The Power of Stories ✍️ — with Michael "Rands" Lopp

Today's guest is Michael Lopp, better known as Rands, who is writer of several popular books about engineering management, including "Managing Humans", which is a personal favorite of mine.Live at LDX3, we discussed his lifelong writing habit, the importance of giving feedback through stories and the leverage of leadership experience in the AI era.(00:00) Episode start(00:40) A live chat with Rands at LeadDev(02:10) How to collect and write great leadership stories(03:38) Sponsor break(05:13) Writing as a habit: from journals to 14,000 readers(08:09) The power of naming things(10:20) Using stories to give feedback without being directive(12:40) Introverts, extroverts, and bringing calm to explosive situations(15:09) Tinkering with AI: joy, interns, and daily delight(19:18) "I was wrong" why managers should code again(21:54) Do we still need middle managers in the AI era?(27:40) The accountants analogy: why more productivity creates more jobs(36:25) Managing Robots: the book that's coming-Today's episode is brought to you by Unblocked.Unblocked is the context layer for modern engineering teams.Get a free three-week trial at https://getunblocked.com/refactoring-You can also find this at:• 📬 Newsletter: https://refactoring.fm• 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Luds9dmzZDoDC8Q7EMbSw• 📱 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/refactoring-podcast/id1719137305—For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, or appearing as a guest, email: [email protected]