢, and now “CEO” of our latest Member+ initiative 🎩. Each responsibility taps into a different aspect of my personality and expertise. And frankly, my patience. 😩
I’m not a business person by nature. Being responsible for making decisions that impact a business vertical has been a challenge. There are many things that I’ve needed to grok quickly. Like how to calculate LTV and CAC, financial models, and pricing sensitivity. All things that I completely ignored before.
I’m still learning. However, my team and I are kicking butt and taking names. 😎
On to the books, podcasts, and cool tech. 👇
Books I’m Reading
The Body Keeps the Score - Bessel van der Kolk
Probably surprised you with this one. It’s not about tech. A friend recommended it to me. I’m always fascinated by how the brain works. And frankly, I’ve had my share of trauma.
So I dived into this one, eager to learn more about my brain. 🧠 However, even if you are among the fortunate few without trauma, there’s lots to glean from reading this book.
“You don’t need a history of trauma to feel self-conscious and even panicked at a party with strangers—but trauma can turn the whole world into a gathering of aliens.”
Bessel van der Kolk
Aliens? 👽👽👽 Yep. The research in this area has uncovered several breakthroughs. It’s also unlocked new forms of treatment.
Personally, I feel like I have more empathy for people. Understanding that many people are just walking around carrying their trauma with them allows me to let things go easily.
Podcasts
How to Start Better with Peers - Coaching for Leaders
In this episode, Dave talks with Michael Bungay Stanier, a career coaching expert, about how to how solid relationships with peers. As leaders, we can easily focus on our relationships with reports and managers while neglecting the important peer relationships.
Michael introduces the concept of a Keystone Conversation. This is a conversation where you can learn more about your peer, what makes them shine, and how you can establish a solid relationship.
“Nobody really likes to say hello but everyone likes to be greeted. Make a decision to be the person that begins.”
I love this. I tend to be nervous in social situations. And I appreciate it when someone pulls me in and breaks the ice. Yet, I’m going to take it as a personal challenge to be the one that says “hi” first.
This is vital if you want to get the best out of those that you work with. It also helps to avoid unnecessary awkwardness later on.
Cool Tech
Figma released a new Dev Mode that is sure to improve the cycle times for most development teams. It has better inspection and offers code snippets in CSS, SwiftUI, and Compose.
Check out this screenshot of Dev Mode in action. I’ve enabled it to show the code in Compose. It’s not a one-to-one mapping of what your engineers might write, but it’s helpful as a first pass.
They even released a VSCode extension which I see a lot of potential in as well. The design-developer handoff has consistently been a source of frustration. Glad to see Figma working to bring these teams closer together.
Until next time, thanks for reading! 👋
"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
- Maya Angelou
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/annycedavis/
Thanks for your newsletter. Hope the book you recommended helped. I'm in your corner regardless. :)