I've repeatedly had people ask for an easier way to browse through all my articles, without hitting "load more" at the bottom of the homepage. This is my attempt to solve that customer requirement.
Tags
This is how I generally categorize articles. If you think of a better way, please feel free to contact me.
- Career Growth
- Interviewing
- Being Personally Effective
- Leading People
- Organizations
- Technology
- Personal Dave Posts - and about newsletter writing.
The article that started it all.
The Amazon Leadership Principles - A Complete Interview Guide
A summary on how to pass the Amazon leadership principles behavioral interviews, and get a job at Amazon.
Dave Anderson
Top 10 articles by paid conversions.
Which articles convinced people to pay for the first time? These ones!
“I Was Under Leveled!” — Avoiding the Tragedy of Making Only $500k a Year
Senior employees and executives make a common mistake while interviewing. They try to answer the interview questions, instead of focusing on their goals.
Dave Anderson
A Day in the Life of a Senior Manager at Amazon
A representative log of what one day might look like for a Senior Manager at Amazon.
Dave Anderson
Are You Behaving Like a Senior Engineer? Tips to Level Up.
Senior engineers distinguish themselves from junior engineers in larger ways than simply technical skills.
Dave Anderson
Are You Getting the Performance Ratings You Deserve?
Our performance ratings influence our ability to get raises, promotions, and our long term career success. They’re not a simple meritocracy, but are a coarse-grained way of estimating our value to our company. Here’s a bit on making certain you get a rating you deserve.
Dave Anderson
Why Twitter had 7500 Employees, and Startups Crush Big Companies.
Long-term vs one-time cost of product engineering is a core reason why companies grind to a halt over time.
Dave Anderson
Navigating Career Bottlenecks in Management aka How to Progress to Middle Management
Many people don’t successfully navigate the various hurdles in place between a successful IC career, and a high-flying middle management career. A few thoughts on that path.
Dave Anderson
Stack Ranking, Ratings, PIPs, and Performance Management – A Summary
A summary of the performance management process, from ratings to stack ranking to PIPs, and everything in between.
Dave Anderson
Hit the Ground Running - How to Ramp Up at Your New Job in 3 Weeks
At Amazon, I started new jobs regularly. Learn how to ramp up quickly for career success.
Dave Anderson
A Day in the Life of a Tech Director Being Promoted to General Manager
Growing isn’t as simple as learning new skills. It frequently means moving into areas of discomfort. This is a set of anecdotes from my move to GM.
Dave Anderson
A Couple Decades of Unlearning — Lessons on the Path to Director
Over the couple of decades of my career, I’ve unlearned quite a few things. I decided to share some beliefs I’ve since decided were wrong.
Dave Anderson
2023
Q4
Finding an Explanation vs. Permanent Resolution of Issues
If we’re not careful, we default into defensiveness when issues arise. And everyone involved will be tempted to avoid blame, and keep things simple. Don’t fall for that trap.
Dave Anderson
Don’t Let Your Soft Skills Block Your Career - Overcoming Mental Blocks
Everyone recognizes that hard skills can be a blocker for their career, and that means everyone focuses on strengthening their hard skills. Soft skills are similar. They can hold you back, and they can be improved. And I’m going to talk about how.
Dave Anderson
Leveraging the Three Phases of Career Growth for Outsized Rewards
Many employees tend to let their careers drift from opportunity to opportunity. That can lead to excellence, or not. Purposefully driving your career through the three phases of career growth is a way to have agency over your career.
Dave Anderson
Crush Your Interviews with the Power of Storytelling
For interviews, it’s not what you’ve done, it’s how you explain what you’ve done. It’s that fundamental difference which makes storytelling a critical interview skill.
Dave Anderson
A Few Days of OP1 — Perspectives From Middle Management
OP1 is a massive bureaucratic monstrosity, where billions of investment and over a million employees are allocated to projects across Amazon. And this is a bit of what it feels like to be buried in the organizational structure.
Dave Anderson
22 Invaluable Life and Career Lessons
This fun article was a list of topics I wanted to write about, but didn’t want to turn into entire articles on their own. And to encourage you to read, I suggest that you need to see number 19!
Dave Anderson
Q3
Write That S**t Down. The Importance of Taking Notes.
In organizations, you will continually re-litigate decisions and agreements if you don’t carefully document them.
Dave Anderson
Tales of Unintended Side Effects
We act with good intentions. But those actions often lead to an equal and opposite side effect. Are you thinking about what those might be?
Dave Anderson
Failed and Successful Stories of Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance isn’t simply giving away free food, or lots of vacation days. It’s often about what skills an employee can develop and use to set boundaries.
Dave Anderson
A Day in the Life of a Tech Director Being Promoted to General Manager
Growing isn’t as simple as learning new skills. It frequently means moving into areas of discomfort. This is a set of anecdotes from my move to GM.
Dave AndersonAre You Getting the Performance Ratings You Deserve?
Our performance ratings influence our ability to get raises, promotions, and our long term career success. They’re not a simple meritocracy, but are a coarse-grained way of estimating our value to our company. Here’s a bit on making certain you get a rating you deserve.
Dave AndersonHere’s a Technique to Get Your Manager to Do What You Want.
Your manager isn’t lazy, but you need to get things moving! Take control over your career (and your life) by learning how to drive your manager to act.
Dave Anderson
The Four Ingredients to Create a Positive Team Culture
Team culture impacts productivity, retention, and happiness. This can be a positive or negative influence, depending on how you create your team’s culture.
Dave Anderson
Five Actionable Tips to Improve Your Leadership—The Fourth One is Just as Great as the Others!
Five things you can do to dodge common leadership pitfalls. Plus a few fun stories along the way.
Dave Anderson
No One Wants to Be a Follower: Mimetic Desire.
If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself working hard to achieve the goals of others. Think about your priorities, and decide if you’re investing in the right places.
Dave Anderson
The State of the Tech Market in 2023 - The Pragmatic Engineer Guest Post
A Guest Post on the State of the Tech Market in 2023 by Gergely Orosz, author of The Pragmatic Engineer.
Dave Anderson
Don’t Miss Your Next Role! The Surprising Advantage of Using Your Brain While Job Hunting.
Job hunting isn’t just about interviewing well. Getting that initial interview often takes luck, or some very specific skills.
Dave Anderson
My Missed Career Opportunities, Or Why I’m Not an SVP
We’ve all had missed opportunities. What have you learned from yours?
Dave Anderson
“You’re Entirely Wrong About Everything.” How to Disagree Respectfully.
Some people are nice co-workers. Other people firmly insist on getting to the right decision. The intersection of nice people who firmly insist on making the right decisions are highly valuable.
Dave Anderson
Q2
How Companies Incentivize Layoffs—A Study of Corporate Career Incentives
Managers at growing companies are incentivized to do one thing more than anything else. Grow their teams. Is it mysterious that most tech companies seem to have over hired?
Dave Anderson
A Guide to Being a Great On-call.
Being a good operator builds a wealth of skills. But there are a few tricky aspects you’ll want to think about.
Dave Anderson
Dealing with Negative Internal Politics.
Dealing with negative politics doesn’t mean making your enemies wail in terror.
Dave Anderson
Why Some Careers Thrive and Others Don’t—Not Necessarily Skill
Technical or functional skills only partially explain why some employees are more successful than others. There are other aspects of leadership which can impact long term success.
Dave Anderson
Promoting an Employee in Two Days, a Management Story
Don’t let process or policy or schedule stop you from doing the right thing. Ignore expectations and think of what you’re capable of accomplishing.
Dave Anderson
What Happens If You’re Hit By a Bus? A Guide to Succession Planning.
Succession planning isn’t just for managers, and it isn’t just a red tape process to fill out. It’s a core element of career growth for everyone.
Dave Anderson
A Day in the Life of a Senior Manager at Amazon
A representative log of what one day might look like for a Senior Manager at Amazon.
Dave AndersonBe Skeptical: Challenging the Beliefs Underlying Everything
We blindly trust a lot at our companies. We trust that our metrics are telling us a truthful story. We trust that our processes are giving us the value we need. We trust that our assumptions are true. But we need our leaders to be skeptical of these unexamined beliefs.
Dave Anderson
Removing or creating stress for optimal performance. Eustress vs Distress.
Too much stress or too little stress can cause issues. We’ll discuss how to dial that in, and create a high-performance and high retention team.
Dave Anderson
Breadth vs. Depth - Why Breadth is Key for Career Success
There’s often a bias towards expertise. Becoming an expert in your area is highly valued. I’d offer the alternative that being broadly experienced is often more important.
Dave Anderson
Unlearning at Scale: 3 Things That Led to My Success, But I Had to Drop on My Path to Director
Skills you learn earlier in your career may help or hinder you later. Learn to recognize when they’re hindering you.
Dave Anderson
“Can’t Code! Not inclined to Hire?” - Why Engineering Managers Don’t Need to be Great Coders
An explanation of why managers do not need to code, and probably shouldn’t.
Dave Anderson
The Ten Commandments of Maintaining Legacy Code
Maintaining legacy code is a major part of software engineering. Learn how to do it well.
Dave Anderson
Q1
Overworked Drone Gives Up. “I Quit.” How Senior Employees Can Regain Their Sanity.
Senior employees are in high demand to help out their teams. But that can lead to overwork. How can they balance everything?
Dave Anderson
21 Terrible Interview Answers Guaranteed to Get You Rejected From That Job Opportunity
There are an unlimited number of good answers, but there are some awful answers that people keep repeating.
Dave Anderson
10 Traits of Successful Junior Software Engineers
It’s a huge win to get your first position as a software engineer. Here’s how to excel in your new job.
Dave Anderson
7 Tips to Build a Mission-Driven Organization—Even at Big Tech
We tend to throw up our hands and assume that big companies mean big politics. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Dave Anderson
“I Was Under Leveled!” — Avoiding the Tragedy of Making Only $500k a Year
Senior employees and executives make a common mistake while interviewing. They try to answer the interview questions, instead of focusing on their goals.
Dave AndersonHow to Win at Politics in Big Tech - A Tongue in Cheek Examination
How a manager at a big tech company (not necessarily Amazon), can succeed in playing the political game. Not entirely tongue in cheek.
Dave Anderson
12 Things I Learned in Big Tech
A list of 12 things which stood out to me as things I didn’t originally understand before working at big tech.
Dave Anderson
How to Improve the Cognitive Diversity of Your Organization
Cognitive diversity (vs. protected class diversity) is about finding people who think differently. How can we encourage different thinkers in our organizations?
Dave Anderson
Why Leaders Never Say ‘That’s Not My Job’
A big part of leadership is recognizing that the boundaries of what is ‘yours’ is much broader than what is written in your job description.
Dave Anderson
A Guide on Building Your Newsletter and Coaching Business
How to make a newsletter, from tools to social media marketing to writing.
Dave Anderson
Creating Process is a Dangerous and Expensive Option. Anecdotes and Guidance for Leaders.
Building processes is a mechanism for resolving issues. However, processes are also bottlenecks which slow your organization down. How do you choose when to add process?
Dave Anderson
Navigating Career Bottlenecks in Management aka How to Progress to Middle Management
Many people don’t successfully navigate the various hurdles in place between a successful IC career, and a high-flying middle management career. A few thoughts on that path.
Dave AndersonThe Amazon Working Backward Process for Engineering
The working backwards process is the key mechanism Amazon uses to ensure that the right projects are funded. This same process should be used by engineering teams for their work.
Dave Anderson
2022
Q4
But It’s Not Fair! How to Deal With Irritating Situations.
Numerous things in life aren’t fair. However, complaining about it won’t fix things. Let’s focus on fixing things.
Dave Anderson
Insert Clickbait Title Here – Lessons After 1.5 years of Newsletter Authorship
Social media is silly and valuable. Newsletters can make money if you’re patient.
Dave Anderson
Proactive vs. Reactive: Understanding the Mechanisms Behind Effective Leadership
Reacting to situations means that the situation leads you. Act like a leader and use mechanisms to drive change.
Dave Anderson
Are You Behaving Like a Senior Engineer? Tips to Level Up.
Senior engineers distinguish themselves from junior engineers in larger ways than simply technical skills.
Dave AndersonHow to Increase the Agility of Your Organization, Improve Quality, and Reduce Costs
Slowing down deployments to add QA is viewed as trading off improved quality for slower speed. I’m going to convince you that it also lowers quality.
Dave Anderson
Why Twitter had 7500 Employees, and Startups Crush Big Companies.
Long-term vs one-time cost of product engineering is a core reason why companies grind to a halt over time.
Dave Anderson10 Actions to Prepare Yourself for Layoffs
You can’t stop your company from conducting layoffs, but you can prepare yourself to reduce the negative impact to you and your family.
Dave Anderson
A Guide to Creating Your Personal Brand, and Why It Matters
Your personal brand is how others see you. It can be created accidentally, or you can be purpose-driven in making your own brand.
Dave Anderson
A Guide to Writing Status Reports - Not Joking, Totally Serious
Writing status reports has a bad reputation. Learn how they can be valuable, and a great tool for your toolbox.
Dave Anderson
Why Big Groups Shouldn’t Make Big Decisions
Big groups tend to make boring, slow, and wrong decisions. Clean up the quality of your decision-making by making smaller decision-making groups.
Dave Anderson
Stack Ranking, Ratings, PIPs, and Performance Management – A Summary
A summary of the performance management process, from ratings to stack ranking to PIPs, and everything in between.
Dave AndersonDecisions at Scale. The Ownership Model and Organizational Structure at Amazon.
Amazon’s leadership model focuses on ownership and bias for action. Why does this help with decision-making?
Dave Anderson
The Paradox that Great Leaders are Frequently Wrong
Great leaders are bold, and willing to be wrong. Occasional failure is inevitable as a leader.
Dave Anderson
Q3
You’re Not Lazy, But Your Manager Thinks You Are - A Guide to Changing How People Perceive You
Perception is reality. You can rail against the unfairness of how others perceive you, or you can work to change that perception.
Dave Anderson
Is Becoming a People Manager Right for You? A Guide to the Positive Aspects of Being “The Boss.”
Moving into management is a huge career step. Is it the right step for you?
Dave Anderson
Thinking of Becoming a Manager? You Might Regret It.
There are numerous reasons you might not want to move into management. I walk through a few things to consider.
Dave Anderson
A Complete Guide to Tenets
Tenets are a key tool for delegation and scaling decision-making. Learn how high-quality tenets can be written and used.
Dave Anderson
What Experience Has Taught Me About Diversity
Diversity isn’t about checking the box on hiring people who look different. It’s about having true differences of opinions on teams.
Dave Anderson
A Guide to Bare Minimum Management
It can take years to be a great manager. What does it take to be a moderately fine manager?
Dave Anderson
A Guide to the Deep Dive Leadership Principle
Dive deep is a frequently misunderstood leadership principle. This is a complete walkthrough of the exact words used to describe this principle.
Dave Anderson
A Guide to Owning Instead of Helping
Helping others is great, but it doesn’t hold a candle to owning things. I walk through ownership vs helping, and why your kids are bad at doing the dishes.
Dave Anderson
Questions and Answers from Reddit CSCareerQuestions - An Experiment
A few choice questions from CSCareerQuestions, answered by Dave. Topics include job rescinding, teammate competition, job hunting, performance feedback, and some unfortunate swearing.
Dave Anderson
The Impacts of How Your On-Call is Managed
On-call is an unpopular concept for many. However, I think it has many hidden benefits.
Dave Anderson
Boring Tenure versus Exciting Job Hopping
Growing your career and skills takes tenure and experience at a company. This runs counter to the oft repeated suggestion to job hop for improved compensation.
Dave Anderson
Navigating Pivotal Moments in Your Career
There are times when slow and steady wins the race. At other times, it’s important to put in 110%.
Dave Anderson
When Are Office Politics a Good Thing?
Most people view office politics as a bad thing. I’m here to convince you otherwise.
Dave Anderson
We’re Going the Wrong Way, But At Least We’re Making Good Time - Feeling Accomplished != Creating Impact
Creating an impact doesn’t always make you feel accomplished, and feeling accomplished doesn’t necessarily mean you’re creating an impact.
Dave Anderson
Q2
Your Big Idea Doesn’t Matter - Thinking Big is About Execution
The concept of thinking big is not about having big ideas. It’s about charting a path to accomplish great and challenging things.
Dave Anderson
New Employee Ramp Up Costs – How to Improve the Experience
Ramping up at a new company can be frustrating for a new employee. It’s also a large cost for companies. Learn how to reduce that expensive tax.
Dave Anderson
Yet More Painful Mistakes Which Were Key to My Career Success
I’ve made mistakes in various ways. It can be embarrassing, but mistakes are also the best way to learn.
Dave Anderson
Behind the Scenes on an Amazon Recruiting Trip
The exhausting and strange process of interviewing dozens of people in bulk.
Dave Anderson
Meetings Are Usually Awful, But Yours Won’t Be Anymore
Meetings are a joke. Make yours avoid the punchline. Decide if you should have a meeting, should you attend one, and the rules to make yours effective.
Dave Anderson
Questions to Ask at the End of an Interview
Asking questions at the end of an interview is still part of the interview process. Give yourself the best chance of getting hired by asking good questions.
Dave Anderson
The Overuse of Metrics Can Scam You Out of Customer Obsession
Metrics are a great tool, as long as they’re wielded wisely. I’ll talk about some of the risks and pitfalls.
Dave Anderson
Your Employee Is Smarter Than You, and That’s Ok
If you’re in management, you’ll eventually manage people who know more than you do about their field. How can you be a useful manager to them?
Dave Anderson
How to Handle Negative Performance Feedback
Receiving negative feedback about your performance can be painful and dangerous to your career. Know what your next steps should be.
Dave Anderson
Answering Interview Questions Using the STAR Method
The STAR method can help any interviewer give a clear and detailed explanation for an interview question.
Dave Anderson
Take on a Secret Challenge to Get Your Manager Promoted
Managers need help in their careers, just like employees. Put some effort into helping your manager.
Dave Anderson
Become a Top Performer in Your Own Niche
Senior positions require niche skills. What is your niche?
Dave Anderson
Q1
Can You Measure a Technology Team’s Efficiency?
A common request is to measure the effectiveness of a team. Is it possible? Is it the right thing to do? Are there alternatives?
Dave Anderson
No One Will Give You a Promotion - You Need to Take It.
Being given an opportunity is nice, but it’s crucial that you develop the skills to make your own opportunities.
Dave Anderson
Actual VS Intended Priorities – Are You Acting On Your True Priorities?
What you intend to focus on are your intended priorities. How you spend your time are your actual priorities. Are you spending your life energy on the right things?
Dave Anderson
A Guide to Escaping a High-Operations Cycle
High-operations is a painful cost to a company, employees, and customers. This walks through the causes and resolution of high-operations cycles.
Dave Anderson
A Complete Guide to Using a Coach or Mentor Effectively
Everything you should need to know before pursuing a coach or mentor relationship.
Dave Anderson
Writing and Speaking Clearly and Concisely
Communicating concisely takes practice and skill. Learn the key steps to follow to add value with everything you communicate.
Dave Anderson
A Few School Lessons You Should Cheerfully Forget
School teaches some good lessons, and some bad. Here I walk through a few lessons you should unlearn.
Dave Anderson
Discover the Painful Mistakes I’ve Made Which Were Key to My Career Success
The biggest mistakes drive the biggest growth. Read about a few anecdotes of painful mistakes I’ve made, and what I learned along the way.
Dave Anderson
Simple Steps to Solve the Three Types of Ownership Ambiguity
There are a few simple steps to follow to drive your career and ensure you’re an excellent owner in any situation.
Dave Anderson
Vanquishing Ownership Ambiguity – Navigating Complexity in the Office
Ambiguous ownership is a necessary part of working in complex situations. Being able to navigate this ambiguity is a part of successful leadership.
Dave Anderson
How to Miss Your Dates and Fail Your Goals With Finesse
Everyone fails goals. How you fail your goals will determine what type of leader you are.
Dave Anderson
Enjoying My Break - Briefly Saying Hello
A summary post of some recent paid articles.
Dave Anderson
Goals Setting for Critical Work – Commit to Less and Achieve More
Setting fewer goals and achieving them is a key to success. Finding predictability in unpredictable work is challenging but rewarding.
Dave Anderson
How I Completely Defeated Procrastination to Achieve My Goals
What do high school students, and experienced professionals have in common? We all unwisely put off our most important work.
Dave Anderson
2021
Q4
New Job in the New Year? When is it Time to Pull the Plug?
A framework for deciding if you should stick with your current job, or if it’s time to hunt for your next adventure.
Dave Anderson
Swim Upstream or Float Downstream – Change Your Environment to Change Your Behavior
The situation controls your behavior. If you want to control your behaviors, look at changing your situation.
Dave Anderson
Designing Efficient Organizations AKA Meetings Are Terrible and Waste My Time
There are some easy ways to make your organization less efficient. Involve multiple organizations spread across multiple geographies.
Dave Anderson
⚒️ The Trust Equation aka How to Be a Decent Human
Building trust is critical for long term success. Being a decent human builds personal connections.
Dave Anderson
Why do the Amazon Leadership Principles Successfully Drive Behavior?
The Amazon Leadership Principles work to drive behaviors within Amazon. How do they do things differently than most other companies?
Dave Anderson
Stoicism is Not Just For Emperors and Hipsters
Staying calm in a crisis is a necessary component of leadership.
Dave Anderson
Why Large Companies are Inefficient, and Growth is Expensive
Designing processes and software to scale is expensive, but necessary. Why this inefficiency is inevitable.
Dave Anderson
How to Pass the Amazon Behavioral / Leadership Principles Interview
A summary of how to answer interview questions in the Amazon behavioral / leadership principles interview.
Dave Anderson
Project Post-Mortem Meetings — It’s About Process Improvement, Not Dead People
A Post-Mortem meeting is a review process for identifying organizational improvements on how to run projects.
Dave Anderson
Your Peers Disagree with Your Promotion, and Commit to Blocking It—Why Your Team Isn’t Getting Anything Done
Disagree and commit is about the complex interactions of having strong opinions, yet focusing on delivering results.
Dave Anderson
A Delegation Question — How Do I Not Overload My Team? Delegating Load Balancing.
An important part of delegation is delegating work load balancing.
Dave Anderson
Sex, Blood, and Newsletters — Lessons From the First 6 Months
Things I’ve learned or observed during the first 6 months of my newsletter.
Dave Anderson
Delegation is Empowerment — Give Away a Task Today
Delegation is a critical skill to practice and learn as you gain in experience.
Dave Anderson
The Amazon Writing Exercise — Nailing the Written Amazon Interview
The written exercise at Amazon is your opportunity to demonstrate that you can be a senior leader at Amazon.
Dave Anderson
A Couple Decades of Unlearning — Lessons on the Path to Director
Over the couple of decades of my career, I’ve unlearned quite a few things. I decided to share some beliefs I’ve since decided were wrong.
Dave AndersonYour System is Not Perfect and That’s Great — Balancing Operational Investments
Investments in operations needs to be the minimal level which maintains the systems in an acceptable state forever. Because no one likes a show-off.
Dave Anderson
Two-way Doors Are Great and One-way Doors Are Scary — Thoughtful Decision-Making
How to recognize and respond to two-way and one-way doors. A thoughtful approach to decision-making.
Dave Anderson
5 Whys — A Proven Method to Analyze Root Cause
A great mechanism for understanding the underlying cause and effect of our systems and processes.
Dave Anderson
Master Business Writing — A Results Driven Approach
Having an organized approach to your business writing ensures that you’re writing for your audience, with a purpose.
Dave Anderson
Customer Obsession and Anecdotes — Unexpected Benefits of Diving Deep
Large businesses focus on metrics to handle millions of customers, yet investigating single customer anecdotes has hidden value.
Dave Anderson
How to Ask Your Manager For a Promotion - Own Your Career!
Own your own career. Build a project plan for promotion, and own it with your manager.
Dave Anderson
The Productivity Cost of Growth - Why Larger Teams Fail to Deliver Results
Headcount growth negatively impacts productivity in the short run, and increases costs in the long run. It requires focused effort to minimize these negative consequences.
Dave Anderson
Q3
The Value of Clear and Concise Communication
Clear and Concise communication which directly answers questions or provides information is a key trait of successful leaders.
Dave Anderson
The Secrets of “Are Right, a Lot” - the Intriguing Amazon Leadership Principle About Not Always Being Right
Are Right, a Lot is more than just being correct frequently. It’s about being open and interested in learning as well.
Dave Anderson
The Remarkable Power of Doing the Hard Things First
A leader is expected to identify and reduce risk. This means a leader does the hard things first.
Dave Anderson
The Basics of Why Meritocracy Does Not Exist - The Power of Trust
Trust is our currency at work. Merit and job skill is only one aspect of building trust.
Dave Anderson
What’s the Worst Case Scenario? Change Management and Predicting Disasters.
A useful change management process includes a documented worst case scenario as well as the disaster recovery plans for when that scenario takes place.
Dave Anderson
Skip-level Meetings - How to Think Broader and Look Further
Look around corners by having valuable skip-level meetings. Understand where your organization is going in the long run.
Dave Anderson
How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome at Work - Embracing Discomfort
We are all challenged when we recognize our skills aren’t perfect. We need to embrace the discomfort to continue to grow.
Dave Anderson
The Self-Driven Career - How to Grow Without an Awesome Manager
The steps to take to grow your skills and career without having an awesome manager to help out.
Dave Anderson
What’s Broken About Tech Interviewing and a Few Crazy Ideas
An analysis of the current tech interviewing process, and some ideas to test.
Dave Anderson
Why Amazon is Innovative - Roadmap Before Resources
Resource constraints and how they define how Amazon operates and continues to innovate.
Dave Anderson
My Path to Writing a Newsletter, Finances, and Motivation - a Personal Story
A personal reflection on money, drive, commitments, investing, and more.
Dave Anderson
Why Stereotypes Aren’t Always a Bad Thing - Managing With Patterns
Recognize patterns in management to be able to solve issues, and deliver results.
Dave Anderson
Feedback Is a Gift - The Art of Giving Solicited Advice
The Why and How to write peer feedback.
Dave Anderson
How to Embrace Uncomfortable Behaviors to Boost Your Value
When your normal behavior is not useful, you should make a more drastic change.
Dave Anderson
Managers Can’t Always Be Friendly - Why You Need to Scare Your Employees
Being candid in conversations can be hard for the manager, and come across harsh for the employee. It’s also necessary.
Dave Anderson
Everything You Need to Know About One-on-One Meetings
Having a strong one-on-one culture can create a powerful relationship between employee and manager.
Dave Anderson
Why and When Numbers Become a Secret Weapon
Moving discussions to numbers can remove emotions and omissions from the conversation to honesty and facts.
Dave Anderson
Opinion: Companies should eliminate bias in their compensation processes
Racism and sexism are a part of today’s corporate compensation model. We need to do better.
Dave Anderson
Adding Value Through Subtraction - Why Removal Needs More Attention
Removing things is often just as complex as adding things. It is a way to add value which is often overlooked.
Dave Anderson
10 Steps to Write a LinkedIn Profile and Why It Matters
Having a high quality LinkedIn profile is not optional these days. Details of why, and how to build a proper profile.
Dave Anderson
The Impacts of Amazon’s Decentralization - A Two Sided Coin
Decentralization has a list of positives and negatives. This is a summary of those positives and negatives, and how they can be leveraged for success.
Dave Anderson
What to Expect from the Amazon Interview and Hiring Process
A full summary of the entire Amazon interview and hiring process, from resume review to the questions, to offer completion. How to do the preparation necessary to be successful.
Dave Anderson
A First Principles Anecdote - How I Avoided Burnout at Amazon
Burnout is a real risk at a fast paced company. This is about a time I saved myself from burnout by using first principles.
Dave Anderson
Why Good Enough is Better Than Perfect
Quality is not a measure of good or bad work. It’s a measure of how much effort you put into your work.
Dave Anderson
Hit the Ground Running - How to Ramp Up at Your New Job in 3 Weeks
At Amazon, I started new jobs regularly. Learn how to ramp up quickly for career success.
Dave AndersonHuman Leadership Principles - Respecting the Humans We Work With
Amazon and other companies are financial entities. They have core values and missions, but they’re heartless in the end. People need to step up to provide empathy in the office.
Dave Anderson
4 Patterns in Software Development Projects Which Lead to Failure
With experience, you can recognize the less obvious patterns which lead to costly disasters.
Dave Anderson
Q2
How to pass the Amazon Technical / Functional Interview - Questions and Assessments
The approach to interview questions, how to interact with the interviewers, and how to deal with potential failure.
Dave Anderson
Why Your Vision is a Critical Ingredient in Goal Setting
Goal setting without a vision can be counter productive. Where are you trying to go?
Dave Anderson
Why Outcomes Don’t Matter; Building Mechanisms as a Leader - The COE Process
The Journey Not the Destination. Focus on what you can control, and move past the narrow focus on outcomes.
Dave Anderson
Achieve More by Doing One Thing a Day
Achieving one important thing a day is more than most people accomplish.
Dave Anderson
6 Actions a Manager Should Take to Support Their Team Members
Management is not about assigning tasks, it’s about leading and growing other people.
Dave Anderson
Why It’s Better to Say No
Often, saying no is better than saying yes. In the long run, there’s serious value in doing fewer things.
Dave Anderson
Interview Mistake #3 - Neglecting Context for the Interviewer
Ignoring your audience and their background. Advice from my interview experience at Amazon, Facebook, and Bezos Academy.
Dave Anderson
Recognizing Excellence in Others
Everyone has a superpower. Recognize and utilize your co-workers superpowers.
Dave Anderson
9 Simple Actions to Build a Culture of Empathy
You can build an accidental culture, or a purposeful culture. Take action to build a culture of empathy, and reap the rewards.
Dave Anderson
The Proven Secret to Forge a Stronger Relationship With Your Manager - Giving and Receiving Feedback
Upwards feedback is a gift from an employee to a manager. How to politely give the gift of feedback to a manager, and as a manager, how to receive feedback gracefully.
Dave Anderson
A Simple Explanation of Why Your Manager is Mediocre
No manager wants to be a terrible boss. Yet even with the best of intentions, it’s hard to avoid being moderately incompetent.
Dave Anderson
How the Amazon Bar Raiser Interview Process Works - Raising the Bar
Improving the imperfect system of choosing your next co-worker. The Bar Raiser process at Amazon scales one of the worlds most prolific hiring pipelines.
Dave Anderson
Interview Mistake #2: Trash Talking Colleagues
Complaining about co-workers, an immature and dangerous temptation. Advice from my interview experience at Amazon, Facebook, and Bezos Academy.
Dave Anderson
The Hoax That You Can Win a Relationship
You can’t win or lose relationships. Relationships are connections between people which can be either improved, made worse, or eliminated.
Dave Anderson
Interview Mistake #1: Running Your Mouth
Talking rather than listening, a deadly combination. Advice from my interview experience at Amazon, Facebook, and Bezos Academy.
Dave Anderson
Filling Your Headcount — Hiring at Amazon
How Amazon allocates and uses headcount, the importance of treating hiring as a skill as a manager, and how to use efficient effort to fill your headcount.
Dave Anderson
2019
Q4
To Become a Leader, Act Like One
I found rather than waiting for my promotions at Amazon, I was more fulfilled and grew myself as a leader by pretending I had already been promoted.
Dave Anderson
Q2
Failure is Critical to Success and Growth
You can only succeed if you are willing to fail. You can only learn if you are willing to be terrible at first.
Dave Anderson
As a Leader, Time Is Your Most Valuable Resource
Strangely, doing less often means accomplishing more.
Dave Anderson
Q1
Technical Skills Are Overrated. Focus on Your Attitude.
When interviewing, particularly for technical positions, many people over value their technical preparation, and don’t consider the importance of personality and leadership preparation.
Dave Anderson
Finding Your Ideal Boss
The reflection exercise that helped me find and cultivate a successful relationship with my manager.
Dave Anderson
2018
Q4
Leading vs Winning
Focusing on leading, rather than winning, creates significantly better results for you and your team.
Dave Anderson
Answer the Unasked Questions
When you’re asked questions - do you literally answer those questions, or do you try to answer the root question behind it all?
Dave Anderson
Q2
“Them” — and how they’re always screwing up
You can’t be a leader if you treat co-workers as “them”.
Dave Anderson