Latest
Self-regulation is leadership infrastructure
My diagnosis didn't magically improve my leadership. It handed me a framework for my reactions, less friction in cross-functional work, and a way to keep accountability on my side of the desk.
Previous
Updates buy you motion. Coaching buys you growth.
Managers fail development in two predictable ways. They only ask for status, or they avoid hard feedback to stay liked. Real leadership pairs clear standards with real care.
Response and reliability are different games
The team responded to the incident. Then the same issue hit the next release. Pager coverage worked. Leadership follow-through didn't.
Presence is easy to score. Multiplication is harder.
Communication matters. When promotion systems reward confidence without delivery and delegation, you multiply titled performers before you multiply teams.
Great managers report. Great leaders define the road.
A high-drive engineer asked what it would take to grow. The gap was map-making, not motivation. Your 1:1 is where you either build that road or quietly train people to drift.
Hero engineers are a symptom, not a strategy
If one engineer taking PTO can stall shipping, your problem is not staffing. Your system is carrying critical context in people instead of in the work.
AI didn't create the fragility. It walked into it.
A team turned on agent mode. Three weeks later, incidents spiked. They were ready to blame the tool. Then their senior traced the bug back to 2019.
The tool isn't the problem. The abdication is.
For 23 years I've watched developers copy code they didn't understand. First from Stack Overflow, now from AI. The pattern never changed. We just changed who we blame.
Why documentation doesn't matter if your AI can't read it
I was watching the head of architecture demo his team's AI setup when I realized we'd been solving the wrong problem. The style guide wasn't missing. It was invisible.
On blame culture, accountability, and why the author never mattered
Everyone has worked with a Steve. Now AI is Steve. The lesson isn't about the tool ... it's about what we tolerate.