“It’s me– Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me,” croons Taylor Swift on her iconic track, “Anti-hero.” When it comes to the growth of those around us, this also applies to Staff+ Engineers.
Simply put, experienced ICs are often the largest barrier to growth of those around them. Leadership will turn to you when something mission critical has to get done fast. Leadership will turn to you to save someone else’s project that has run off the rails. Playing the hero feels really good in the short run. But it’s not sustainable in the long-run for you, or for the organization. Even if you don’t burn out, you slow or stunt the growth of others.
Think about when you grew most as an engineer. Some people will say, “it was when this really experienced person took me under their wing.” But most will say something like, “it was when that really experienced member of the team left, and I had no other choice but to step up.” By default, others grow more in our absence than in our presence. And, we struggle with this problem quite a bit. Our median tenure is quite high, which means the most common growth opportunity in the industry (“a senior IC leaves”) happens less often than elsewhere. This pushes us to experiment with different ways to grow others.
In this talk, I reflect on the ways I’ve tried (and often failed) to cultivate other engineers. Conventional wisdom says we should “scale” ourselves by focusing on “org wide impact”. But I’ve discovered the power of doing what doesn’t scale. When I’ve carved out time each week to invest in the three most capable engineers around me, something remarkable happens: the whole team sings.
Key takeaways:
- By default, others grow more in your absence than in your presence.
- Identifying and investing in 2-3 key people is super impactful
- Push your best people regularly out of their comfort zone
