Join live webinar hosted by DX (Sponsored)

Setting targets for developer productivity metrics takes careful consideration: in some cases, setting the wrong goals can backfire by creating unintended consequences.

Teams might start focusing on optimizing the numbers instead of the system, and it can be difficult to figure out what kind of targets are realistic in the first place.

Join Abi Noda and Laura Tacho, DX CEO and CTO, for a discussion about how to properly set targets for productivity metrics, so you can continue to push for both improvement and accountability from your own teams.

You will learn:

• How to think about potential pitfalls, like Goodhart’s Law and Campbell’s Law, and spot them in your own metrics

• How to set goals at different levels: frontline team, group, and organization level, and what realistic targets can look like for your team

• Real-world examples of good and bad approaches to setting goals and targets for productivity metrics

The live webinar will be on Mar 24, 8:00am PST / 4:00pm CET.

Save your spot!

Let’s get back to this week’s thought!

Intro

Being active on LinkedIn has shown to be one of the best decisions I have made. As I mentioned in the previous article, I’ve been able to get SO many different opportunities because of it.

So, that’s why you shouldn’t neglect it and focus on improving it as much as you can.

It will pay dividends in the long run and especially in the current market, it’s really important that you stand out in a certain way.

Lucky for us, we have John Crickett today with us again for Part 2 of how to stop being invisible and be able to get opportunities on LinkedIn.

John is a seasoned engineering professional who has worked both as a senior IC (Staff+) and a senior manager (VP, Head of Software Development).

Fun fact! I met John via LinkedIn more than 2 years ago → it was when we both were just starting with our LinkedIn journeys and writing online.

We helped each other with advice and support and did many collaborations, including 4 of the articles together and many other online events.

Who would know that LinkedIn can help build such great partnerships and friendships!

Here are the articles we did together:

• Become the engineer everyone wants to work with (paid article)

• 12 ways to become a CTO (paid article)

• Become a better engineer by working on side projects (paid article)

• From invisible to in-demand: LinkedIn for engineers and managers Part 1

And today’s article is the 5th one!

Steps 1 to 5

Make sure to also read the first part, where we define how to start with LinkedIn and how can you prepare your profile and your overall LinkedIn journey for success.

You can read the article here:

From invisible to in-demand: LinkedIn for engineers and managers Part 1 Gregor Ojstersek and John Crickett · Mar 16 Read full story

And now, we are diving deeper into writing content, the overall structure and how to engage with people.

John, over to you!

Step 6 - Share original content that resonates with your audience

The core of building an audience and personal brand on LinkedIn is writing.

You can write posts, comments, articles and newsletters. The first two are the most important.

In this section, we’ll focus on posts because they are the best tool for you to get your views, experience and expertise in front of your ideal audience.

What to write

The first step is to decide what to write about.

There are three broad approaches you can use to help you decide:

1. Use your niche, ideal audience profile and personas. Pick topics that will resonate with them.

2. After you’ve done identifying your ideal audience, you can also look at what content is resonating with your ideal audience to get inspiration. What are they liking and commenting on?

3. Leverage your expertise, experience and insights. Tell your stories and share the lessons you learned from them.

Then you have to start writing. This can seem daunting at first, particularly if you’re not used to writing content for public consumption.

What follows is a guide to help you get started producing content.

How to write

Rather than face a blank page, work through the following to help generate some ideas.

As you’re doing that, note down the ideas - they will give you a starting point for future writing.

There are three broad approaches you can use for your content. They are:

1. Sharing your expertise - write about what you know and what you did.

2. Learning in public - write about your journey and share what you learned on that journey.

3. Sharing and summarising other people’s expertise - write about what someone else (with expertise or experience) did.

Your content can also fall under the following two categories:

1. Educational - you’re teaching people.

2. Entertainment - you’re entertaining people.

Finally, you can also write content that is:

• Actionable - specific advice that they can implement immediately to see a result.

• Analytical - you’ve dug into some data and figured out what it is telling us.

• An inspiring story - you’re telling a story that can inspire us.

• An educational story - telling a story that educates us, we learn what someone did and what happened as a result.

Structuring your post

A great way to simplify the process of writing a post is to have a clear structure to work with. Fortunately, there is a simple structure that works for posts on LinkedIn.

Each post should consist of two core elements: the headline (also often referred to as the hook) and the body, followed by an optional call to action (CTA).

That looks like this:

Headline - Why you should read this post right now!

The body is where we fulfill on the promise made in the headline by:

1. Explaining why the post matters.

2. Outlining the problem behind it.

3. And a solution to the problem.

Now, take this structure and write your own post!

Step 7 - Engage with your audience

A huge part of my success has been down to the time I spend engaging with the audience I’ve built.

In the early days, I tried to respond to every comment.

For the most part, I still do - except for the odd one that doesn’t make sense or could be someone trolling (fortunately that’s been very infrequent).

Here are the five key principles I use:

1. Don’t post and ghost.

2. Be active for 30 minutes or so immediately after you post.

3. Respond to as many comments as you can.

4. Respond constructively.

5. Ignore, delete or block trolls.

Step 8 - Comment on other people’s content

Commenting on other people’s posts is one of the quickest ways to grow your following on LinkedIn. Particularly in the early days when you don’t have an audience of your own.

There are two benefits:

1. You can build a relationship with the person you’re responding to.

2. Your comment gets you in front of their audience, potentially growing your following by borrowing their audience.

Therefore I urge you to make commenting a regular part of your daily routine.

Step 9 - Build a content pipeline

Now that you’ve got the building blocks of growth ready it’s time to start building the systems that will help you grow.

The core of that is a content pipeline (or production line if you prefer).

My pipeline has the following components:

1. Ideation - generating and recording ideas for posts.

2. Swipe file - a library of posts you can draw inspiration from.

3. Research - a library of notes, references, books, videos you can refer to on specific topics.

4. Stories - a list of your stories, the lessons you’ve learned, the mistakes you’ve made and the things you’ve seen or experienced.

5. Templates - a collection of post templates that you can use as the skeleton of your future posts.

6. Drafts - a collection of posts that are started and partially completed.

7. Ready - A collection of posts that are ready to go. I’ve usually got about 30 posts in this state to cover me for holidays, busy periods or other times when I can’t write.

You can operate this as a strict pipeline if you like.

For me, ideation, building the swipe file, research and stories are ongoing tasks that occur ad hoc.

Note-taking apps help here.

Step 10 - Level up your copywriting game

It doesn’t matter how great you or your ideas are if no one pays attention to them. That means a key part of building a personal brand is learning to be a great copywriter.

But wait a moment, copywriting is writing for advertising and sales, isn’t it?

Yes it is and I think that’s why it’s an important skill to learn for personal branding - you’re writing to “sell” your audience on your ideas. Because that’s what thought leadership is.

Copywriting is a huge subject, worthy of study in its own right, but there are several key points we can focus on when building our personal brand.

Before you write

Ask yourself these questions:

• What are you writing - a tweet, a post, an article or a newsletter?

• Who will be reading it? Think about the target audience (and your target personas).

• Why are you writing it? What is the purpose of the piece? Is it to entertain, provoke a discussion or drive an outcome?

• Why will they read it? What’s in it for them? What benefit will they get from reading it? Is it entertainment, education, inspiration or thought-provoking?

The answers to these questions will help you determine how to write the piece.

Creating the first draft

The next step is to plan your writing. That means noting down your core issue and any points you want to make.

At this stage I just write single sentences as they come to me, making no effort to organize them. That can come later.

Structuring and editing

After I have the bones of my content I start thinking about how to structure it. Here are the key points to consider:

• Open with a ‘headline’ that will catch the reader’s attention.

• Use the opening paragraph to give the reader an idea of the key point of your article.

• Try to mix short and long sentences.

• Break complex sentences down into shorter and simpler ones.

• It’s fine to have one-sentence paragraphs.

• Use no more words than necessary.

• Where one word can replace two or more words, use it.

• Where one-syllable words can replace words of two or more syllables, use them.

• Stick to the active voice.

• Avoid adjectives.

• Capitalise, but don’t SHOUT.

The final edit

When you think you have a final draft, read it out loud. This will show up things you wouldn’t otherwise notice.

To learn more

Gregor here again!

If you wish to move from being invisible to in-demand together with a group of like-minded people → John Crickett and Dagna Bieda are hosting a cohort-based course.

In the course, you’ll get a full roadmap to turning LinkedIn into an engine for career growth, visibility, and inbound opportunities.

The course starts in 2 days, so make sure to not miss it, if that’s something you’re looking for.

Dagna and John have been kind enough to give a discount to Engineering Leadership readers → use code ENGLEADER for 20% off or click here:

I want to check out the course!

Last words

Special thanks to John Crickett for sharing his experience with LinkedIn with us and also sharing his blueprint of how he was able to do it. You can find him on LinkedIn and also check out his newsletter Coding Challenges.

Let’s end the article with the following:

I believe that with enough drive and consistency, anyone can turn from invisible to in-demand on LinkedIn.

Sometimes “just DO it” is the best attitude we can have. You got this!

We are not over yet!

Top 3 Biggest Productivity Killers in the Engineering Industry

Check out my latest video. If you’re looking to be more productive as an engineer or a manager → I have shared the top 3 biggest productivity killers and how you can minimize the effect of them. Plus, one additional bonus one!

New video every Sunday! Subscribe to not miss it here:

Subscribe to the channel!

Yesterday, we finished the 5th cohort of the course Senior Engineer to Lead: Grow and thrive in the role

We've had such a great group and so many insightful questions being asked.

I always get reminded how fun it is to talk engineering/engineering leadership topics with people that are equally excited about the topic.

We also did a more breakout rooms this time, which (based on feedback) showed to be a great thing. I am already excited for the next cohort which will be in June.

Sign up to June's cohort with 25% off here:

I want to check out the course!!

Liked this article? Make sure to 💙 click the like button.

Feedback or addition? Make sure to 💬 comment.

Know someone that would find this helpful? Make sure to 🔁 share this post.

Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you further

• Join the Cohort course Senior Engineer to Lead: Grow and thrive in the role here.

• Interested in sponsoring this newsletter? Check the sponsorship options here.

• Take a look at the cool swag in the Engineering Leadership Store here.

• Want to work with me? You can see all the options here.

Get in touch

You can find me on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Bluesky, Instagram or Threads.

If you wish to make a request on particular topic you would like to read, you can send me an email to info@gregorojstersek.com.

This newsletter is funded by paid subscriptions from readers like yourself.

If you aren’t already, consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive the full experience!

Check the benefits of the paid plan

You are more than welcome to find whatever interests you here and try it out in your particular case. Let me know how it went! Topics are normally about all things engineering related, leadership, management, developing scalable products, building teams etc.