Leadership observability: explaining our workings for ourselves & others
summary
Claim: narrating mental steps adds observability to leadership by turning opaque instincts into micro-horistics and labels. Method: record and label decisions on a whiteboard, narrate actions during pairing, and treat those narratives as logs — coined Auto-observability. Examples: poke it till it pops (interact until behavior reveals itself) and checking inconsistent naming across views. Outcome: applied at a 180-person company with a 14-person management team, this surfaces why decisions happen, speeds hour-by-hour choices, and makes teaching leadership concrete.
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chapters (31)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:13Testers in escape rooms
- 3:22Curiosity intuition testing
- 4:49Micro heuristics in testing
- 7:20Defining micro heuristics
- 9:08Leadership after career shift
- 13:45From testing to leadership heuristics
- 15:54Auto observability concept
- 18:03Auto observability in decisions
- 21:16Leadership unstructured nature
- 22:17Leadership heuristics examples
- 24:25Decision making as leader
- 26:31Tough decisions with context
- 29:02Context and disappointing people
- 31:52Authenticity vs professionalism
- 33:17Staying sane as leader
- 34:18Micromanaging vs stepping back
- 35:42Prioritizing and half-assing
- 36:48Deadlines vs sad lines
- 38:13Emotional balance in leadership
- 39:16Call to action
- 42:51Q&A
- 43:13Q&A: sad lines vs deadlines
- 44:40Q&A: decision influence & team size
- 45:22Q&A: COVID impact & communication
- 46:26Q&A: cats dogs preferences
- 46:47Q&A: sharing difficulties
- 47:49Q&A: recommended books
- 48:10Q&A: selling tough decisions
- 49:12Q&A: introspection depth
- 50:36Q&A: key to leadership
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