As organizations grow across geographies, one thing becomes disproportionately important. Culture. We, engineers, often dismiss culture as soft and cushy. This is until you see the hard costs of ignoring it. Culture isn’t just how we feel about work; it is the distributed operating system for how decisions are made when leadership isn’t in the room. There is company culture, […]
I’m about to take yet another flight, this time flying to India. I’m excited, but then I can’t seem to pass the thought of why the heck security checks are so random. I had to come early to the airport because I simply couldn’t trust what would happen next. Over the years, I’ve been to so many airports and across […]
The other day I was talking with one of my directs. We ended up discussing something we’ve both learned over the years. When execution works, the environment is quiet. Not slow. Not passive. Quiet. Execution happens. People work together. Nothing feels heavy. You sort of question if there’s management in all this or their very existence. That’s a good thing. […]
Engineers have been reaching a common ceiling in their careers for decades. The pattern goes like this: an individual contributor gets promoted to a senior software engineer, and their career trajectory levels off. Likewise, an IC who transitions to an Engineering Manager often hits a similar wall, wondering if they’ll ever advance to a senior manager or director. In the […]
Layoffs seem to be everywhere these days. You scroll through feeds, and it’s another round of cuts, another company restructuring. If you’re a seasoned manager, losing your role can feel like hitting a wall. And finding new jobs is a really uphill battle, especially with all the talk about flattening organizations and cutting down on management layers.I still believe it’s […]