About
Iām Leif. I work as an Engineering Manager at Ghost, where I help engineering teams learn, collaborate, and increase momentum while shipping reliable software.
I also work on a few side projects:
- I host a monthly get-together called Paper Jams. These are monthly one-hour video calls where I discuss an interesting research paper with like-minded people from all over the world. Learn more here and join ā we'd love to have you!
- I build Plaza, a writing and knowledge-sharing platform that helps organizations learn faster by turning shared ideas into durable, discoverable knowledge.
- With my brother I build Dokera, a platform for German schools that simplifies administrative tasks around coordination and communication.
- I run a newsletter for my hometown of Hannover, the so-called capital of mediocrity. It's called Hey Hannover.
- I'm a part-time university student of psychology, aiming for a Bachelor's degree (17% done).
I'm fascinated by and striving to better understand The Experience of Making Software:
- What is it like as a human being to write good code or bad code, to work together with others?
- How do we read and comprehend software? How do we perceive and experience messages in Slack or video calls?
- What motivates us?
- What makes it harder to collaborate, and how can we make it easier?
- When do we thrive and why do we flounder?
The writing on my site discusses research from within this sphere of interest ā some my own, some that by others.
I care about language, writing, communication, and collaboration. I play a few instruments ā guitar, drums, piano ā, but I'm not particularly skilled at any one of them. I do enjoy them, though. I also like photography.
Iām always happy to chat. Send me an email! Or say hello on Bluesky.
Shy? Listen to an interview with me on the Software Engineering Unlocked podcast.
Or buy me a coffee here. āļø
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