How I Lead

This document explains how I try to lead, communicate, and make decisions. It is a starting point for a working relationship, not a substitute for one.

It applies only to me. It does not replace company policy, your role description, or the norms of a specific team. If my actions and this document do not match, tell me. My actions are the real standard, and this page must change when my approach changes.

Leadership is not a title or a reporting line. I lead when I create context, make decisions, take responsibility, and help other people do their best work. These principles apply when I lead a company, an engineering team, an open-source project, or a small group working through a difficult problem.

People first

People First is my main leadership principle.

I like clear plans, useful documents, and well-designed systems. None of them matter without trust and healthy relationships. I will sometimes get this wrong. I will work to repair the relationship when I do.

I want to know what helps you do good work, what gets in your way, what you want to learn, and what matters outside work. You choose how much personal context you share.

What you can expect from me

My job is to create the conditions in which you and the team can succeed. You can expect me to:

• Explain the mission, priorities, constraints, and important tradeoffs.
• Connect company goals to your work and development.
• Give you room to own decisions and outcomes.
• Remove obstacles or help you work through them.
• Give direct, useful feedback without waiting for a formal review.
• Represent the team's work and give credit to the people who did it.
• Protect the team from avoidable noise and translate the noise that remains.
• Admit when I am wrong and take responsibility for outcomes.
• Make difficult decisions when the role requires it.

I believe a leader serves the team. This does not mean that I will always agree or say yes. It means that I owe you clear context, honest answers, and respect.

What I ask from you

I trust the judgment of the people I work with. I do not want to tell you how to do every part of your work.

I ask you to:

• Own outcomes, not only assigned tasks.
• Ask for context when the goal or priority is not clear.
• Make a plan, write down the important parts, and keep it current.
• Raise risks and ask for help early. A problem does not improve when it stays hidden.
• Bring mistakes into the open, help correct them, and share what you learned.
• Disagree directly and respectfully. Do not wait for the meeting after the meeting.
• Optimize for the customer and the company, not for me or your local team.
• Close loops. Tell the affected people what changed, what was decided, and what happens next.

Autonomy and accountability come together. I want to give you both.

How I communicate

I think through writing. I write plans, questions, and decision notes because writing shows gaps and gives other people time to think. You can expect a lot of written communication from me. I will ask you to write when a decision or plan needs to survive beyond a meeting.

Clear writing does not need to be formal. A short message with the goal, context, question, and deadline is often enough.

When you send a meeting request or a message such as “Do you have five minutes?”, include the topic. Without context, people often assume bad news. A few words reduce stress and help me prepare.

Choose the channel by urgency

My calendar is the best source for my availability. You can request time outside our regular meetings. Do not assume I am too busy to help. If I cannot give the topic enough attention, I will tell you and propose another time.

How I make decisions

I have strong opinions that I try to hold weakly. I like informed debate, and I can change my mind when the facts change.

I often think out loud. A rough idea from me is not automatically a direction. I will try to label the mode:

• Explore: We are finding options and testing assumptions.
• Recommend: I have a preferred option, but I want review.
• Decide: The decision owner is making the call.
• Execute: The decision is made. We can change it when new evidence is strong enough.

If I do not label the mode, ask. If I give direction that conflicts with an earlier priority, point out the conflict. Clarity is part of the work.

I prefer reversible decisions to happen near the work and without unnecessary approval. Decisions with a large cost, long recovery time, or broad effect need more review. In both cases, we must identify the decision owner.

My guiding principles

• People First: Start with trust, dignity, and the effect on people.
• Keep It Simple: Make the solution as simple as the problem permits.
• Clarify, Clarify, Clarify: Clarity creates focus.
• Embrace Constraints: Good constraints support creativity and decisions.
• Document Plans: Write enough for others to understand and participate.
• Prioritize and Execute: Identify the most important next action, then do it.
• Radiate Information: Make useful status, decisions, and risks easy to find.
• Decentralize Command: Put context and authority near the work.
• No Broken Windows: Small defects in code, process, and communication become normal when we ignore them.
• Extreme Ownership: Start with responsibility for what you can control.

I learned these principles from many leaders, teams, and books. I did not invent them.

Plans and status

A plan is a tool for alignment, not a promise that new evidence cannot change.

For recurring status, I prefer a short written update. A useful format is:

Completed

• What changed or shipped?
• What result did it produce?

Next

• What are the most important next outcomes?
• What decisions or dependencies affect them?

Learned

• What surprised you?
• What assumption changed?

Need help

• What is blocked or at risk?
• What decision, context, or action do you need from me?

The update should help us find problems and decisions. It should not become work that exists only to prove that work happened.

One-on-ones

Our one-on-one is your time. Bring the topics that will make it useful. We can discuss work, growth, feedback, team dynamics, or something outside work that affects how you are doing.

I will also use this time to give context and feedback. I will not save important negative feedback for a one-on-one if you need it sooner.

I usually end with three questions:

1. Is anything else on your mind?
2. What do you need from me?
3. What can I do better?

These questions can feel repetitive. I repeat them because the answers matter, and because important subjects often arrive at the end.

Feedback

I want feedback to be direct, private when needed, and useful. Good feedback describes the observed behavior, its effect, and a better next action. It does not guess at a person's motives.

There should be no surprise in a performance review. You should know where you stand, what is going well, what must improve, and what support is available. If you do not know, ask me. The lack of clarity is a leadership problem that we must correct.

Feedback must move in both directions. Tell me when my behavior, decision, or communication makes the work harder. I may ask questions to understand it. That does not mean that I reject it.

Personal defaults and quirks

• I can move quickly between details and strategy. Tell me when the shift is not clear.
• I enjoy brainstorming and can generate more ideas than we should execute. Ideas are not priorities.
• I care about precise words and can spend too much time on them. Pull me back to the needed outcome.
• I like clean logs, clear ownership, and maintained processes. Operational quality is product quality.
• I am comfortable with direct disagreement. Silence does not help me find a bad assumption.
• I use humor, especially when work is tense. Tell me if it does not help.

A living document

This README describes my current defaults. A specific person, team, or situation can need a different approach. We will adapt together.

Last updated: August 11, 2026.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Software Lead Weekly and the many leaders who published their operating principles before I wrote mine.