👋 Welcome to the first issue of 2025! And a special welcome to all the new subscribers over the holiday!
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Let's jump right in.

As I’ve encountered more and more problems as a software engineer, I’ve often found myself having one of two knee-jerk reactions when faced with a new problem:

1) too easy

2) impossible.

Of course, those reactions are extremes. Most problems lie somewhere in the middle.

Additionally, many of the “easy” issues I’ve encountered have some form of complication, while many of my initial reactions to “impossible” problems had reasonably straightforward implementations.

One of the tools I’ve used to reorient my knee-jerk reactions is thinking about constraints.

I don’t mean thinking exclusively about Constraint Satisfaction Problems (though that can help; more on constraints in a moment), but more about how you think about a problem space.

Today, I want to share a bit of how I think about this when solving problems, and I hope it can help you.
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Team-Building Exercise

The beginning of a new year always comes with a new set of goals and ambitions. These are found both on a personal level, a team level and a company level (to name a few).

This week's Team-Building Exercise is about learning some of the goals your teammates have for the year. Yes, you have team goals that you should be talking about but don't settle for just those.

Find a few colleagues you are building strong trust and relationships with and ask them, "Do you have any goals for the year?"

These could be professional or could be any arena they want to improve within. The goal of the conversation is to build trust and learn if there is any way you can support them in reaching their goals.

Don't be pushy, of course. They might not have thought about it or aren't comfortable sharing much else. That's fine! But I promise that by asking the question, your teammates will notice that you are taking an interest in them and trying to build a relationship.

For me, I have a goal of climbing more lead routes at my gym and being able to go outdoor climbing at least once in the coming year (tough with a toddler). I also have a goal of improving my knowledge of AWS and potentially (finally) getting an AWS Cloud Practitioner Certificate.

While a few of my teammates likely won't be able to help with the first (remote team), I think I'll likely get some tips and pointers from a few teammates on the AWS one.

The key is sharing and understanding what the goals are first.

Here are some more resources from me to help you build better teams!​

Other Creators I Recommend

Daniel Schaefer Subscribe if you are a software developer that has the technical skills, but you're looking for opportunities to enhance your soft skills to advance in your career. Subscribe​

Build It Better Newsletter by Jonas Fleur-Aime Creating great software is not just about completing new features faster, submitting more pull requests, or fixing bugs. Every Wednesday I publish tips and tactics to help you meet tough deadlines, tackle tech debt, handle scope creep, manage stakeholders, make sure you're building what customers actually want, and more. I'll draw on what I've learned after spending 15 yrs as a software developer, Engineering Manager, CTO, and startup advisor. Subscribe​

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