Silence can feel heavier than words. In conversations, especially as a leader, there's an instinct to fill every gap, to keep things moving, to show that you're engaged. But I've learned the most valuable moments often come when I do the opposite-whe...
Ownership is powerful. In our team, we lean into it hard - minimal hand-holding, maximum space for people to make their own calls. Most of the time, it works beautifully. But there are edge cases where ownership slips into something else entirely. On...
I've always been a fixer. My instinct is to protect, to solve, to step in. A close friend once told me I have “White Knight Syndrome” - I never checked if that's really a thing, but it fits. At my core, I want to take away the struggle, to shield oth...
In 1:1s, whether with my reports or on the rare occasion with my own lead, I’ve noticed something: the safe answer. You know the one. It’s in response to “How are you doing?” It’s polite. Acceptable. Technically honest — yet designed to sidestep the ...
A quiet team can feel safe on the surface — no conflict, no interruptions, no awkward moments. But here’s the problem: with a quiet team, you don’t know what you don’t know. When people keep thoughts in their heads, you can miss out on ideas, risks, ...
Technical ownership sounds great on paper. It means someone cares. Someone is responsible. Someone knows the system inside out. But like most things in engineering, it comes with tradeoffs. At a previous company, I was the sole owner of two codebases...
