by: David Billingham
My personal leadership philosophy has been developed over more than a decade of managing software projects and working with engineering teams. It will define how I lead, what I place value in, what I expect and what is not acceptable. The reason to document this is so that we can level the playing field and both be working from the same expectations.
I lead by:
- Inspiring and challenging you to come up with creative solutions to difficult problems.
- Empowering you to do things outside of your comfort zone.
- Recognizing you publicly when you do something amazing and critique you privately if needed.
- If you need a teacher I will help you learn if you need a supporter I have your back.
- Bringing the right people from the business to the table to help gain clarity around what problems need to be solved.
I place great value in:
- Being able to be honest with each other - say what you mean and mean what you say.
- Having fun - it should be a core component of our daily work.
- Engaging as a team in order to solve complex problems - the problems we are solving are bigger than just one person and the solutions to those problems are bigger than one person as well.
- Making decisions transparent - everyone should understand why we are making the decisions we make.
- Quality - it is everyone’s job to ensure quality is a feature in the software we build.
- Teaching - it is not a role of one person but all the people on the team. I am a teacher. You are a teacher.
- Listening - in order to truly work together we need to be able to understand where each other is coming from.
What I expect:
- Do the right thing. If there is a better way do it, don’t wait for someone to tell you to do something you know is better.
- Keep me informed. I don’t know what I don’t know. In order to help I need to know what is happening.
- No task is beneath me and no task should be something you won’t step up and do.
- Understand the business. Do your homework and expand your knowledge beyond the projects you work on. Be inquisitive.
- You will give me honest feedback and hold me accountable as I will you.
- When issues are reported react quickly and with purpose. Never just quietly ignore an issue because you are afraid to mention it.
- If you don’t know something admit it and then learn it.
Things I do not accept:
- Negative attitudes - they are toxic and will destroy a team from the inside.
- Lying, cheating, disrespect, harassment or prejudice - have no place in what we do.
I am committed to leading using these values and committed to you as an employee and a person. I am dedicated to helping you make your career successful.