The Best of Refactoring in 2023 ๐
A compendium of the best things we did together this year!
Hey! We are close to the end of the year so, as always, I am reviewing what we have done this year, and picking our most popular articles!
So, letโs start with a few highlights:
๐ 60,000 Subscribers
This has been an incredible year for Refactoring. We have recently crossed 60,000 subscribers, which means the overall progression now looks like this:
2020 โ 900 subscribers
2021 โ 10,000 subscribers
2022 โ 25,000 subscribers
2023 โ 60,000 subscribers
This is just incredible and I canโt thank you enough for following on this journey ๐
๐ค 600 people in the community
This is also the year where the community grew the most! We have gone from ~200 to 600 members, and we are doing more things together than ever:
๐๏ธ Events โ we organize live interviews with awesome guests where members can join live and ask questions.
๐ Book Club โ every two months we pick a book, read it, and review it together in a live call. The full write up is then published in the newsletter.
๐ฅ Show & Tell โ every month we celebrate the achievements and small wins of our members.
โก๏ธ Coming up โ I anticipate the articles I will write so that people can contribute with ideas and insights. The best ones are included in the newsletter and the author is quoted.
Now, while 600 people is a fantastic number, it is still 600 out of 60,000 โ that is, itโs the 1%.
As much as I promote it and tell everyone that itโs awesome, community is demanding. Community is for people who:
Have the courage to ask for help when they have a challenge, and, in turn
Are willing to help others without asking for anything in return.
It takes a bit of time and dedication, but I can assure you that it is worth it. The friendships, connections, and wisdom created together in the community are now the true heart of Refactoring โค๏ธ
I would love to have you onboard!
๐ Book Reviews
Speaking of community, the book review editions that we started this year have been consistently among the most popular on the newsletter. Here are the books we have reviewed so far:
๐ Team Topologies
๐ Atomic Habits
๐๏ธ Interviews
Also, here are write ups from some of the most popular community events:
๐ชด How to Design a Great Tech Career โ with Thiago Ghisi
๐ง Hustle, Remote Culture, and Personal Space โ with Jean Hsu
๐บ๏ธ How to Plan Software Under Uncertainty โ with James Cowling
๐ How to Write an Accomplishment Journal โ with Matt Van Itallie
๐จ How to Build a Company around Crafters โ with Kaz Nejatian
๐ Guides
This year I also started writing monthly guides, which have instantly become a huge success!
Each guide puts togetherย multiple articlesย I have written in the past, in a coherent package that you can use and apply at work. They are by farย the most researchedย and in-depth pieces I have ever written, and are usually more than twice as long as a regular Refactoring piece.
Guides fit the general Refactoring structure, that organizes articles and ideas into tracks and topics. Refactoring covers three main tracks: Software Engineering, Engineering Management, and Personal Growth ๐
Each track is further organized into topics, and for each topic you have several articles. Finally, ideas from articles are also published individually in the Monday emails.
You can navigate the full tree inside the Refactoring Library:
So, each guide acts as a primer for one topic. Here are the ones I have written so far:
๐งต Essays
Finally, here are the individual essays that were the most popular:
๐น๏ธ How to Build Side Projects
๐งโ๐คโ๐ง How to Run Great 1:1s
๐ฌ How to Name Things
๐ Bottom line
This year was incredible and I have big plans for 2024 that I canโt wait to tell you about.
๐ If you are a paid subscriber โ thank you for your support from the bottom of my heart.ย I work super hard to make this the best money you could ever spend on your personal and professional growth.
โ๏ธ If you are a free subscriber โ thank you for your support, too! I would love to have you onboard on a full plan and let you see everything that Refactoring has to offer, from the community, to the library, to all the full articles.
I wish everyone merry festivities and to spend some good time with your loved ones! ๐
See you next week!
Luca
What a great year. Thanks for all your hard work, Luca! My fav newsletter by far xx
Great numbers, congratulations! I see other newsletter having bigger numbers in terms of free subscribers but small numbers for paid subscribers. You have ~2,4% of paid subscribers, which a very good number seen other ๐