Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things that guide my approach to leadership. They’re subject to change because I’m always learning and getting new information. If something sparks your interest, I’d love to talk about it.

💻 Tech has no inherent value.¹

Technology only has value when it helps people achieve their goals more effectively than without it. This might mean being able to make better, faster decisions or providing service at lower costs. No matter the mechanism for value creation, technology solutions must account for the people who use them, the data that they ingest and output, and the business processes they support or transform. If the process becomes less effective, the data becomes more unreliable, or the people don’t want to use it, is it really valuable?

🏃️ The best tech solutions are developed in an agile environment.

Priorities change. Ideas don’t translate into value. We learn things as we go. I ask my teams to include their customers at every stage of the value delivery process, from the definition of the problem and exploration of the problem space through the building, testing, and iterating upon solutions. By delivering value in smaller increments more often, we get to learn and pivot, reducing potential waste and building better products and services.

🤝 The “IT” vs. “Business” dichotomy is unhelpful.

I’ve spent most of my career trying to break down silos between different groups, even within IT. There are few problems that are truly “IT only problems”, so there few problems that can be solved by IT in a vacuum. Bring in experts from across the business. Seek out difference perspectives. We build better together.

🥳 The best teams are diverse, inclusive, and psychologically safe.

I work to build and maintain a culture where my team feels like they can bring as much of their selves to work as they would like – but never more than they want. I ask my teams to show up with curiosity, empathy, and humility and treat themselves and others with respect. I ask my teams to get curious about their privilege and how changes in their behavior might help others feel more included.

💖 “Intent is important, but impact matters more.”

This is something that one of my mentors, Alyssa Boehm, said a few years ago and it’s stuck with me as a principle to live by, both in my personal life and when building team culture. I expect people to make mistakes, but I also expect them to learn about the impact of those mistakes, believe those who were impacted, and then work to make it right.

🤔 Tech isn’t easy, but people and culture are often harder.

I work with my teams, other leaders, and directly with customers (often end-users) to consider how people technology impacts employee experience and organizational culture. Rolling out Slack without considering how default notification settings will affect work life and personal life boundaries or deploying a new HR System that doesn’t support pronouns could both have big impacts on culture. Likewise, rolling out a new CRM without understanding the impact on existing business processes and team culture might result in attrition, bad customer experiences, and not achieving a return on the investment.

Footnotes