When I was promoted to Engineering Director, I had no idea what I was doing. It was a role that I had little to no prior experience with, and it took me the better part of 18 months to figure out how to be effective in it. I characterize my performance during that time as being just useful enough to not get fired.
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Accountability comes up a lot when talking about engineering organizations. Everyone wants to know how to hold engineers accountable. And, in my exploration of this topic with folks, I’ve found that the term accountability means something different to everyone.
Read MoreEveryone likes to talk about leadership—we are culturally conditioned to view success as a progression through leadership positions—but there is far less attention paid to being a good follower.
Read MoreI’ve been doing a lot of interviewing lately. I have admittedly not spent much time on the interviewee side of the table over the past decade, so for the last couple of months it has been exciting, fun, and enlightening to experience a range of interview approaches.
Read MoreIn setting out to create an inclusive environment, it helps to stop letting in folks who would work against that goal. I wanted to talk a bit about my experiences in implementing an inclusion section in our interview process.
Read MoreImagine a world where you bring together the top leaders in your organization to solve the company’s most pressing challenges, and, instead of coming together as a core group to solve that problem, they approach the exercise as a collection of factions that are more concerned about their and their team’s self interest than solving the company’s needs.
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