Yusuf Aytas's Blog, page 5

Hiring Red Flags

Hiring is tough. It’s one of the most important tasks a manager faces while growing their team. The problem with hiring is that a bad hire can significantly impact you financially, culturally, and emotionally. Whether you’re building a new team from scratch or just filling an important role, it helps to hear the warning signs again. After years of hiring, I’ve learned to spot certain red…

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Why The Godfather Is So Damn Good

I recently stumbled upon The Godfather while scrolling through a movie list. I figured, why not take a peek? Well, that “peek” turned into watching the whole damn movie again. And honestly, every time I watch it, I can’t help but get sucked right back in. Let’s talk about why. The beginning itself is legendary. Don Corleone, caressing that cat while listening to the desperate story of a man…

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Subteam Tenets

Over the years, working across multiple organizations, I developed the concept of subteam tenets. I’ve tweaked it along the way to fit each company’s unique quirks, but I still use it to this day, and it has helped me navigate challenging situations. It’s really a system of divide and conquer, nothing fancy to be honest, but it lays down clear ground rules for the teams you oversee.

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No Fluff Please

I’ve seen countless so-called resume coaches who stuff resumes with flashy buzzwords like ‘scalable’ and ‘fast.’ It’s all fluff, and it doesn’t land real results. A truly impactful CV is about substance over style. Let’s dive into how to craft a CV that stands out by focusing on concrete achievements. I center my approach around “Stay away from adjectives.” I have been hiring for…

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Losing a Top Performer

Over time, I had to manage and help to manage many times when a top performer quits. It sucks but we need to be reasonable. Imagine you’re on a winning streak, your top striker, like El Fenomeno, is scoring crazy, winning you matches. End of the season, they’re out. Well, that’s literally what Bobby Robson had to deal with the departure of El Fenomeno. You hired that person…

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Balancing Act of Reliability

Software development involves both creating and maintaining systems. Once you put anything into production, reliability becomes critical. When your systems aren’t reliable, you face issues in various ways. If you’re a SaaS company, you could lose customers. Nobody wants their business to stop because of your reliability problems. They will go to the competition. In B2C, customers can’t search…

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Building Trust in Engineering Teams

We all know that transparency builds trust. The lack of it? Well, that can lead to major issues. Engineers sometimes join teams and, from the start, struggle with trust. It’s as if information is being kept from them. Have you experienced that? I have seen examples of that throughout my career. I’ve often been asked, “Why does X do that?” or “Why is Y hiding this?” It’s easy to jump to conclusions…

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Ideal Number of Direct Reports

Amazon’s decision to cut 15% of its managers likely comes from a closer look at ratios. Were there too many managers with only 2-3 direct reports? That’s entirely possible. From my time at AWS, I didn’t see this much in engineering, so I doubt those teams will feel it as hard. But other departments with too many managers overseeing too few people were probably more bloated. It’s similar to what…

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Overriding a People Leader’s Decision

When managing managers or leaders, there will be times when you feel that the right course of action differs from their opinion. It could be related to rating an employee, deciding whether to give someone a second chance, or focusing on a particular business area. You see the situation differently, yet your people leader holds a contrary view. After all, we hire smart people to make the right…

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From Misperception to Promotion

If you are in the realm of management, sooner or later, you will encounter someone who wants a promotion but isn’t quite ready for it. In fact, I have seen many cases where the person isn’t even close. Naturally, we all desire growth and advancement, and it’s great to have professional aspirations. However, promotions are earned through consistent effort, demonstrated skills…

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