One more thing I appreciate about working at Square is its regular deep work weeks, where we are encouraged to cancel non-essential meetings. While meetings are most of how I, as a manager, get work done, I still find myself needing some quiet time to focus and write. This week, I will think about how my team’s work fits in with my organization’s goal and how we will deprecate a widely used API.

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Software Engineering ⚙️

A Proposal For Type Syntax in JavaScript

This proposal could be, as the article points out, “one of the most impactful improvements to the world of JavaScript.” The idea is to add a type syntax to Javascript that Javascript runtimes will understand without a required build process like Typescript compilation. I would compare the impact of this change to that of ES Modules.

The case for creating a merge commit

It doesn’t matter which merge strategy your team uses (squash, rebase, or merge), as long as everyone follows the same strategy.

People ❤️

A Rubric for Evaluating Team Members’ Contributions to an Inclusive Culture

I’ve found it difficult to assess candidates’ aptitude and willingness to promote inclusion at work. I couldn’t help but feel that many of the answers were value-signaling. Thankfully, this article describes specific criteria, such as moderation and attribution, that contribute to inclusion that I can use to evaluate my team and candidates.

Kirkpatrick Model: Four Levels of Learning Evaluation

I joined a discussion on how to communicate vision this week and asked the presenter how they measure the success of their communication. And they shared this Kirkpatrick model, which can be used to evaluate training. There are four levels: Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results, which get progressively harder to measure and closer to business goals.

Directors/VP of Engineering, how did you get to that level and what does your day to day look like?

I am probably a few years away from making a director, but this answer directed me on the axes to grow:

Be the trusted person that made [something compelling] happen, and when your org needs more structure, create the plan for your part of the organization should look.

Business 💰

Walgreens Advertising Group Announces Launch of Self-Serve Programmatic and Clean-Room Solutions

I never thought I’d link something from Walgreens, but here I go. Walgreens is launching an ad platform for eyeballs on its website like Amazon’s ad platform. This wouldn’t have worked without Apple’s new restrictions on sharing data with 3rd parties.

U.S. eliminates human controls requirement for fully automated vehicles

This change opens the door to self-driving vehicles without the “driver seat.”