In the last 25 years I have build and run multiple distributed software engineering organisations.
My management style/philosophy is based on a couple of core believes …
- The Power of Why - I like to lead with Why (to make sure Talent and Passion can meet a Purpose)
- People first - I always think and feel that people are the solution (not the problem)
- Heterogenerity for the win - You have to be different to complement each other (and to create innovation)
- No surprises - Everybody (at all times) should be clear on what is happening and why it is happening, which leads to …
- Building and maintain trust (and respect) (between the people) at all cost!!!
At the end it is simple. To be successful you need to …
- hire great people
- need to have sense of direction (where to go and why it matters to get there)
- excute well (how to get there)
From that I have deducted a couple of principles how an engineering organisation should look like/should do/be good at …
- Building the right thing vs. building it right
- Building faster horses vs. building cars
- Building skateboards and bicycles and …
Over the last 5 years I have also started to think about one other dimension of engineering management that needs to be considered in the next 10 years: Hub-First vs. Remote-First vs. Pod-First.
When we look at the development of the workforce in the next 10 years (Gen X, Y and Z) and when we look at the pressure we see when it comes to attracting and retaining talent and when we look at the increasing urbanisation (which makes it more and more difficult to get people into an office location), I am convinced that remote-first is an organisational model that will become more prevelant (especially for engineering organisations up to 200 engineers) (and I am not alone).
Building and running a remote-first engineering organisation needs solutions for good/suitable …
- Processes and Behaviors
- Tools and Technologies
… and a lot of awareness for the problems and challenges that come with the model.
I have already seen/experienced a couple of good implementations of the remote-first model (and a couple of bad ones) and have decided that I really want to figure this out. And (as always) there is no better way to figure it out than to do it, means I am going to be(come) The Extreme Digital Nomad (TEDN) and will do some #ExtremeDigitalNomading and will share my experience with good/suitable behaviors, processes, tools and technologies (by means of blog posts and instagram/twitter posts).
Hope you are joining me on the adventure (and will also help me to figure it out :)).
PS: Heads up … I am also in the process to build myself a mobile office that I can drive around Europe!!! More to come on this in due course.