Ben Balter writes about technology leadership, open source, and modern collaboration at scale. His essays blend engineering mindset with management, community building, remote work, and transparent communication—shaped by years of experience at GitHub and in public-sector tech.
183 articles from this blog
A practical playbook for remote work focusing on async communication and working in the open, based on GitHub's remote-first experience.
A guide on making remote work visible by sharing progress openly, avoiding surprises, and gaining recognition through transparent communication.
A tech veteran shares data-driven insights on surviving frequent reorgs, treating them as predictable constants rather than disruptions.
Explores how AI augments program management by amplifying human judgment, pattern recognition, and coordination without replacing the PM's role.
Guide to running effective one-on-one meetings, focusing on career growth, feedback, and human connection instead of status updates.
Career advice for product managers on tracking achievements with a 'brag doc' to advance professionally.
A blog post arguing that meetings without agendas waste time and advocating for async-first communication and written documentation.
Explores how AI agents are evolving from code assistants to autonomous developers, using existing workflows like pull requests for collaboration.
A GitHub veteran shares insights on effective remote work, async collaboration, and using open-source workflows for over a decade.
A guide to installing and running the open-source LanguageTool grammar checker locally on macOS for privacy-conscious users.
Applies the Cathedral vs. Bazaar open-source metaphor to people management, comparing top-down control with decentralized, autonomous team styles.
GitHub executive Ben Balter shares insights on effective communication strategies used by engineers at the world's largest software development platform.
Explores how Toyota's 'andon' system for stopping production lines applies to transparent collaboration in modern software development and knowledge work.
Explains how remote work shifts communication to more thoughtful, asynchronous methods like writing and video to improve clarity and team throughput.
Tips for inclusive scheduling and communication in distributed software teams, focusing on time zones and clear date/time formats.
Argues that pull requests are a valuable form of documentation, capturing the 'why' and context behind code changes for future developers.
Advocates for 'async first' communication in tech teams, using meetings only as an escalation point for complex discussions.
A beginner's guide explaining GitHub's core concepts like repositories, issues, and Markdown for professionals in non-technical roles.
A GitHub engineer shares a detailed template for creating an effective extended leave document to ensure smooth work handoffs and business continuity.
Argues that engineering leaders should use software development tools like GitHub issues for management tasks to increase transparency and efficiency.
