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. 1Baseline Cycle Time and Identify Bottlenecks
2. 2Implement Two Process Changes and Measure Impact
3. 3Achieve and Sustain 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 direct report
2. 2Run your first team retrospective
3. 3Give your first piece of difficult feedback
4. 4Write and ship a team charter together
5. 5Navigate 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. 1Diagnose what breaks when you add headcount
2. 2Design the team structure for 20 engineers
3. 3Hire five engineers without lowering the bar
4. 4Build a team that works when you are absent
5. 5Deliver a major 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. 1Define Scope and Build the Delivery Plan
2. 2Run Weekly Steering and Manage a Significant Change
3. 3Close the Project and Capture Lessons Learned

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. 1Identify a problem no one assigned you
2. 2Write a technical strategy document
3. 3Influence a decision you do not own
4. 4Mentor someone toward your former level
5. 5Ship something that outlasts your involvement

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 Engineering Team Structure
2. 2Build and Own an Engineering Hiring Process
3. 3Deliver Engineering 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 the CTO Function
2. 2Build a Three-Year Technical Strategy
3. 3Lead a Board-Level Technical Narrative