Why Frontline Managers Feel Powerless (And What Actually Changes It)
You can get better at every part of this job and still never get your hands on a wheel that was never connected to yours in the first place. Being a...
Making your work visibleMaking your work visible
Show your work so the people who decide can see it before they have to ask.
25 posts, newest first
What Technology Leaders Get Wrong About Confidence During Organizational Change
You are already airborne. The business took off before the transformation started.
Making your work visibleValidating AI Output Is Real Work: How to Get Credit
Validating AI output is some of the most useful work on an engineering team right now, and it is also some of the hardest to point to. I found out what...
Making your work visibleWhat Happens to the Work After You Delegate It (And Why You Rarely Find Out)
The work didn't disappear when you handed it off. It just moved somewhere you stopped watching.
Making your work visibleAgentic Workflow Fatigue: Why Your Team Ships More and Enjoys It Less
One of my strongest engineers asked if she could go back to writing a chunk of our test coverage by hand. Not all of it.
Making your work visibleThe Technical Visibility Gap Between Multiplier Work and Multiplier Credit
I once spent the better part of a year in meetings that had nothing to do with my own team's roadmap. My job that stretch was to learn how localization...
Making your work visibleWhy You Didn't Get Considered for the Management Role You Wanted
I was a senior individual contributor when I decided I wanted to move into management. Every one-on-one, I told my manager where I wanted to go and...
Getting promotedYour QA Engineers Aren't Slowing You Down. Here's What Is.
The complaint I hear about QA is never that the engineers are bad at their jobs. It is that the conversations never get to the right level.
Engineering leadershipWhy Software Engineers Are So Hard to Lead (And What to Do About It)
There is a conversation I have had more times than I can count. An engineer on my team is doing genuinely good work.
Engineering leadershipHow Technical Leaders Can Lead Before They Have the Title
There is a number that should change how you see every meeting you walk into. Only 6% of Gen Z and millennial professionals say achieving a leadership...
Leading people and peersWhat Engineering Leaders Actually Need to Get Promoted When AI Handles the Technical Work
The engineering team structure most of us grew up in is actively inverting. For decades, the standard ratio in software companies was roughly six...
Getting promotedThe Megamanager Trap: How Doubling Your Team Size Hollows Out Your 1-on-1s
The average American manager now oversees 12.1 direct reports, up from 8.2 in 2013, a 47% increase in twelve years, according to Gallup's latest...
1-on-1s and feedbackWhy Teams Fall Behind When Leaders Scale Up (And What Most Miss)
The Pattern No One Talks About Leaders get promoted. Teams get bigger.
Leading people and peersWhy Internal Candidates Lose to Outside Hires (And How to Make Sure You Are Not One of Them)
Most people know the hidden job market exists. Research consistently shows that 70 to 80 percent of job openings are never publicly advertised.
Getting promotedTalking to Your Manager About Your Goals Is Not Enough. Here Is What Else You Need to Do.
Often people who get passed over for leadership roles were not under-performing. They were invisible to the wrong people.
Making your work visibleWhy Being Too Good at Your Job Blocks Your Promotion (The Technical Leader Promotion Trap)
Most high performers believe the path to promotion looks like this: work harder, master your role completely, become the person no one can do without....
Getting promotedI Did All the Visibility Work for My Team. It Was My Biggest Failure
You have probably seen it happen to someone else's team. A strong manager moves on: promotion, transfer, departure.
Making your work visibleWhen the Job Changes and Nobody Tells You: The Director-Level Problem Every Senior Leader Faces
There is a moment most new directors remember but rarely name. You are handling more than you ever have.
Leading people and peersHow to Prepare for Team Attrition Before It Happens
TL;DR: In 5 minutes, you'll learn how to stop treating attrition as a crisis and start preparing for it strategically. One question will change how you...
Leading people and peersAdaptive Project Planning: Stop Treating Plans as Contracts
TL;DR: In 8 minutes, you'll learn how to stop defending outdated plans and start using adaptive project planning checkpoints to measure progress...
Engineering leadershipYour Manager Isn't Asking You to Work Harder. Here's What They Need.
TL;DR: In 8 minutes, you'll learn how to stop assuming every new request means "work harder" and start asking the three priority questions that turn...
Making your work visibleHow to Manage Your To-Do List as a Leader: Stop Treating It Like a Completion Checklist
TL;DR: In 7 minutes, you'll learn how to stop treating your to-do list as a completion checklist and start treating it as a decision tool to achieve...
Burnout and workloadYour Team's Junk Drawer: Why Process Without Context Creates Organizational Friction
TL;DR: In 7 minutes, you'll learn how to identify which processes are organizational junk drawers and how to replace rigid checklists with clear...
Engineering leadershipThe Respect Paradox: Why Proving Yourself Makes Experienced People Trust You Less
You just got promoted. Congratulations.
Making your work visibleStop Managing Up and Start Showing Your Work
Building a strong, collaborative, and trusting relationship with your management is critical to career development and a healthy work life. However, we...
Making your work visibleReady to be seen for the work you already do?
A free 60-minute call. We will talk about where you are stuck and what would change if the right people could see your work. No pitch, no pressure.
Book a Free CallYou're great at the work. Let's make you impossible to ignore.