Weeknotes: 2024-W50

Published: 16 December, 2024, updated: 16 December, 2024

Summary

Decided to resign from Meta, and started letting people know, which is a fun dependency graph to make sure you tell people in the right order (since in many cases, you know that Person A will want to ask Person B about why someone is “suddenly” leaving after ~14 years).

Kept doing well on the Meta Advent of Code leaderboards, with some fairly late nights (for me, at least).

Saw several boatloads of migratory water fowl on Lake Washington! Quite a sight.

Photos

(Based more on time of processing than time of taking…)

Enjoying

• Reading:
  • Dragon Haven (The Rain Wilds Chronicles #2) by Robin Hobb
• Watching:
  • 📺📅 Shrinking season 2
  • 📺🏃 Castle seasons 6 + 7
• Playing:
  • Nothing

Highlights

The right amount of engagement for leaders

The right amount of engagement that you should have in your team’s projects is also a tricky subject. Lean in too much, and you’re micromanaging; lean out too much, and you appear disengaged.

To find the right balance, consider the concept of Guided Autonomy. This means setting clear goals and expectations, then stepping back and letting your team figure out how to achieve them. Your role becomes less about directing every action and more about providing guidance. This approach promotes responsibility and growth within your team while ensuring alignment with project objectives.

In my journey, I’ve learned that effective engagement means being present without being overbearing. It’s about creating an environment where your team feels supported but also free to innovate and take ownership. The key is to offer guidance and support without taking away your team’s independence.

– Matheus Lima in “The 6 Mistakes You’re Going to Make as a New Manager”

Recommended

You can launch my rocket! - Xyla Foxlin

For whatever reason, watching rockets go (mostly) up is quite fun, and Xyla is the most actively fun of the amateur rocketry video creators. With the level of approachability of Xyla’s new rocketry kit featured in the video, if I knew a few people nearby interested in learning about amateur rocketry, I could imagine myself joining them in using Xyla’s beginner rocket kit to get started.

Using 3XL Condoms to Make a Rocket Nosecone - Joe Barnard

The other (semi-)amateur rocketry video creator I watch is Joe Barnard, who is less fun (still pretty hilarious often, if overly cringe sometimes) but is aiming higher (literally) and going deeper into the process. He’s also posted this week (don’t let the title’s clickbaitiness fool you), creating this juxtaposition.

Late Night Giving of Thanks - Late Night with Seth Meyers

Since I avoid politics, most late night monologues, deep dives, and many interviews aren’t really my thing (especially in the 4 years around each election…), so sketches are mostly where it’s at for me, and Seth’s (such as “Surprise Inspection” and “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell”) are probably the best of the bunch.

If you enjoy at least one of those, you probably want to watch the amazing “Corrections” series (Emmy-nominated!, for the jackals).