TLC #5: Handling Project Failures, Reddit IPO, Apple vs US, Surface PC and more
Handling project failures well is an essential tech leadership trait. And Microsoft, Reddit, Apple, Intuit are all in the news this week. (Issue #5, 24 Mar 2024)
Hey, Ashwin here! Welcome to edition #5 of the Tech Lead Compass newsletter!
Project failures happen. It is nasty when it does. Executive leadership demands answers, the team’s morale is down and all future work will be closely scrutinized.
A great tech leader’s trait is to handle project failures well and ensure things move on, armed with the learnings.
Handling Project Failures
As a tech leader, handling project failures gracefully is a crucial skill. Here are practical steps to navigate such situations:
Take Ownership - Acknowledge failure openly and take responsibility for it. Don’t get into the blame game. Demonstrate transparency and accountability that can establish trust
Analyze the situation - Put your investigation cap and analyze what went wrong. Run constructive retrospectives, and focus on the failure, not on people. Gather feedback from as many stakeholders as possible, to get a full picture
Focus on learning - Document key findings and learnings. Ensure it is shared with all stakeholders and even outside your team. Create an action plan to review ways of working and embed learning in future projects
Communicate fast and wide - Be clear and concise in your communication. Explain the situation and why it happened (root cause). Rely on facts wherever possible
Encourage your team to move on - Be resilient and enable the team to move on from failure. Help them focus on future success and use the failure to do better the next time
In short, handle the failure with grace and set a positive example for your team and organization.
Now on to the must-read news from the past week…
5 “Must-Read” Tech News for the Week
Mustafa Suleyman joins Microsoft AI as CEO (Microsoft Blog)
Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection, has joined Microsoft to lead the Copilot AI division. Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, announced this organizational update emphasizing the importance of innovation in the AI field.
19-year-old Reddit makes IPO (CNBC)
Reddit made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker "RDDT" with an initial public offering (IPO) priced at $34 a share.
Reddit shares surged by 48% on their first day of trading, opening at $47, reaching a high of $57.80, and closing at $50.44.
Microsoft unveiled the Surface Pro 10 for Business and Surface Laptop 6 for Business, both featuring a dedicated Copilot button on the keyboard for quick access to the chatbot assistant.
Intuit’s personal budgeting app Mint is no more (The Verge)
Mint, a popular personal budgeting app will be discontinued as of 23 March and roll into Credit Karma, which is part of Intuit’s financial product suite
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a case against Apple for violating antitrust laws.
The case centers around how Apple has used its locked-down ecosystem to build a monopoly on the iPhone.
In case you missed the past articles, feel free to read them from here:
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