Russell here. I am a year in to my journey as a principle engineer. This is a role I believe to be one of leadership. What do I mean by this? First that it affords me the time to fully investigate the best solutions for a given set of business requirements, within the constraints of the current Engineering proposition. Then it becomes a job of collaboration with the team to bring them on the journey you have made. If you cannot provide compelling arguments for the decisions you have made, and get the team on board, you haven't got the right answer! It is not the role of the principle engineer to dictate the solution but to light the way. The hardest skill to learn is when to disagree and commit (in the Amazon parlance). It is only possible if you do not take your position as one of manager. Only a teacher and collaborator will succeed.
Blah blah. I love to learn from other professionals and so look forward to reading content and interacting with the community here.
I feel ya. I’m at a similar place in my career, and I personally struggle a lot with knowing when to choose my battles. I do find that the amazon principle you referenced (Disagree and Commit) helps a lot these days. Anywho, just wanted to say welcome to a similar soul. I’ll be writing a lot very soon about collaboration and learning to be a more mindful coworker in some of my future articles. Feel free to follow and read along. Either way, welcomes and best of luck with leading your team. Oh and thank you for considering Principle Engineer to be a position of “servant leadership.” Sadly not every Priniciple Engineer sees their role that way. Kudos! :)
Yep, you cover it well. Add to that I have two young boys, and you get the guilt of waiting for them to go to bed so you can have another crack at that outstanding problem and you probably see why I ended up on anxiety medication :)
I like the ideas you list. Will give it a go and let you know how I get on.
Thanks again for your note.
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Russell here. I am a year in to my journey as a principle engineer. This is a role I believe to be one of leadership. What do I mean by this? First that it affords me the time to fully investigate the best solutions for a given set of business requirements, within the constraints of the current Engineering proposition. Then it becomes a job of collaboration with the team to bring them on the journey you have made. If you cannot provide compelling arguments for the decisions you have made, and get the team on board, you haven't got the right answer! It is not the role of the principle engineer to dictate the solution but to light the way. The hardest skill to learn is when to disagree and commit (in the Amazon parlance). It is only possible if you do not take your position as one of manager. Only a teacher and collaborator will succeed.
Blah blah. I love to learn from other professionals and so look forward to reading content and interacting with the community here.
I feel ya. I’m at a similar place in my career, and I personally struggle a lot with knowing when to choose my battles. I do find that the amazon principle you referenced (Disagree and Commit) helps a lot these days. Anywho, just wanted to say welcome to a similar soul. I’ll be writing a lot very soon about collaboration and learning to be a more mindful coworker in some of my future articles. Feel free to follow and read along. Either way, welcomes and best of luck with leading your team. Oh and thank you for considering Principle Engineer to be a position of “servant leadership.” Sadly not every Priniciple Engineer sees their role that way. Kudos! :)
Thanks for the welcome!
Just reading your post on not bringing work home.
cubiclebuddha.com/go-home-4-techni...
Yep, you cover it well. Add to that I have two young boys, and you get the guilt of waiting for them to go to bed so you can have another crack at that outstanding problem and you probably see why I ended up on anxiety medication :)
I like the ideas you list. Will give it a go and let you know how I get on.
Thanks again for your note.