Engineering leader. Still an engineer. 15+ years building platforms and the teams behind them. Writing about the patterns teams feel but haven't named yet. More at jonoherrington.com
Yes ... and once that disconnect happens, teams start optimizing for expectation management instead of engineering reality.
You can actually feel the cultural shift when it happens.
Engineers stop surfacing uncertainty early because the narrative already hardened upstream. Stakeholders heard confidence, committed externally, and now reality becomes socially expensive to report.
That’s why I think good leaders create space for uncomfortable truth before certainty hardens into commitment.
Otherwise confidence becomes a kind of organizational debt instrument.
yeah, and the tell is when standup answers start sounding like press releases. engineers aren't hiding bad news on purpose - they just learned it won't change anything upstream.
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I've seen this. once confidence sets stakeholder expectations, the team's actual velocity becomes invisible.
Yes ... and once that disconnect happens, teams start optimizing for expectation management instead of engineering reality.
You can actually feel the cultural shift when it happens.
Engineers stop surfacing uncertainty early because the narrative already hardened upstream. Stakeholders heard confidence, committed externally, and now reality becomes socially expensive to report.
That’s why I think good leaders create space for uncomfortable truth before certainty hardens into commitment.
Otherwise confidence becomes a kind of organizational debt instrument.
Feels great upfront.
Collects interest later.
yeah, and the tell is when standup answers start sounding like press releases. engineers aren't hiding bad news on purpose - they just learned it won't change anything upstream.