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The Subtle Dynamics Of Leading Without Authorit...

The Subtle Dynamics Of Leading Without Authority As A Technical Lead

Meritocracy: a political philosophy which holds that power should be vested in individuals almost exclusively according to merit.

If you're reading the above, nodding your head, wishing it was the case in your situation maybe I can help. I'd like to offer some ideas and tips for the struggles Technical Leads or Senior Engineers are facing:

* How can you leverage your skills to move the organization when you don't have the authority?
* What should you pay attention to when giving an advice?
* What can you do to get your concrete suggestions deployed to production instead of perish in the source control?
* How should you work with your manager to plan and execute an agenda you actually believe in?

If you enjoyed the slides, you'd probably like my "hobbies":
http://softwareleadweekly.com/
http://leadingsnowflakes.com/

Oren Ellenbogen

October 07, 2015
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  1. Before you enter your next meeting: What is your role

    in the discussion? CONTEXT AWARENESS <1> OWNER <2> CONSULTANT <3> PREACHER
  2. •  You’re responsible for the delivery & outcome. •  Lead

    the agenda and direction. •  Set an example. <1> OWNER
  3. •  You’re here to assist. •  Don’t steal their thunder.

    •  Be concise and pragmatic. <2> CONSULTANT
  4. •  You were not requested. •  You will rarely understand

    their underlying pains. •  Help them imagine how it can be like, step by step. Carefully. <3> PREACHER
  5. Before you enter your next meeting: What is your role

    in the discussion? CONTEXT AWARENESS <1> OWNER <2> CONSULTANT <3> PREACHER
  6. BUSY IS AN ADDICTION Block X hours every day, to

    have that mental capacity to listen and assist.
  7. Lift your teammates' skills. People want to be around others

    who make them better. Be that person. TEACH TO EDUCATE, NOT TO CONVINCE
  8. The only way to really scale something is to distribute

    it. TEACH TO EDUCATE, NOT TO CONVINCE
  9. KENT BECK: “ When you're the senior in junior/senior pair

    programming, the measure of your success is how much the junior learns ”
  10. DEFAULTING TO POSITIVE Help them see how it can work,

    instead of only pointing fingers on the ways they will probably fail.
  11. “ $440b company just radically changed corp structure to advantage

    innovation while you debate whether your VP will like slide 14 of the ppt ” (on Google à Alphabet) HUNTER WALK:
  12. <1> PAIN AWARENESS <2> CONTEXT AWARENESS <3> BE AVAILABLE <4>

    TEACH TO EDUCATE <5> CREATE FEEDBACK LOOP <6> DEFAULTING TO POSITIVE RECAP: Building trust with your teammates
  13. PROBLEM > SOLUTION(S) Figure out how you can help your

    manager and company win. Understand immediate pains vs long- term strategy. BUSINESS AWARENESS
  14. OWN CODE QUALITY “ The thing about coding is, there's

    always bugs. It's always semi-fucked. “ -- Stewart Brand
  15. •  Why? •  Why now? •  What can go wrong?

    •  Milestones? •  Backup plan? •  Rough estimations? •  Can you own it? PATH > DESTINATION
  16. Organizational communication is built around estimations and milestones to create

    alignment. Don’t be a buffer. PUSH > PULL INFORMATION
  17. Writing is the best way to improve your thinking. Communication

    skills are underrated. WRITE MORE OFTEN
  18. •  Status & TL;DR •  Postmortems •  Internal Wiki • 

    Blog posts •  Quora / StackOverflow WRITE MORE OFTEN
  19. <1> BUSINESS AWARENESS <2> OWN CODE QUALITY <3> ARTICULATE MISMATCH

    <4> PATH > DESTINATION <5> PUSH > PULL INFORMATION <6> WRITE MORE OFTEN RECAP: Building trust with your manager