Scaling yourself ‘down’ as an engineering leader w/ James Everingham #155
Nov 14, 2023
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James Everingham, co-founder and VP of Engineering @ Lightspark, shares tools for scaling down as an engineering leader. Topics include leadership methods like the Socratic method, principle-based decision-making, and creating narratives. They also discuss navigating process vs. anti-process, product planning, and adapting communication style within different org sizes.
Transitioning to a smaller engineering organization requires a shift in leadership principles and approaches to adapt to different dynamics and skills.
Principled decision-making fosters transparency, employee empowerment, and a less political work culture in scaling organizations.
Balancing the need for process with agility and flexibility in startups requires understanding the timing and alignment of process implementation.
Deep dives
Shifting from a Large Company to a Small Environment
James Ebberingham shares his experience and insights on transitioning from leading a large engineering organization to a smaller one. He highlights the need for a shift in leadership principles and approaches, emphasizing the importance of adapting to the different dynamics and skills required in a smaller company. James discusses the contrasting focus on stability versus innovation, the need for autonomy and quick decision-making in a smaller organization, and the importance of constantly questioning underlying assumptions. He also emphasizes the value of storytelling and creating a narrative as a product and goal-setting tool in a startup environment.
The Power of Principle Thinking
James Ebberingham stresses the significance of making principled decisions and provides examples of principles that guide decision-making processes. He highlights the value of principles in scaling organizations and fostering transparency, employee empowerment, and a less political work culture. James emphasizes involving the team in creating and adopting these principles, promoting a sense of ownership and enthusiasm. He also discusses how principles can provide a framework for decision-making in both large and small companies.
Balancing Process in a Startup Environment
James Ebberingham shares his perspective on introducing process in a startup context, highlighting the importance of balancing the need for process with the agility and flexibility required in such environments. He advises understanding when and where to introduce process by considering factors like frequency of occurrence, complexity, and the team's sentiments. James emphasizes the value of aligning process implementation with the team's culture and hiring individuals who possess a balanced perspective on process. He also underscores the role of effective communication, storytelling, and narrative-based planning in startups.
Using Narrative Goal-Setting
James Ebberingham explores the use of narrative goal-setting as a powerful tool in startups. He advocates for using narratives instead of rigid product plans to navigate uncertainty and stimulate creativity in the team. James suggests breaking down the narrative into actionable chapters and providing short-term goals that align with the overall vision. He emphasizes the importance of keeping the team focused and inspired by the narrative and encourages setting measurable goals to increase team performance.
The Importance of Questioning Assumptions
James Ebberingham underscores the significance of questioning assumptions and fostering a culture of continual learning. He shares insights on using the Socratic questioning method to drive decision-making and ensure team engagement and ownership. James stresses the importance of challenging one's own assumptions, being open to different perspectives, and creating an environment where questioning is encouraged. He also highlights the benefits of encouraging individuals to find solutions through thoughtful questioning and promoting transparency and shared understanding within the team.
James Everingham, co-founder and VP of Engineering @ Lightspark, joins our podcast to share his best tools for scaling yourself down – not up – as an engineering leader. He discusses his latest career move shifting down in scale and how that impacts your risk tolerance as a leader. We also cover some of James’ favorite leadership methods, including the Socratic method, principle-based decision-making, and creating narratives as a product / eng org goal-setting tool, plus how he’s employed those tools effectively throughout his career. We also address navigating the balance between process & anti-process, approaches to product planning & finding PMF, and adapting your communication style to work within a smaller vs. large org.
James Everingham (@jevering) is co-founder and VP of Engineering at Lightspark. Lightspark is building core infrastructure on the Lightning Network. Most recently he was Vice President of Engineering for Novi (Meta) and co-creator of Diem. Previously, James was the Head of Engineering at Instagram. James has led many world-class engineering teams throughout his 35-year career as a manager, entrepreneur, and technology developer. At Yahoo, he was Vice President of Engineering for Yahoo media properties after acquiring Luminate, an interactive image technology company he founded. Other previous roles include CTO and founding team member of LiveOps, Senior Director of Engineering at Tellme (acquired by Microsoft), and Senior Director of Engineering at Netscape Communications, where he was responsible for the flagship Netscape browser. Before joining Netscape, James held engineering and management positions at Oracle and Borland International.
"We had a great story in our head of like if we can simply make money flow or value flow fast and free frictionlessly around the world like a lot of good is going to happen but then that's the ending. That's the happy ending. Like, what are the chapters that we're going to write in between to get there? The first one was, 'Well, we're going to build this new infrastructure. Let's start getting it out there and getting it quickened in an area where it's already accepted.' And that's what we did. You know, that was the first one and we worked backwards from that. They're trying to make the story happen. They're not trying to make a list of tasks happen. And I think that's a really important distinction.”
- James Everingham
SHOW NOTES:
James’ latest experience scaling down in his career (2:44)
Increasing your risk tolerance as an eng leader (5:15)
Surprising ways eng leaders operate in a smaller org vs. a larger org (7:16)
Optimizing communicating patterns when scaling down as a leader (10:23)
Strategies for creating high-impact conversations within teams at a small org (12:12)
How to use the Socratic method effectively as an eng leader (14:04)
James’ framework for anchoring decision-making principles (17:05)
Why focusing on customer problems before business problems is a key principle (19:30)
Layering the Socratic method approach & principle-based decision making (21:43)
Tips for implementing these approaches early on & scaling them up (24:31)
The trap of “process” & knowing when / where to introduce processes (25:41)
Navigating the balance between complete process & anti-process (27:59)
Deconstructing James’ approach to product planning & goal setting (29:51)
How James introduced the product planning narrative @ Lightspark (34:15)
Advice for newcomers looking to identify & share a product narrative (36:38)
