Technical Leadership
Why Readiness Should Be a Habit, Not a Final Gate
Quality isn't decided in the final review. The teams with the smoothest launches built it through daily habits, long before anyone thought about a release date.
Technical Leadership
What does it actually mean to be a technical leader? Not the job title - the day-to-day reality of it. The trade-offs, the meetings, the moments where you have to understand the code and keep everyone moving in the same direction. I've been a Software Engineer, Engineering Manager, and now a TPM at Xbox Game Studios. These articles cover TPM skills, staying technical in leadership, and delivering complex projects. If you're an engineer moving into leadership, hopefully something here is useful.
Technical Leadership
As Engineering Teams get smaller, is the Technical Program Manager the missing piece?
Do you remember what a "normal" software team looked like? A product manager, an engineering manager, a designer, and six or seven engineers. Weekly planning meetings, a backlog to groom, a sprint to run. For most of the last decade, that was just... how teams worked. It was
Technical Leadership
Meeting Notes - A Free Desktop App for Tracking 1:1s
Have you ever walked out of a 1:1 and realised you can't quite remember what you agreed on last time? Or spent five minutes before a catch-up scrolling through Slack threads, trying to piece together a conversation from three weeks ago? I've been there
Game Development
Staying Technical as a Technical Program Manager
In my career, I've been many things - a Support Engineer, a Software Engineer and an Engineering Manager. These days, I've settled into a Technical Program Manager role (which I am thoroughly enjoying). As a Technical Program Manager (or TPM), you're often expected to wear
Technical Leadership
Leading Virtual Teams - Book Review
I’m always on the lookout to improve both myself and my team's daily work, so when I came across a book entitled Leading Virtual Teams by the Harvard Business Review, it really caught my eye.
Book Review
Book Review - Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and Devops
During my morning coffee session, I came across the book - Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and Devops, and the title of the book instantly drew me in.
Book Review
The People Manager: A Guide for the First Time Manager - has been published!
Behind the scenes, I have been working on a new book with my EA colleague Jo Root. I am super excited to announce that The People Manager: A Guide for the First Time Manager has been published! This is a personal project that has been a year in the making.
Technical Leadership
Lessons learnt: Leaving an organisation
In my experience, leaving an organisation is a big deal. Given the amount of time we spend at work, we ultimately end up spending more time with our colleagues than our loved ones! If you’ve been with an organisation for a while, you’ve probably worked hard to establish
Technical Leadership
Good Engineering Manager / Bad Engineering Manager
During my daily commute into the office, I like to alternate between reading the newspaper and a good book. Lately I’ve been reading a book entitled “The Hard Thing about Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz. It’s a great insight into the trials and tribulations of running your own
Book
I'm Contributing to a Smashing Magazine Book - A Career On The Web
I am proud to say that I have been involved with and contributed to the latest Smashing Magazine book entitled A Career On The Web: On The Road To Success, this book provides a number of tips and best practices to guide you through the different stages of the job
Programming
Slides - Interviews: Stand out from the Crowd
I've spent a lot of time in interviews during my career as a software developer. Whether it involves being interviewed, or spending time interviewing new candidates, the career searching process has always interested me. I recently wrote an article for Smashing Magazine which talked about the different steps
Technical Leadership
The "ideal" sprint length
Many organisations today use Scrum as a framework for managing software projects and developing applications. As a certified ScrumMaster, I have been using Scrum for over five years and have seen it run in many different companies. When implemented correctly, I have seen that Scrum can be extremely successful. However,