Introducing "The 4 Ps of Engineering Leadership"
A Framework to understand & assess the scope of Impact & Influence of Engineering Leaders in Big Techs:
1. Platform
2. Product
3. Process
4. People
🧵 🧵🧵
A Framework to understand & assess the scope of Impact & Influence of Engineering Leaders in Big Techs:
1. Platform
2. Product
3. Process
4. People
🧵 🧵🧵
The 4 Ps are the Engine of Career Growth in both the Management and Technical Track.
I consider it to be a strategic abstraction of how to think about your career and how to positively impact the project, team, department, product or company you are currently working with.
I consider it to be a strategic abstraction of how to think about your career and how to positively impact the project, team, department, product or company you are currently working with.
The 1st P -> Platform - It is the Codebase, the Infrastructure, the CI/CD Pipeline, the Engineering Practices, the Architectural Patterns, the Databases, your Technical Skills with a particular Paradigm, Language, Framework, Tool or Library.
MASTERING is the core verb here.
MASTERING is the core verb here.
Mastering by LEARNING & BUILDING around solid engineering foundations & SELECTING & APPLYING the right practices, technologies, and tools.
All the cross-functional requirements of your system: reliability, scalability, extensibility, debuggability, testability & maintainability.
All the cross-functional requirements of your system: reliability, scalability, extensibility, debuggability, testability & maintainability.
The 2nd P -> Product Delivery. It is the app, the website. The external. It is the User Experience, what the user is able to accomplish, and how quickly. It is also the Project Management & Continuous Delivery Strategy.
DELIVERING, especially, delivering value is the core verb.
DELIVERING, especially, delivering value is the core verb.
DELIVER must be focused on customer impact and incremental improvements.
Improving only the codebase (The Platform - 1st P), the same way that improving only the Process or the environment for the People is not enough.
Improving only the codebase (The Platform - 1st P), the same way that improving only the Process or the environment for the People is not enough.
The 3rd P -> Process & Culture. It is the HOW.
It is the Culture, the Rituals, the Systems & the Metrics.
How scalable are we as an engineering organization?
How dependent are we of single points of failure?
How balanced is the work?
The core verb here is STRENGTHENING!
It is the Culture, the Rituals, the Systems & the Metrics.
How scalable are we as an engineering organization?
How dependent are we of single points of failure?
How balanced is the work?
The core verb here is STRENGTHENING!
STRENGTHENING by adding flexibility on how we scale the product, the codebase, the infrastructure, how the people and teams interact.
It is the Sustainable Pace, the Collective Ownership, and the “Bus Factor” risk that Kent Beck talks about in his famous XP Book.
It is the Sustainable Pace, the Collective Ownership, and the “Bus Factor” risk that Kent Beck talks about in his famous XP Book.
The 4th P -> People & Leadership. It is the second HOW, the most important one.
It is Mentorship, Feedback, the Leadership Values.
How do we collaborate as a team?
Are people happy? Are people feeling safe?
The core verb here is SUPPORTING! Support & Empathy.
It is Mentorship, Feedback, the Leadership Values.
How do we collaborate as a team?
Are people happy? Are people feeling safe?
The core verb here is SUPPORTING! Support & Empathy.
SUPPORTING the emotional well-being of group members in difficult times, celebrating their successes, Inspiring day to day, maximizing potentials, challenging the status quo in a compassionate way.
Those are the values, things that people do even when no one is seeing.
Those are the values, things that people do even when no one is seeing.
The most successful Engineering Leaders that I know focus on getting better and increasing their Impact and Influence not only on the 1st P - Platform - but in all the 4 Ps: Platform, Product, Process & People.
Where should you focus on the impact at different moments of your career?
At lower levels (less than ~5 years of experience), Technical Platform, Architecture, and Coding or 1st P and Get Stuff Done or 2nd Pillar (the "adder" attributes). They are the primary drivers of promotions. Impact on specific projects or specific contributions to the codebase.
At higher levels (Staff+/Director+, > 10 years of experience), the importance shifts to contributions to the Process & Culture, Mentorship, and Sponsorship, "People", the 3rd and 4th pillar (the "multiplier" attributes). They become the primary drivers of promotions/growth”.
Between focusing on "Making Impact" or "Having Influence", I would focus on making positive impact because I believe that is the only way to get to influence.
I'm a strong believer in leading by example and walking the talk.
I'm a strong believer in leading by example and walking the talk.
Continuous impact is the most effective way of Influence that I know.
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If you are an Engineering Leader interested in more Frameworks like this and/or Tips, Tricks & Examples on How to Crack the Big Tech Interviews as an EM or Staff+, make sure to follow me:
-> @thiagoghisi
If you are an Engineering Leader interested in more Frameworks like this and/or Tips, Tricks & Examples on How to Crack the Big Tech Interviews as an EM or Staff+, make sure to follow me:
-> @thiagoghisi
Want to go deep?
Check out my article, podcast and talk on this subject:
Check out my article, podcast and talk on this subject:
https://twitter.com/thiagoghisi/status/1495434752681295873
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