3 days ago“My CEO Doesn’t Know…”No matter the financial climate, there are always new startups established. Most of these startups are run by first-time founders. What do smart founders do? They often hire experienced leaders to help them (as opposed to trying to do everything in “hard mode”). However, I regularly encounter these executives who…Leadership4 min readLeadership4 min read
Jan 24Engineering Leadership Quick AssessmentOne reason that executive roles can be fulfilling for years is that there is always something to improve, often considerably. No matter how good you are at what you already do, it is unlikely that you are great at all things. While some see this as discouraging, I live for…Leadership4 min readLeadership4 min read
Jan 17Thinking BiggerI’ve had hundreds of conversations with executives over the past year. Naturally, I like to ask them what their most significant current challenges are and how they intend to improve their organizations or companies. Frequently, the answers are very milquetoast, without a scintilla of genuine aspiration. The usual suspects include…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
Jan 10When Product FailsI’ve been using the term “Product Engineering” to describe software production, even though it is still separated into two different departments in most companies. That’s because these cannot stand without the other. Like a two-headed mythological creature, both succeed or fail together. Yes, as a tech executive, your partnership with…Leadership5 min readLeadership5 min read
Jan 4Making Space for Success in 2023We’re in a season where it’s customary to throw a bunch of suggestions at you about what you ought to be doing or for people to pontificate predictions about the upcoming year. Assuming your feeds and inboxes are full of those, let us take a different look at the year…Leadership4 min readLeadership4 min read
Dec 28, 2022Your First ManagersI happened to work with a lot of earlier-stage startups recently. It seems clear that a major cause of issues for tech executives at these companies revolves around the initial steps to “scale” the team. For some reason, even experienced founders make mistakes in installing the company’s first managers. Especially…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
Dec 20, 2022Strategic SuperpositionYour ambiguity about the direction forward is harming your staff and their ability to do the best work possible. Too many leaders, especially at times of volatility like recently, have given up on the task of creating a coherent narrative. Without such a narrative that pulls the team together and…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
Dec 12, 2022Tech DeceleratorsAs I say at the start of every podcast episode, our goal here is to triple impact-per-engineer. Many times, spotting the right steps forward for a company is straightforward. Nevertheless, not a week goes by without another startup admitting they never realized a particular mindset was bringing them down or…Leadership5 min readLeadership5 min read
Dec 6, 2022Surviving Startup AdolescenceEach startup is its own unique snowflake, and there’s no denying that. Nevertheless, after working with and talking to hundreds of founders, one can pick up many recurring patterns. While these might be harder to observe from the inside, an outsider’s perspective-which is naturally less entrenched in the details-can shed…Leadership5 min readLeadership5 min read
Nov 30, 2022CTO Ergonomics: Stop Shrugging!Over the years, people have described my work in different manners: bridge, therapist, coach, shadow adviser, zipper(?!), Babelfish, etc. One part of my work no one has verbalized yet is sort of a masseur. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t touch my clients, and most of my work is done…Leadership5 min readLeadership5 min read
