A new anonymous essay published every day in December in the countdown to Christmas.

The middle manager that doesn’t perform any useful work is a fun stereotype, but I also think it’s a good target to aim for. The difference lies in what to do once one has rendered oneself redundant. A common response is to invent new work, ask for status reports, and add bureaucracy. A better response is to go back to working on technical problems. This keeps the manager’s skills fresh and gets them more respect from their reports. The manager should turn into a high-powered spare worker, rather than a paper-shuffler.

The impact of AI on the workforce will be influenced by what different institutions throughout society—including businesses, nonprofit institutions, worker organizations, colleges and universities, and government—choose to do to guide its development and use.

Music for Programming is a series of curated, non-distracting electronic and ambient music mixes specifically designed to focus the brain and inspire the mind during tasks like programming or studying.

So often do we consider anything contentious “politics” and thusly tune out. In doing so, we lose our own power and autonomy.

Helping developers quickly build features that connect to every email, calendar, and contacts provider in the world. - Nylas

The full article is much better and more nuanced.

I wish it was a li’l more zoomed out and holistic because it does repeat the point from the snippet a couple of times but overall it seems to have a good heart.

The ten rules of negotiating:

• Get everything in writing
• Always keep the door open
• Information is power
• Always be positive
• Don’t be the decision maker
• Have alternatives
• Proclaim reasons for everything
• Be motivated by more than just money
• Understand what they value
• Be winnable