Mentorship looks simple from the outside. You share what you know, guide someone along, help them grow. But anyone who’s done it seriously knows that it’s full of contradictions.
You have to care deeply, but not control. You have to teach, but not dictate. You have to protect, but not shield.
Continue ReadingOver the past decade, engineering teams have become increasingly distributed across cities, countries, and time zones. What once was a single office filled with whiteboards and hallway conversations has evolved into a global network of talented engineers collaborating through screens.
Distributed work has unlocked enormous potential: access to global talent, better work-life balance, and round-the-clock productivity. But it’s also introduced a new leadership challenge: how do you maintain deep collaboration and a shared sense of ownership when your team rarely meets in person?
Continue ReadingIf there’s one thing you can count on in engineering, it’s that nothing stays the same for long. New tools, shifting priorities, acquisitions, reorganizations. Change is part of the job description. But as someone who has guided multiple teams through these transitions, I’ve seen firsthand how the way leaders handle these moments can either accelerate progress or derail it completely.
Continue ReadingOver the years I’ve learned that when a team feels stuck because they are constantly busy but not moving fast the answer isn’t more effort but better focus.
I’ve seen talented engineers grind through backlog after backlog, push late nights, automate everything in sight and still, somehow, progress stalls. Features pile up waiting to ship. Bugs reappear. Morale dips. And everyone wonders: What’s going wrong?
Continue ReadingAs a Director of Software Engineering, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is the distinction between output and outcomes. It’s not just a matter of semantics; it’s a mindset shift that defines the difference between being busy and being effective, between a high-velocity team and a high-impact team.
Continue Reading