Tag: leadership

How do you launch a suite of Mobile, Web, and Voice products from ideation to go live in 12 weeks?

Check out the blog post by Very, the product development partner I worked with in my previous job at Thrive Global to design, build and launch multiple Mobile, Web, and Voice-controlled products from ideation to go live in 12 weeks!

Thrive Global was created to end the stress epidemic. Founded by Arianna Huffington, the comprehensive platform tackles burnout — a widespread barrier to productivity and success. By delivering sustainable, science-based solutions, Thrive Global enhances wellbeing and performance, so that people can move from surviving to thriving.

Fastly’s Altitude Summit

Rajiv spoke at Fastly‘s Altitude 2016 Summit in San Francisco. #Altitude2016 was a full day conference featuring technical content and idea sharing about the edge, web performance and content delivery from industry experts. Rajiv spoke from his personal knowledge of a CTO’s role in getting, maintaining, and developing buy-in for infrastructure engineering projects from business stakeholders. Here is… Continue reading Fastly’s Altitude Summit

How to be an effective CTO

A CTO’s job combines Culture, Technology, and Operations. Each of the three is necessary; a field of knowledge, experimentation, and learning in itself; and interdependent with the other two. To be successful as a CTO, you need to work on and continually master all three areas. If you’d like to see the responsibilities of a… Continue reading How to be an effective CTO

Why I left being CTO of The New York Times, joined a startup, and am pledging 20% of my equity to charity

Doctors Without Borders goes where no one else will and works with those who can’t get help anywhere else. (Reuters/James Giahyue)

As The New York Times’ chief technology officer, I had a crucial role in guiding the company’s successful transition to digital, and an opportunity to work with and learn from some of the most talented journalists and software engineers in the world. It’s undeniably one of the world’s most influential institutions doing work in the public’s interest, and has… Continue reading Why I left being CTO of The New York Times, joined a startup, and am pledging 20% of my equity to charity

A career is like a garden (farewell memo to nytimes colleagues)

  The following is the farewell memo I wrote to my colleagues at The New York Times. Subject: A career is like a garden Dear Colleagues, As you may know, I have accepted an offer to join a startup on June 1st, and therefore have made the difficult decision to leave The New York Times,… Continue reading A career is like a garden (farewell memo to nytimes colleagues)

Dear Makers, On Fridays My Office is Yours — An Experiment

Some senior leaders choose to work alongside their teams in cubicles, eschewing private office rooms. New York City’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg is an example. Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is another. Intel’s former CEO Andy Grove is often credited for setting this example. As I’ve worked at various news media companies, I have… Continue reading Dear Makers, On Fridays My Office is Yours — An Experiment

3 Dimensions of a Technology Team

Organizing Software Engineering Teams to Balance Products, Partners & Professions This organizational design for a technology department aims to optimally blend the need for the technology team to be an engine of innovation, a customer-service organization and technically excellent. It views the staff, roles and responsibilities in three dimensions: products, partnerships, and professions. Products and projects… Continue reading 3 Dimensions of a Technology Team

Mandela’s Way: Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage (Book Review)

I find many books on leadership to be fairy tales: Inspiring to read, but misleading about leadership that is actually effective in our real world. Real leadership — leadership that is based on evidence and science, and thus statistically more likely be effective in practice as opposed to “feel good leadership” — is less commonly… Continue reading Mandela’s Way: Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage (Book Review)

Posted Signs for Productive Meetings

You can post these slides as signs in your meeting rooms and offices or include them at the start of your presentations.   You can also open the original Google Slides document to print or leave comments.

Suggested Template For Requesting a Meeting

Every time someone calls a meeting, they should consider using this simple template. [ meeting-invitation-template begins ] The desired outcome of this meeting is: e.g. Come to agreement on solution for issue X e.g. Make a decision about Y. e.g. Share announcements about topic Z. e.g. Continue to grow a good working relationship with each… Continue reading Suggested Template For Requesting a Meeting