Leadership
91 articles · all categories
Teams, mentoring, feedback, hiring — the people skills that turn a strong engineer into a force multiplier. No MBA required.
Leadership articles
January 2024
Be action oriented
Unearth the surprising connection between the CIA's Simple Sabotage Manual and your productivity, and learn how to transform tiny actions into big wins. Dive into Swizec's engaging exploration of how small actions can make a huge impact on your progress.
The Buxton Index – why some are hard to work with
The Buxton Index measures an entity's planning period and explains many of your work dynamics.
December 2023
Keeping a high engineering culture, tips from the field
I asked engineers how they keep a high quality culture. These are the takeaways
November 2023
Let juniors speak first
Want an engaged engineering team? Let juniors speak first.
How to go from Senior to Lead
Transitioning from Senior to Lead Engineer isn't just about technical prowess, but strategic thinking, soft skills, and going beyond your role. And remember, strong individual contributions matter!
September 2023
Move the rock
it's about noticing the rocks that could trip others and taking the initiative to move them
July 2023
The Wally Reflector
Unleash the power of 'The Wally Reflector' to manage the influx of 'quick requests' and empower your team.
What I learned from Team Topologies
You can't escape Conway's Law. Might as well use it for good.
Working with product
A strong partnership with product is key to an enjoyable engineering life
June 2023
Effective standups
The secret to effective standups that don't suck
May 2023
Hug your manager
Behind every thriving team is a dedicated manager who shields them from corporate chaos, sacrificing their own well-being for the team's success.
March 2023
Coding is the easy part
Behind the scenes of a vendor migration project. What senior+ engineers do so you can focus on the code.
January 2023
Squash merge? Really!?
Learn why squash merging is your friend - from hating it to loving it! Squash merging helps you keep moving and focus on the work instead of recording the work.
Why trunk-based development is best
Merging finished work straight to main and deploying to production right away, scales to teams of thousands. This approach is counterintuitive to many engineers who may be used to working on their own
November 2022
Scaling teams is a technical challenge
A founder friend asked me about growing pains on his team. How do you avoid stepping on each other's toes?
What I learned from Staff Engineer by Will Larson
Staff Engineer was one of the more impactful books I've read in recent months. Went through the audiobook soon after becoming tech lead so the timing was perfect.
On becoming tech lead
A few weeks ago I made tech lead, a type of staff engineer. Here are my thoughts on what that means, how it happened, and why you'd want such a thing.
September 2022
The art of the cowboy merge 🤠
how do you catch a critical deadline that cannot be missed? We're talking external stakeholders, millions on the line, and it all hinges on *your* team getting it done on time. No overtime
August 2022
Reader Question: What do collaborative teams look like?
New members on our team invariably say 2 things: 1. Wow I've never seen a team move this fast 2. This approach feels weird. I'm uncomfortable Teams like this are not common.
What coding tutorials and teachers get wrong
Chatting about teaching and learning complex technical skills with an engineer I'm mentoring. She's a former chef. We shared the same frustration with online resources.
Reader question: So about that perfect burndown chart ...
If your approach works so well, why isn't every team doing this?
July 2022
Nobody is coming to save you
How do you react when you don't like The Process at work? Most programmers complain on social media, make a wry joke, and ... suffer. Not great
June 2022
A lesson on expertise from a great mafia movie
You cannot make something good until you understand who you're making it for.
April 2022
The role of a senior+ engineer
"Every product org should have a senior+ engineer whose job it is to run around and make everyone else more productive" 🤔 That IS the role of a senior+ engineer
How we made the best burndown chart you've ever seen
My entire career I've never seen a sprint finished on time. The new manager said "Oh I think we can fix that" ... 18 months later he proved me wrong
March 2022
How to give and receive feedback
Feedback can save an airplane from crashing, or upset everyone around you. But for you personally, honest feedback is the fastest way to become a better engineer. Fixing what you're bad at is where the gains hide.
February 2022
Be their shit umbrella
because if you go to bat for the team, the team goes to bat for you
October 2021
What's more productive, a team or a talented soloist?
Engineers *hate it* when you say it doesn't matter how good they are because a team will outcode them any day. But it's true, you can't build something big on your own.
August 2021
WorkInProgress kills your progress
If it takes 6 engineers 10 days to complete 6 projects in parallel, why does it take 8 days when you work together 🤨
July 2021
How to own projects like a senior engineer
The best skill you can learn is ownership. The second best is to let go.