Several years ago, I refuted common thinking and made the case for preferring product engineers over principal engineers. As someone who was almost always capable of coding circles around anyone else in the room, I realized that what genuinely mattered was the ability to do the right thing for the business, not just be busy […]
The tech industry glorifies speed. Yet moving fast all the time will inevitably result in more damage than good. Some decisions, especially in tech, can be reversed easily. Others will haunt you for years. The real dangers aren’t in picking the wrong framework but in the structural decisions—people, teams, offerings—that create organizational drag. The Long […]
“No one ever quit!” “Look at our hackathon!” “We hard-allocate time to fight tech debt.” Ostensibly, good things. In reality? Just the advice to follow… if you want to lead a mediocre team. You’re often tempted to follow the “common” playbook as a tech leader. But what if that playbook is the very thing holding […]
I saw a few startups making plans for the new year ahead and allocating significant chunks of their time to tackling “tech debt” or “keeping the lights on.” Some resources claim that 50% of startups spend more than 40% of their time on this, while only the top 10% have this down to a whopping […]
Do you know how “one size fits all” really means it fits no one well? The same occurs when we try to lead everyone in the team the same way. Making the adjustments—from either side—will help ensure your efforts pay off and your team takes off. Here are the most common tweaks I’ve found helpful […]
If not me, who? That quote from two millennia ago still holds true for anyone who wants to keep growing regardless of the organization around them not being perfect or their boss being a lousy coach. Especially as you get more senior leadership roles, the onus is on you. Here’s how you can start taking […]
I hope you’re not balking too much about the title of this article. “What? Another type of retrospective??” Yes, we already have sprint retrospectives, performance reviews, and yearly assessments. However, bear with me here. Impact retrospectives are the only ones that are guaranteed to improve your… impact. It’s one of the most effective tools in […]
Especially if you’re a first-time leader, you “know” that coaching is the “right thing” to do in your organization, yet have issues with actually kicking it off. Perhaps you’ve never seen how proper coaching should look like, or you’re worried about your ability to even help your team. Here are the five most common worries […]
I’ve long claimed you do not need to develop a “tech strategy” or “engineering strategy.” Instead, technology ought to take a central role in the company’s strategy—the real one. Just because you’ve implemented something in software doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a “moat” or a strategic differentiator. For many tech leaders, just hearing that is not […]
Human perception is almost magical. Only as I started caring about cooking did I start noticing depths in food. It was after I became interested in clothing that I became aware of what people chose to wear daily. After we “boot up” some knowledge, we start realizing it, but others, those who never “take the […]