Skip to content
HomeVideosBooksBlogs
AllTop postsTopics
Podcasts
HistoryListsWatch laterLiked videosFollowing

The videos, books, blogs and podcasts Hacker News keeps recommending, all in one place.

VideosBooksBlogsPodcastsAboutPrivacySettings

Data from Hacker News, HackerTube, HackerBooks, HackerBlogs and Open Library. Credits · Not affiliated with Y Combinator.

HomeVideosBooksBlogsPodcasts
Ctrl K
    E

    Elided Branches

    elidedbranches.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2016

    Camille Fournier, author of The Manager's Path, writes about engineering management, technical leadership, and product culture in software teams.

    Visit blogHN submissions
    ManagementCareer & WorkTech Industry
    What HN says

    Commenters recommend it as a source on technical leadership from an experienced CTO, though one commenter harshly criticizes a linked post as pseudoscience.

    Stats for nerds
    28HN people shared it
    33linked in comments
    1.1Kstory points
    Dec 2022last shared
    2016people per year2022

    Top posts on HN

    1. 1
      How Do Individual Contributors Get Stuck? A Primer (2017)
      3 people · 537 points · first shared 2017 · 90 comments on HN
    2. 2
      How do managers get stuck? (2017)
      1 person · 213 points · first shared 2019 · 63 comments on HN
    3. 3
      OPP: Other People's Problems
      2 people · 92 points · first shared 2019 · 26 comments on HN
    4. 4
      Building and Motivating Engineering Teams (2016)
      1 person · 84 points · first shared 2019 · 4 comments on HN
    5. 5
      Notes on Startup Engineering Management for Young Bloods (2015)
      1 person · 80 points · first shared 2016 · 10 comments on HN
    6. 6
      The Product Culture Shift
      3 people · 71 points · first shared 2022 · 27 comments on HN
    7. 7
      Structural Lessons in Engineering
      1 person · 22 points · first shared 2022 · Discussion on HN
    8. 8
      The virtues of Laziness and Impatience
      1 person · 13 points · first shared 2016 · Discussion on HN
    9. 9
      Product for Internal Platforms
      3 people · 7 points · first shared 2020 · 1 comments on HN
    10. 10
      Notes on Startup Engineering Management for Young Bloods
      3 people · 5 points · first shared 2016 · Discussion on HN

    What HN people wrote when they linked it

    • yowlingcatMar 2021

      I have the same categorical feeling of revulsion seeing this kind of pseudoscience today as I did when I first saw it a year ago. This is basically corporate astrology. It's unfalsifiable, patronizing, reductionist and amounts to unwarranted adversarial psychological aggression. If you ever used this in the corporate setting at any place I've ever worked at, you'd be laughed out of the room so fast it would make your head spin.

      Stereotyping people into these jungian archetypes makes the error of presuming personality flaws and individual agency rather than load bearing organizational sociopolitical vectors, historical decisions and cruft that needs to be unwound, high level executive directives, and market conditions. That is to say, context, history, and structure; goals and incentives -- all this rather than theory which sounds good but is unfalsifiable (much like modern astrology).

      It's borderline irresponsible and unethical to give these ideas the time of day, because they are intrinsically unfalsifiable and based on stereotypes. Constructively approaching any of the issues seen here requires concretely addressing reality -- how can you find evidence of previous challenges, how can you bring said person to understand those challenges, what are they interested in from their perspective (rather than what your stereotype presumes), and is there materially enough to work with to move forward with the working relationship in a constructive manner?

      This kind of management…

    • ATschSep 2017

      Also has a great list of other blogs, most of which are my favorites now too.

      https://jvns.ca/blog/2016/04/09/some-of-my-favorite-blogs/

      here's a copy+pastable list:
      https://rachelbythebay.com/w/
      http://danluu.com/
      https://aphyr.com/
      http://www.elidedbranches.com/
      http://composition.al/blog/2015/03/31/what-isnt-a-key-value-store/
      https://www.harihareswara.net/sumana/2016/03/29/0
      http://blog.plover.com/aliens/dd/intro.html
      http://blog.jessitron.com/2015/06/ultratestable-coding-style.html
      http://akaptur.com/blog/2014/08/03/getting-started-with-python-internals/
      http://accidentallyquadratic.tumblr.com/post/142387131042/nodejs-left-pad
      http://embedded.fm/blog/takingaparttoys
      http://gigasquidsoftware.com/blog/2012/09/20/7-john-mccarthy-papers-in-7-weeks-1/
      https://mathbabe.org/2016/03/30/apple-vs-fbi-nobody-won/

    • mszyndelJun 2016

      I highly recommend following Camille Fournier's blog, she writes/speaks extensively about being a technical leader and CTO. Priceless lecture especially that it comes from someone very experienced.

      Check out this post about transitioning to hands-off position http://www.elidedbranches.com/2016/04/ask-cto-navigating-hands-on-to-hands.html

    • pieterrDec 2022

      Camille Fournier - The Manager's Path

      https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897/

      https://www.elidedbranches.com/

    • dhd415May 2019

      Camille also has a blog at http://www.elidedbranches.com. I second the recommendation.

    Related

    Camille Fournierskamille.medium.com29 people

    An incomplete list of skills senior engineers need, beyond coding

    Camille Fournier
    Personal · last shared 2025
    Erik Bernhardssonerikbern.com150 people

    Why software projects take longer than you think – a statistical model

    Erik Bernhardsson
    Personal · last shared 2026
    Better Programmingbetterprogramming.pub319 people

    Three programmers got fired, including me, due to a single app crash

    Better Programming
    Publication · last shared 2025
    Terrible Softwareterriblesoftware.org27 people

    Don't avoid workplace politics

    Terrible Software
    Personal · last shared 2026
    While Falsewhilefalse.blogspot.com19 people

    Why I'm Moving Away from the Play Framework

    While False
    Personal · last shared 2017
    Rachel Krollrachelbythebay.com493 people

    fork() can fail

    Rachel Kroll
    Personal · last shared 2026
    Engineering Leadershipnewsletter.eng-leadership.com31 people

    Perfectionism – one of the biggest productivity killers in the eng industry

    Engineering Leadership
    Personal · last shared 2026
    Dan Luudanluu.com1.2k people

    We only hire the trendiest

    Dan Luu
    Personal · last shared 2026