Lakshya

Book

Engineering Leadership

What changes at each level, hiring and holding the bar, growing people and managing someone out, organisational design, running a distributed or GCC organisation, technical strategy, budget and headcount, and what each interview round actually tests.

For the Leadership archetypes, including the site and GCC roles — the distributed-organisation chapter is written for the Indian market specifically.

CHAPTER 1 What actually changes at each level The most common leadership failure is doing the previous job well. This is what the new one is. CHAPTER 2 Hiring, and holding the bar The highest-leverage thing a leader does, and the one most often done under pressure. CHAPTER 3 Growing people, and managing someone out The two halves of the same skill. Most leaders are competent at one and avoid the other. CHAPTER 4 Organisational design The highest-leverage thing a director does, and the one that shows up as a delivery problem rather than a design one. CHAPTER 5 Running a distributed and GCC organisation Where most Indian engineering leadership actually happens, and the specific things that make it work or not. CHAPTER 6 Technical strategy that is not a wish list Most engineering strategy documents are a list of things the author likes. This is what makes one useful. CHAPTER 7 Budget, headcount and making the case Where engineering leadership is decided, and the language most engineers never learn. CHAPTER 8 The leadership interview, round by round What each stage is actually testing, and the stories to prepare.