Hi,

We have been having a heatwave here in the UK this week and my garden office has turned into a mini oven. I am writing this early in the morning from the shade of the garden before it gets too hot. Stay cool out there!

🎓 Coaching scholarships

Twice a year I collaborate with a group of excellent coaches based all around the world to offer coaching scholarships to engineering leaders from underrepresented groups in technology.

These scholarships are open to engineering leaders at any level — from Senior Engineer to CTO — who identify as being from an underrepresented group in technology and would not otherwise be able to easily afford coaching.

This year we are offering 29 scholarships and applications are open until the end of the day on Tuesday 30th June.

If you know someone who would benefit from one of these scholarships then please share with them.

→ Find out more and apply by 30th June

☕ Coffee with CTOs

Our next Coffee with CTOs will be on Thursday 23rd July.

These online sessions are a chance to bring along an uncertainty, challenge or question (and a coffee or tea), make connections with a small group of your peers and get some support and new perspectives.

→ Register here — places are limited.

🔗 Other interesting links

Some of the things that I have read and watched recently include:

• Understanding engineers' needs 🧬: Lara Hogan shares valuable insights into how you understand yourself, and those around you in this excellent interview, including an introduction to the BICEPS model. How well do you know what you and the people around you actually need?
• An appropriate use of metrics: Pat Kua's excellent advice on introducing metrics. What changes does this encourage you to consider about your metrics?
• Flipping the bozo bit on flips the learning off: When things go wrong for other people, we often underestimate how much we can learn from them, because we attribute their failure to a lack on their part. When did you last find yourself doing this?
• The liberating effect of “good enough for now”: In sociocracy, a group decision is made when no decision maker for the decision has an objection. The slogan for that is that a proposal is good enough for now and safe enough to try. This is also a powerful slogan for helping make decisions on your own in an uncertain world. Where are you holding out for perfect when good enough would do?

Take care,

J.

→ monkeysthumb.co.uk