The Subtle
Dynamics Of
Leading Without
Authority As A
Technical Lead
@orenellenbogen
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Lets
Talk
Tech
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“ My ideas
are solid. ”
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“ All we
need to do
is to use
micro-
services ”
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(how it really
felt like)
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No content
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@orenellenbogen
Head of Engineering at
I also got hobbies:
http://SoftwareLeadWeekly.com/
http://LeadingSnowflakes.com/
http://lnbogen.com/
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TRUST
ONE WORD
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BUIDLING
ONE TWO WORDS
TRUST
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[1] Willingness to build trust.
[2] Good faith.
[3] Mature people.
3 ASSUMPTIONS:
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BUILDING
TRUST
WITH
YOUR
TEAMMATES
and get a cool t-shirt too!
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“Got a bullet
stuck where?
Lets talk
about your
diet first”
PAIN LEVEL AWARENESS
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Before you enter your next meeting:
What is your role in the discussion?
CONTEXT AWARENESS
<1> OWNER
<2> CONSULTANT
<3> PREACHER
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• You’re responsible for the
delivery & outcome.
• Lead the agenda and direction.
• Set an example.
<1> OWNER
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• You’re here to assist.
• Don’t steal their thunder.
• Be concise and pragmatic.
<2> CONSULTANT
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• 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
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Before you enter your next meeting:
What is your role in the discussion?
CONTEXT AWARENESS
<1> OWNER
<2> CONSULTANT
<3> PREACHER
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BE AVAILABLE
If you’re communicating panic,
don’t be surprised when people
stop showing up.
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BUSY IS AN ADDICTION
Block X hours every day, to
have that mental capacity to
listen and assist.
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Lift your teammates' skills.
People want to be around others
who make them better. Be that
person.
TEACH TO EDUCATE,
NOT TO CONVINCE
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The only way to really scale
something is to distribute it.
TEACH TO EDUCATE,
NOT TO CONVINCE
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KENT BECK:
“ When you're the senior
in junior/senior pair
programming, the measure
of your success is how
much the junior learns ”
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Pragmatic vs theoretical balance?
Overshadowing others?
Stealing “interesting” work?
Be sincere and people will open up.
CREATE A
FEEDBACK LOOP
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DEFAULTING TO POSITIVE
Help them see how it can work,
instead of only pointing
fingers on the ways they will
probably fail.
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“ $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:
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<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
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BUILDING
TRUST
WITH
YOUR
MANAGER
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PROBLEM > SOLUTION(S)
Figure out how you can help your
manager and company win.
Understand immediate pains vs long-
term strategy.
BUSINESS AWARENESS
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Reduce managerial load.
Help estimate & prioritize
Technical Debt. Own the backlog.
OWN CODE QUALITY
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OWN CODE QUALITY
“ The thing about coding is,
there's always bugs. It's
always semi-fucked. “
-- Stewart Brand
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• Fighting instead of collaborating?
• Explicit assumptions.
• Ask for clarifications.
ARTICULATE MISMATCH
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• Why?
• Why now?
• What can go wrong?
• Milestones?
• Backup plan?
• Rough estimations?
• Can you own it?
PATH > DESTINATION
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Organizational communication is
built around estimations and
milestones to create alignment.
Don’t be a buffer.
PUSH > PULL INFORMATION
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Writing is the best way to improve
your thinking.
Communication skills are underrated.
WRITE MORE OFTEN
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• Status & TL;DR
• Postmortems
• Internal Wiki
• Blog posts
• Quora / StackOverflow
WRITE MORE OFTEN
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<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
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PRACTICE
WHAT NOW?
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PRACTICE
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THANK YOU
WE’RE HIRING!
@orenellenbogen
oren@forter.com