Hey, I am Tarik Guney!

Working with people is often challenging, regardless of how much you might love it. In this world, inputs usually produce something other than expected outputs. Therefore, you need to look at the implementation details of people’s reactions, which play a critical role in their interpretation of the world. Because of the complexity of human interaction and how it further complicates designing complex systems, managers can sometimes find it hard to keep their mental health and energy high....

A great leader also knows when to dive deep. There are times when important matters are mentioned only briefly. But a leader recognizes such moments and digs deeper to understand the details. The leader does not need to know everything from top to bottom. Often, the problems are due to simple logical inconsistencies, informational disconnects, or insufficient planning or questioning by the owners. However, expanding your domain knowledge at different levels of your product domain certainly helps a lot....

Our success in life is not just because of our hard work. Working hard on the right things is indeed tremendously important. But there is one more critical ingredient in this recipe. I write a lot, but not much on what I am about to type. I am writing up this hoping to influence people in the right direction to succeed. The other critical ingredient to success: Working with/for great bosses....

When it comes to criticizing past decisions, perhaps one of the most common mistakes is to criticize them with today’s standards and realities and blame them for our troubles today with this mindset. This also happens in the software development world. Often, we, the software engineers are passionate people in our craft. When you are passionate about something, your elevated emotions make it easier to criticize past decisions within the atmosphere of today’s advancements and requirements....

Embracing your vulnerabilities is not turning them into a drama but finding the strength in them to push forward after realizing how much you still have accomplished despite your weaknesses. Embracing other people’s vulnerabilities is learning to accept people as they are sometimes. We all are fighting our demons.

Every manager’s lifelong learning is and should be asking more right questions. Nothing helps as much as questions do. Judge them by the questions they ask, not the answer they give. Questions not just lead to solutions; they also reveal what’s being done so far, which is critical for managers to debug their teams. Answers can change depending on many parameters. What worked for a manager before might not work for them now....

As a manager, focusing on too many things means nothing will get done. One thing at a time is faster than ten things at once but half done. Focus on the things you can change first. Hard work fixes everything is a myth if you don’t work smart. Otherwise, you will only keep wasting your energy while increasing your frustration. Don’t take action because it feels safe. Take action because it is the right thing to do....

Your primary team is where you can speak freely and be who you are and can learn a lot for your career. That’s why a manager’s primary team is not the one they manage but the one they report to the same manager. And that’s fine. Your direct reports already have a lot of people to hang out with. When you manage a team, every word that comes out of your mouth counts; even thinking out loud can cause confusion and sometimes frustration....

The number one leadership trait is emotional maturity. The easiest way to stay emotionally mature is through curiosity. Because curiosity leads to a growth mindset. The growth mindset sees every challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow rather than something to be mad about. (Yes, sometimes you need to be angry about things!) The faster way to develop a growth mindset is to be willing to experiment rather than push back as the initial reaction by default....

When your motivation at work drops, before making any drastic changes, check the following fail-forward strategies. They have always worked for me! Check if you lack domain expertise and spend time learning the product better. The lack of product knowledge often narrows your perspective on your work and its impact. When you know less, you participate less in meetings; you generate fewer ideas, which could lead to thoughts that involve worthlessness, imposter syndrome, and so on....