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so um Beyond sior this is my topic today
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um what happens if you move into
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technical leadership and taking take on
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uh what the the industry often calls now
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um staff plus role so I'm going to be
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sharing some of my personal Journey
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growing as a principal engineer over the
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past three years and lessons I've
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learned along the way so if you're
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considering a staff plus role My Hope Is
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that this talk will give you an insight
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into what it might look like compared to
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a senior role and if you're already in a
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staff plus role I hope that you can take
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something from the strategies I use
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which help me do the job now more
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effectively so first who am I um my name
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is Dawn this is me hanging out in the
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mountains in Vancouver where I live um
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in Canada which is my happy place um and
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yeah this is not a Canadian accent
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though I am from New Zealand originally
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um just to clarify New Zealand not the
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same as Australia very important
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distinction we're part independent
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little island and in fact very unique
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and different as you can tell from my
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flag where we have very clearly one less
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star thank you very
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much so I'm a principal engineer at a
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company called think GIC this is us at
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our last company Retreat um we're an
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online platform that's allowed over
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50,000 Creator Educators build and sell
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online courses communities and digital
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products so technical career path it
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often starts a bit like a letter so all
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sorts of different titles of different
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companies for these but generally the
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path is pretty linear at first
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once you reach senior you've grown your
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technical skills maybe you're leading
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projects mentoring peers setting best
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practices but what's the next step of
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this
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letter so traditionally there's this
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management track that's where you can
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start leading people and having direct
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reports common across many Industries or
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a growing option in Tech now especially
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as organizations grow larger is this
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more technical leadership focused rout
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which is commonly referred to now as
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staff plus roles and this is where
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you'll find titles like staff engineer
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principal engineer or distinguished
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engineer and these two sides aren't a
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brary choice by the way I've heard it
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can even be useful to think of it more
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as a pendulum because pivoting between
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sides can actually help you build skills
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that are useful to the other but so far
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my path has been on the right and so I
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will be focusing on my experience going
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on that direction
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today so I was hir at think GIC as a
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senior fullstack engineer Looking Back
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Now I guess I was operating a bit closer
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to what thinkific now calls a staff
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engineer but the level didn't exist at
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thinkific yet as we were a bit of a
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smaller company at that
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stage but pretty quickly it became clear
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I was interested in aspects beyond my
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senior title so I was reaching beyond my
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team to push initiatives that benefited
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the writer the writer company and I'd
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expressed the desire to grow more in the
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architecture direction as well so when a
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principal engineer role opened up I was
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encouraged to apply and I got the role
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but there was a lot of naivity in my
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decision to take it on paper a fancy
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title with more seniority it sounds like
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the natural progression of the career
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letter if you don't want to manage
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people especially
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but the role is quite a significant
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shift in
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responsibilities because what even is a
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principal engineer it's just a title and
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titles can mean very different things at
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different companies role descriptions
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are also often getting vager you get
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terms like influence and stry and
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facilitate change and line business
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priorities and all these other great
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qualities which are all excellent
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signing words but what do they actually
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mean as a day-to-day job and coming into
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the role I really had a limited
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understanding of expectations and I
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didn't comprehend how much I'd have to
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learn to actually do the job effectively
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without burning
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out so after three years of doing the
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role I've summarized my learnings for
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you into four core lessons number one
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understand the role number two
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prioritize yourself number three uplift
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others and number four
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strategize the way I said each of these
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elements build on each other so you need
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to the role to know what to prioritize
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in your own self-growth you need to have
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that self ability to think about
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uplifting others you need to be
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supporting others in order to
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effectively strategize and reach this
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Enlightenment stage or something like
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it so let's unare to each of those
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number one understand the
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role so the role is very different
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likely going to be very different to
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your role as a senior and yes one key
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difference for me is I spend less time
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programming I'm still active in the code
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base but delivery is no longer my core
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Focus instead code for me tends to be
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more investigative or exploratory proof
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of
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Concepts theic principal engineer acts
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something between a tech lead and an
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architect but sitting across multiple
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teams so I defined the technical vision
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for a particular business line and then
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I lead three teams to deliver feature
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projects within it delegating the
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execution of to to the teams themselves
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but focusing mostly on the higher level
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Str
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and those terms Tech lead an architect
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are taken from will lon's book on staff
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engineering a highly recommended read he
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defines four different types of software
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engineer archetypes and if I was to give
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a disclaim about this talk it's that my
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principal engineer definition is just
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one flavor of the way the role can
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manifest
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differently so I'm working with many
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teams in a business line and centered
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around the GIC learning experience so
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this is things like creater on boarding
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product building and student course
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taking and I work close assist with each
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team's pod which is made up of a
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engineering manager a product manager
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and a designer and then as a pod we're
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ideating and scoping projects for the
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following quarter while also working to
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keep the team unblocked on the current
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quarter so I am personally supporting
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the engineers on with execution um so
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through code reviews or mentorship or
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technical guidance and then I also play
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a role in coordination across other
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business lines especially with more
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complex technical projects that might
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span multiple
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domains uh one example of one such
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project in 2022 I led this initiative to
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deliver a new communities product and
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this involved refactoring across our
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entire rails monolith to support
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multiple products outside of courses and
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so this touched a number of domains
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including my own but also things like
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payments checkout and
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Integrations as a result I worked not
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only with my three teams but with at
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least five other teams to coordinate the
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technical goals and objectives across
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the larger
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project and this collaboration extends
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Beyond engineering teams to to be more
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cross functional across many areas of
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business so I'm frequently interacting
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with design leadership product
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leadership data analysts ux researchers
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directors Executives the role is just
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far more holistic and the more
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connections I make the more knowledge I
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build for the way the entire
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organization functions and it means the
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more support I have for moving larger
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multi- team initiatives like
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that the key difference of the principle
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engineer role is like having a longer
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term view so as a senior I was thinking
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weeks maybe months in advance to help
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deliver Sprint work but as a principle
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I'm thinking quarter a year even
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multiple years out so instead of
00:07:06.919
focusing on building a feature I'm
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thinking further out towards visions of
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the future state of our product and
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crafting technical strategy and aligning
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projects to get us
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there working at this level really means
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thinking about the bigger picture and
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how to make an impact with the context
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of multiple teams and domains but no
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direct reports I have this ability to
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really go deeper on the technical side
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than I ever could in a more managerial
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role so I'm still very close to the code
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and crafting architecture and strategy
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to really keep our system sustainable
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and with this high level perspective
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it's easier to see the more impactful
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pieces to move and then influence those
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changes across my team and The Wider
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company I figured the easiest insight to
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what the RO looks like though to show
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you an average week from my calendar uh
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this was last week in April so I use pod
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syns as my major touch point with the
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teams without me being involved in every
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Sprint level ceremony I set office hours
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on Tuesdays and Thursdays to allow folks
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to book with me without fragmenting my
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calendar completely and then I have
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regular one-on ones with folks mentoring
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and more senior members of the team so
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that they can then take the more
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leadership role with the rest of the
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team I also stay close to other
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principles and Architects to discuss
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wider technical strategy I have cross
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functional calls for larger projects s
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with my business line and this week I
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had some technical exploration calls um
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with some third party vendors around
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Integrations but there are less meetings
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in there than it looks like because I
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block at the end of the day for
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afternoon catch up um and keep Focus
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chunks to work on my top priorities
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without interruption and a lot of the
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other meetings in between I actually
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just a Vance I make for myself at this
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side of the day to really keep myself
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accountable to commitments and also
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track a better what's taking at my
00:08:42.000
time but the role is quite Dynamic so
00:08:44.399
some weeks might look like that other
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weeks I might clear my schedule to focus
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on a prer concept um or jump into an
00:08:49.800
incident to help or join a three-day
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product Workshop to focus on the longer
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future road map so I have to be flexible
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enough to adapt to what the week might
00:08:57.640
throw at me but also know when to push
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back so that I can make space for my
00:09:00.959
long-term strategic
00:09:02.519
goals at this level there's no one
00:09:04.680
telling me what to work on I'm
00:09:06.200
responsible for my priorities so Choose
00:09:09.040
Your Own Adventure so to speak and I
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really love this aspect but it's
00:09:12.240
definitely a switch from senior when
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you're most likely working off a list of
00:09:15.839
predefined tasks in J or
00:09:19.279
something and also all the different
00:09:21.640
aspects of the role draw different kinds
00:09:22.959
of skills so now I need things like
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leadership or strategizing or
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communication
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and those softer skills weren't taught
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in my computer science classes there's
00:09:35.360
plenty of learning material though out
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there on them the critical part is just
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recognizing that you have to be
00:09:40.000
consciously upskilling in these kind of
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areas and you might not have been
00:09:42.880
practicing them in your earlier
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engineering
00:09:45.640
years so before doing what I did and
00:09:47.959
chasing the serotonin Rush of a
00:09:49.640
promotion question just honestly are
00:09:51.440
these the kind of tasks and skills that
00:09:52.800
will interest you because I really think
00:09:54.680
there's a lot of room for growth in both
00:09:56.200
senior and staff roles where you can
00:09:57.800
continue to push your deep technical
00:09:59.519
skills potentially even further than you
00:10:01.399
would in this more strategic leadership
00:10:03.079
focused role like principal engineer so
00:10:05.720
just understand the role at your company
00:10:07.160
and then question if it will fulfill you
00:10:09.079
in the ways that are right for
00:10:12.240
you so if you do choose this path though
00:10:14.839
it's going to present a lot of different
00:10:16.279
types of challenges and that's what
00:10:17.680
brings us to lesson number two
00:10:19.480
prioritize
00:10:20.880
yourself so even as a CDR there can be a
00:10:23.360
lot on your plate never ending backlog
00:10:25.079
of work a lot of slack messages but for
00:10:27.519
me becoming a principal engineer really
00:10:29.120
took all those challenges and then
00:10:31.000
multiplied them by 10 so significantly
00:10:33.480
more meetings hundreds of Select
00:10:35.079
channels more commitments infinite
00:10:37.880
problems so I really like tying this
00:10:39.880
section to the concept of putting on
00:10:41.399
your own oxygen mask first you can't
00:10:44.040
help others unless you can breathe
00:10:46.399
yourself you can't support your teams if
00:10:49.120
you are overloaded
00:10:51.399
yourself the only way I found a cope is
00:10:53.639
to admit that I couldn't do it all give
00:10:55.519
up
00:10:56.720
perfectionism honestly I hated the role
00:10:59.320
for more than a year I wasn't getting
00:11:01.079
any bad feedback but as my own harshest
00:11:02.920
critic I was constantly feeling like I
00:11:04.399
was underperforming they jumped to me as
00:11:06.639
well from senior straight to principal
00:11:08.240
was really jarring the G has grown in
00:11:10.760
size and has added the staff role now in
00:11:12.959
between the two levels which really
00:11:14.240
allows for more gradual transition into
00:11:16.200
some of the new responsib
00:11:17.839
responsibilities but on a single team
00:11:19.959
but I jumped straight from senior to
00:11:21.760
principal and so supporting multiple
00:11:23.399
teams and honestly I I really struggled
00:11:25.959
the feelings of inadequacy crept up my
00:11:28.040
old friend imposter syndrome came back
00:11:30.040
and signs of burnout started to nag me
00:11:34.040
after a period of try to do everything
00:11:35.959
for everyone I had to find bit ways to
00:11:39.279
cope in my early days I thought a lot of
00:11:41.560
my problems came from time management
00:11:43.320
meetings meetings meetings being
00:11:45.000
involved in more areas means you are
00:11:46.480
going to spend more time in discussions
00:11:48.279
for me as a semi introvert nothing Burns
00:11:50.480
me out quite the way backtack meetings
00:11:52.519
do calendar control is important it did
00:11:55.440
take a lot to get to that refined
00:11:57.160
calendar Masterpiece I showed you at the
00:11:58.720
beginning where I balanced Focus time
00:12:00.519
against getting enough f um FaceTime
00:12:02.600
with all of my
00:12:03.760
teams but for a lot of it really came
00:12:06.399
down to prioritization if everything is
00:12:08.279
a priority nothing is a priority so in
00:12:10.720
the name of accountability I've really
00:12:12.200
started writing out my priorities the
00:12:14.480
most important thing is to identify a
00:12:16.680
top priority and then actually
00:12:18.560
prioritize
00:12:20.279
it and that means limiting
00:12:23.279
distractions good old slack techniques I
00:12:25.880
use to cope with the number of
00:12:27.240
conversations I'm pulled into these days
00:12:29.360
is I try and avoid multitasking it's a
00:12:31.240
lie you are not doing both tasks better
00:12:33.120
you're doing them both well at
00:12:35.279
worse I make intentional select Focus
00:12:37.760
blocks so bump messages to later in the
00:12:39.560
day um even later in the week if
00:12:41.920
necessary it also means muting channels
00:12:44.360
and trusting if folks need my input they
00:12:45.920
will tag
00:12:48.639
me for me it's also really helped
00:12:51.079
setting up a support network so I asked
00:12:53.160
another more senior principal engineer
00:12:54.720
to be my mentor I started getting more
00:12:56.360
formal check-ins with my manager I
00:12:58.000
started being more honest with my par
00:13:00.079
and I found accountability buddies for
00:13:01.760
building healthy habits at work and
00:13:04.440
finding that kind of support it means
00:13:06.040
Making Connections so with your teams
00:13:07.839
but also beyond the more I networked and
00:13:10.120
built good relationships the more
00:13:12.120
Advocates I was able to find across the
00:13:13.600
company and this has helped me feel both
00:13:15.639
more connected and also move initiatives
00:13:18.079
now with less
00:13:21.079
fiction the best way to find places to
00:13:23.160
improve and glow yourself is through
00:13:25.240
reflection so what worked what didn't
00:13:28.000
and what do we want to do next time
00:13:30.120
this is a SC screenshot from my weekly
00:13:31.760
plan document and notion for next week
00:13:34.079
we'll pretend it's real com week I write
00:13:36.240
out my wins and learnings for the week
00:13:38.240
um alongside a prioritized to-do
00:13:41.000
list presenter reals conwoman nonbinary
00:13:43.839
I'll pretend it's
00:13:45.920
that and maybe talk to a counselor a lot
00:13:48.760
of as in have great health benefits so
00:13:50.800
why not use them I found a counselor who
00:13:53.440
specialized in Burnout and they gave me
00:13:55.079
a great number of tangible exercises and
00:13:57.360
tools that I am still using today
00:14:01.440
since then my active Mantra has become
00:14:03.199
good enough over perfect and I hold
00:14:05.399
myself accountable to that so for a a
00:14:07.480
while I was reflecting every week with
00:14:09.000
my manager on times that week I had
00:14:11.199
given up something accepting that it was
00:14:13.399
good enough perfectionism after all it's
00:14:16.399
a form of insecurity and in Tech I do
00:14:19.000
believe perfect does not exist and
00:14:20.920
aiming for it is a recipe for
00:14:24.600
Burnout all right so you've got that
00:14:26.560
oxygen mask on now you are more equipped
00:14:28.519
to get to s three uplifting
00:14:32.320
others impact at this level no longer
00:14:34.639
comes from your ability to solve
00:14:35.959
problems but your ability to grow your
00:14:37.959
teams to solve their own
00:14:40.279
problems this is a mental switch for the
00:14:42.320
role but one that I find really
00:14:44.079
fulfilling my Effectiveness as a
00:14:45.959
technical leader really comes from
00:14:47.560
empowering my teams because I'm not the
00:14:49.720
one delivering anymore it's my
00:14:53.680
teams and part of this is accepting that
00:14:55.880
you are a role model this is actually
00:14:58.040
the name of a chapter from Tanya Riley's
00:14:59.920
book the staff Engineers path again
00:15:02.079
highly recommend if you uh reading the
00:15:04.040
book if you're interested in this kind
00:15:05.519
of role you're a role model now sorry
00:15:08.959
people look up to me now and follow my
00:15:10.600
example so I do need to act responsibly
00:15:13.279
I need technical competency enough to be
00:15:14.920
setting solid Direction and also keep
00:15:17.440
standards a high enough standards that
00:15:19.079
people who are following my lead aren't
00:15:20.399
following bad practices but they doesn't
00:15:23.240
mean I can't make mistakes it just
00:15:24.839
requires a degree of self-awareness so
00:15:26.600
being open about what I know and what I
00:15:28.240
don't know and not being afraid to show
00:15:30.199
a human slide if you do make a mistake
00:15:32.920
or rather when you make a mistake um own
00:15:35.759
it lead by example and set a culture of
00:15:38.279
learning and
00:15:40.800
growing and then there's coaching and
00:15:42.720
mentorship so at the principal level my
00:15:44.839
mentor focus is more on the senior and
00:15:46.680
staff Engineers often uplifting their
00:15:48.720
skills Beyond technical even around
00:15:50.560
getting visibility leading their own
00:15:52.199
projects or even how to effectively M
00:15:54.560
their own
00:15:56.480
mes something I found extremely useful
00:15:58.639
for formal mentorship sessions is to set
00:16:00.880
clear objectives with your M so what do
00:16:03.399
you want to two from the sessions how
00:16:04.759
long will they go for what format suits
00:16:06.639
their learning style and then reflect on
00:16:08.399
that objective frequently to make sure
00:16:09.759
your minty is getting what they need out
00:16:11.480
of your time
00:16:12.759
together and when coaching especially
00:16:15.199
really make an effort to be asking more
00:16:16.959
questions than you answer people learn
00:16:19.319
by doing their own thinking not by you
00:16:21.279
always giving them the answers and this
00:16:23.199
is how they can grow to take more of the
00:16:24.519
leadership role themselves and even
00:16:26.600
longterm take more off your plate
00:16:28.160
potentially
00:16:31.519
this was the biggest game changer for me
00:16:33.639
I had to learn to let things go trust
00:16:37.079
your
00:16:38.000
team by giving Engineers opportunities I
00:16:40.480
was considering doing myself it helps
00:16:42.399
with the stress of my workload but also
00:16:44.480
lets them grow everybody wins and even
00:16:47.560
if they try something and it doesn't
00:16:48.720
work out some of the best advice I've
00:16:50.279
heard was you have to let people make
00:16:51.720
mistakes because sometimes learning a
00:16:53.639
lesson through experience is the best
00:16:54.920
way to learn but then still be there to
00:16:57.519
support them when necessary
00:17:00.880
finally be an advocate even though
00:17:02.800
you're not a manager you can still be
00:17:04.120
really influential in your career in
00:17:05.720
your engineers's career to growth and
00:17:07.400
that's by finding them opportunities and
00:17:09.400
upskilling them yourself and also
00:17:11.039
helping them get
00:17:12.360
visibility the my influence can mean my
00:17:14.760
recommendations also carry weight and
00:17:16.640
some of my proudest moments have been
00:17:17.720
seeing my mentees get promoted after
00:17:19.439
I've provideed tangible examples of
00:17:21.120
their good performance to their
00:17:24.720
manager principal Engineers should act
00:17:26.880
as a force multiplier uh this
00:17:29.720
from our blurb from Principal engineer
00:17:31.440
at think GIC and I really connected with
00:17:33.520
this term false
00:17:35.120
multiplier this is why I get the same
00:17:37.120
satisfaction out of this role I think
00:17:38.480
despite the fact I'm not coding as much
00:17:40.520
because selfishly I can achieve so much
00:17:42.160
more via the achievements of my team I
00:17:44.720
can only write refactor and fix so much
00:17:46.559
code but supporting and mentoring and
00:17:48.400
influencing three teams of developers to
00:17:50.520
write their best code well that's where
00:17:52.400
the force multiplier Factor comes in 100
00:17:54.760
times in what we can achieve together
00:17:59.039
all right last tip tip four back to our
00:18:02.520
meme this is the true Enlightenment
00:18:06.200
stage technical strategy these words
00:18:09.360
were super intimidating when I first
00:18:11.120
started is it kind of sounds like you
00:18:12.799
have everything figured out and I sure
00:18:14.919
did not but as I got more grounded and
00:18:17.159
grew more confident in my position
00:18:18.880
technical strategy I found was really
00:18:21.000
just natural extensions and ideas I'd
00:18:22.520
been trying to push for years at
00:18:23.720
companies to reduce risks SP scale and
00:18:26.559
improve development efficiency the
00:18:28.960
difference was now I have the power to
00:18:30.320
really influence progress on some of
00:18:31.840
these
00:18:33.640
ideas at think iic our principal and
00:18:36.000
architect group has started turning our
00:18:37.440
brains into a more formal technical
00:18:39.480
strategy document it now contains an
00:18:41.760
annual goal and a set of guiding
00:18:44.840
policies and these both play into
00:18:47.640
defining a long-term technical road map
00:18:49.799
we share this document widely and use it
00:18:51.840
to advocate for projects or approaches
00:18:53.600
that can incorporate these policies to
00:18:56.039
keep the team feeling aligned in that
00:18:57.559
we're aiming for the same thing all
00:18:59.679
together as an example last quarter I
00:19:02.159
used it to nudge two of my teams to
00:19:03.600
integrate our new Federated graphql API
00:19:05.880
into their projects rather than
00:19:07.080
defaulting to use the more well-known
00:19:08.760
Legacy API I see my role not as a
00:19:11.679
dictator for Best Practices but more for
00:19:13.320
just being a positive influence and
00:19:15.000
guiding developers towards making good
00:19:16.840
choices when the pressure from above
00:19:19.039
comes to deliver features Engineers are
00:19:21.159
sometimes just too close to execution to
00:19:23.280
make space for a preferred technical
00:19:24.679
choice so my position sometimes allows
00:19:26.919
me to see these opportunities with a bit
00:19:28.320
more perspective and influence um my
00:19:30.720
influence means I have a bit more power
00:19:32.200
to make the case with product for a
00:19:33.720
slightly higher investment in building
00:19:35.559
something better even if it takes
00:19:36.799
slightly longer so in this case the
00:19:39.720
investment for the developers to on
00:19:41.159
board to the new API would pay off
00:19:42.760
within months by avoiding maintenance on
00:19:44.720
the two separate
00:19:48.640
apis now techical strategy can only be
00:19:51.400
applied while keeping in view The Wider
00:19:53.760
company strategy and this includes the
00:19:55.799
product forit so feature projects are a
00:19:58.360
clear indicator of where the business
00:19:59.880
focus is right now and what parts of the
00:20:01.480
application are seen as opportunities to
00:20:03.360
invest in technical insights can be
00:20:06.080
really influential own business
00:20:07.400
decisions some projects won't move
00:20:08.880
without technical investment first and
00:20:10.240
some projects have huge technical risk
00:20:12.280
associated with them but equally a lot
00:20:15.039
of technical work also won't move if it
00:20:16.559
doesn't align with company strategy my
00:20:19.000
role can help bridge this Gap earlier
00:20:20.640
explaining risks to stakeholders but
00:20:22.200
also finding opportunities that work for
00:20:26.039
both as an example last quarter we had
00:20:28.360
this in itive to bring in a new type of
00:20:30.159
product it's called digital downloads
00:20:31.960
and it's where creators sell a single
00:20:33.400
file like an ebook or a PDF so alongside
00:20:36.360
that project I pushed forward in a
00:20:37.679
technical initiative I've been
00:20:38.720
struggling to move before which was to
00:20:40.880
add additional insecurity access
00:20:42.720
protection to our file
00:20:44.200
uploads by showing how the security
00:20:46.200
might impact the success of the new
00:20:47.360
product I was then able to get support
00:20:48.679
to bring the technical work in as part
00:20:50.320
of the larger
00:20:51.760
project a technique I used in that case
00:20:53.880
was being able to identify and speak to
00:20:55.640
the customer value of work so for
00:20:57.480
digital downloads I highlighted how the
00:20:59.120
security increase the values of the
00:21:01.120
value of the Creator's intellectual
00:21:02.520
property and how a lack of it could
00:21:04.280
really hurt their sales I believe almost
00:21:07.000
all worthwhile technical work can be
00:21:09.080
linked back to an underlying Improvement
00:21:10.760
for customers the trick is widening your
00:21:13.559
engineering Focus brain to think more
00:21:15.360
from a user perspective finding a way to
00:21:17.919
measure the value and also admitting
00:21:20.600
when something just isn't worthwhile
00:21:22.360
even if it is the preferred technical
00:21:26.640
group also keep in mind that money is an
00:21:29.440
influential Factor as principle I've
00:21:31.400
become much more aware of how much my
00:21:32.880
company's financial position impacts my
00:21:34.679
technical decisions one of my first
00:21:36.760
projects as principle uh was re
00:21:39.440
architecting our notification system and
00:21:41.960
initially I proposed this fully managed
00:21:43.919
distributed CFA architecture for
00:21:45.480
streaming notification events and this
00:21:47.720
was shut down pretty quickly due to the
00:21:49.760
cost the high cost of such technology in
00:21:52.000
2022 think effect business investment
00:21:53.919
was just focused on other important
00:21:55.240
areas so many influences decisions like
00:21:57.760
these like things when when to build and
00:21:59.799
versus buy also hiring and resources and
00:22:02.240
in many cases it does mean accepting
00:22:04.120
compromises on technical
00:22:07.320
ideas but demonstrating the way a
00:22:09.279
project can pay back costs is the
00:22:10.840
easiest way I think to move projects so
00:22:13.080
last quarter I put together a proposal
00:22:14.559
for this really quick one feature which
00:22:16.159
was archiving think effect courses I was
00:22:19.200
talking to our customer support team and
00:22:20.400
I was shocked to hear how much time they
00:22:21.679
were spending working on requests from
00:22:23.159
customers to delete course data so I
00:22:25.679
wrote a proposal estimating the cost in
00:22:28.120
terms of customer support team salaries
00:22:30.240
and then compar it against the
00:22:31.279
estimation for the engineering team to
00:22:33.600
actually build the feature and the math
00:22:35.279
was really simple the feature could pay
00:22:37.400
itself off in less than a year plus the
00:22:39.720
financial impact compounds year after
00:22:42.159
year because building it is a one off
00:22:44.159
cost but the time saved and support
00:22:45.559
tickets will continue indefinitely as a
00:22:48.000
bonus this also made customers super
00:22:52.360
happy so communicating technical visions
00:22:54.600
of these kind of stakeholders and
00:22:55.919
advocating strategically is probably not
00:22:58.520
skill you have by default or at least I
00:23:00.039
shouldn't it's one of those more subtle
00:23:01.919
skills and I'm still continuing to build
00:23:03.520
up and learn and it requires entirely
00:23:05.000
new types of communication and thinking
00:23:07.120
patterns it's hard but it can also be
00:23:09.320
really rewarding because it's possible
00:23:10.840
by putting on both your technical hat
00:23:12.520
and your product hat that you can find
00:23:14.080
this incredible sweet spot where there's
00:23:15.760
this opportunity to advance both
00:23:17.159
technical strategy and product strategy
00:23:19.120
at the same
00:23:21.640
time and a key element to that is
00:23:23.559
learning to think Beyond execution so as
00:23:25.960
Engineers we have a tendency to focus on
00:23:27.880
the practical Li itations of solutions
00:23:30.480
I've definitely been guilty of this
00:23:32.000
throughout my career so shooting down
00:23:33.320
ideas with the many technical reasons
00:23:35.000
it's too hard instead I now and try more
00:23:37.840
of a yes and mentality so rather than
00:23:40.080
shooting something down try pivoting it
00:23:42.320
or redirecting it or expanding Thinking
00:23:44.480
Beyond The Box the reality is people
00:23:47.039
don't like their ideas being shut down
00:23:48.440
so work together think creatively and
00:23:50.679
make compromises really focus on
00:23:52.360
building relationships and Trust to get
00:23:54.279
ideas
00:23:55.760
moving and it's only by putting the
00:23:57.960
emphasis on collaboration that I found
00:23:59.400
myself invited to the room and you know
00:24:02.480
what I mean by this concept of the room
00:24:04.480
if you've been inited when you're
00:24:06.080
involved in conversations before
00:24:07.640
decisions are made you're frequently
00:24:09.159
asked for opinion on directions or ideas
00:24:11.960
and you feel yourself influencing
00:24:13.600
strategic choices you may think you get
00:24:16.200
invited to the room by default When You
00:24:17.760
Reach This level and that is true for
00:24:19.480
some rooms but it's not always the case
00:24:21.679
no designer for example is going to
00:24:23.279
invite you to the early explore sessions
00:24:25.039
if you're going to shoot down all their
00:24:26.240
creative ideas from my EXP the
00:24:28.679
invitation comes by earning respect and
00:24:30.600
having open-minded and authentic
00:24:31.919
interactions with all levels of business
00:24:34.200
when you're given opportunities to
00:24:35.360
collaborate demonstrate the value you
00:24:36.880
can bring by providing a constructive
00:24:39.480
technical voice early in the
00:24:42.640
process all right so we've looked at our
00:24:44.640
full steps understand the role
00:24:46.279
prioritize yourself uplift others and
00:24:49.279
strategize what's next well I propose
00:24:53.159
coming back to that first one go beyond
00:24:55.720
understanding and redefine the role
00:24:59.840
as I say it now the job is pretty
00:25:01.200
flexible there's no need to put yourself
00:25:02.880
into this predefined box different
00:25:04.799
companies have different definitions of
00:25:06.559
the job but the reality is I've seen it
00:25:08.399
is the role can work very differently
00:25:10.000
for different kinds of people reflect on
00:25:12.240
what you're doing GA feedback learn from
00:25:13.960
mistakes and then ask what elements
00:25:15.919
energize you and then redefine it for
00:25:18.360
yourself what do you want to get from it
00:25:20.360
what works for your personality and
00:25:21.960
working
00:25:24.320
style so after three years of this
00:25:26.640
journey as a principal do I like my
00:25:29.120
job yeah turns out I do it took quite a
00:25:32.919
bit to get over the hump I'll admit but
00:25:34.559
I'm pretty happy with the place I'm at
00:25:36.080
now having redefined the RO to work for
00:25:38.760
me it's meant I can spread influence
00:25:41.200
Beyond a single pair of coding hands I
00:25:43.120
get to collaborate with folks from all
00:25:44.480
over the business and I feel closer to
00:25:46.600
customers driving value for them through
00:25:48.360
technical strategy overall I feel like I
00:25:50.919
have more impact and more respect and as
00:25:53.559
a woman in Tech I've wasted a lot of
00:25:55.159
energy trying to convince people I'm
00:25:56.840
good at my job and there one thing to be
00:25:58.960
said about titles they do give you a
00:26:00.640
degree of respect without having to
00:26:02.159
prove it all the time which is now 1 o
00:26:04.600
of energy I can put into something more
00:26:09.279
meaningful all right I covered a lot in
00:26:11.760
this talk so the core ideas I'd really
00:26:13.480
like you to leave with are these staff
00:26:16.159
plus roles require more than technical
00:26:18.039
skills applying technical strategy
00:26:20.000
requires leadership collaboration and
00:26:21.880
creative thinking so give yourself space
00:26:23.799
to learn and grow these new
00:26:25.600
skills second your teams are greater
00:26:27.919
than just you most of this job now
00:26:29.760
should be going about going Beyond
00:26:32.000
yourself to focus on others growing both
00:26:34.440
your teams and your waer company and
00:26:37.520
finally embrace the menture good enough
00:26:39.799
over perfect except in Tech we can't do
00:26:42.440
it all we can't fix it all find the
00:26:44.559
areas you can make the most impact and
00:26:46.120
put your energy into the things that
00:26:47.559
really
00:26:49.640
matter all right we're at the end so if
00:26:52.039
you've been considering a St plus role I
00:26:54.080
hope this has given you a better insight
00:26:55.440
into what the role might look like
00:26:56.720
compared to Senor and if you're already
00:26:58.919
in a staff plus role I hope you were
00:27:00.360
able to take something from the
00:27:01.520
techniques I use to perform this role
00:27:03.919
effectively um I'd love to hear about
00:27:05.880
your experience or learnings in similar
00:27:07.440
roles so do come chat uh that's say my
00:27:10.640
name place to find me online and some of
00:27:12.840
the excellent books I mentioned in my
00:27:14.600
talk that you should really go read if
00:27:16.200
you haven't thank you for listening
