Engineering Leadership

Reduce Team Time-to-Merge by 50%

Elective early entry point. Diagnosing and fixing your team's code review bottleneck is the fastest proof that you can improve team process with data — before you manage at scale.

3 milestones

1. 1Measure cycle time and find bottlenecks
2. 2Run two process changes and measure
3. 3Sustain a measurable improvement

Lead an Engineering Team for the First Time

Leading your first engineering team is the hardest transition in an engineer's career. The skills that made you a strong IC actively work against you as a manager.

6 milestones

1. 1Hold a real 1:1 with each report
2. 2Run your first team retrospective
3. 3Give your first difficult feedback
4. 4Write a team charter together
5. 5Resolve your first real team conflict
6. 6Deliver a real project through the team

Scale an Engineering Team from 5 to 20

Scaling a team from 5 to 20 requires building systems — hiring pipelines, onboarding programmes, and communication structures that don't depend on you.

5 milestones

1. 1Find what breaks as you grow
2. 2Design the team for 20 engineers
3. 3Hire five engineers without lowering the bar
4. 4Build a team that works without you
5. 5Deliver a project through two sub-teams

Deliver a Major Project On Time and On Scope

Delivering a major cross-functional project proves you can align engineers, product managers, and stakeholders toward a shared outcome.

3 milestones

1. 1Scope the project and plan delivery
2. 2Run steering and manage a change
3. 3Close the project and capture lessons

Operate as a Staff Engineer

Optional — the staff track is for those who want to drive technical direction without moving into people management.

5 milestones

1. 1Find a problem nobody assigned you
2. 2Write a technical strategy document
3. 3Influence a decision you don't own
4. 4Mentor someone toward your former level
5. 5Ship something that outlasts you

Become VP Engineering (First Time)

Optional — the VP track is for those who want to own the full engineering organisation, including hiring, culture, and cross-company technical strategy.

3 milestones

1. 1Redesign the engineering team structure
2. 2Build and run an engineering hiring process
3. 3Deliver OKRs across three teams

Become CTO (First Time)

Elective. For those who want to own the full technical strategy of a company. CTO scope extends beyond engineering to architecture vision, technical hiring bar, and board-level technical communication.

3 milestones

1. 1Map what the CTO role covers
2. 2Build a three-year technical strategy
3. 3Tell a technical story to the board