Alamelu Radhakrishnan reveals her best frameworks for making great decisions quickly without fear in one of our favorite ELC Annual sessions last year. She covers her threefold approach to knowing when to make a decision, pitfalls & anti-patterns to avoid throughout the decision-making process, and strategies for delegating and avoiding decision fatigue, all while working around fear of failure & empowering other decision-makers to act with confidence. Alamelu also shares some interesting decision-making concepts including first principles, the 40% to 70% guide, and more.
Interested in topics like this, and beyond? #ELCAnnual2023 is happening 8/30 & 8/31! You can get your ticket to join your peers, check out all our speakers + explore additional topics at sfelc.com/annual2023
Alamelu is a technology leader, operator, and advisor with experience at scale and in high-growth environments across eCommerce, energy, and professional services. She's excited to start her next chapter with Homebase as VP, Engineering leading Product Delivery, helping small and medium businesses maximize their potential.
Previously, she was Chief of Staff to the CTO at Shopify, supporting the Engineering organization, leading the teams responsible for building the systems, technology, and technical programs that power Shopify. Prior to Shopify, Alamelu has worked with some of Canada’s most innovative product and consulting agencies, leading engineering and delivery teams and helping organizations leverage technology to create maximum impact.
Alamelu finds joy in solving business problems through technology, strives for organizational excellence, and is passionate about supporting and sponsoring underrepresented folks in the industry. Alamelu lives in Toronto, and loves food, travel, the outdoors, and horror movies.
"Any decision you make is better than not making a decision. Most of the decisions that we make in our job are reversible decisions, but the time that we lose by not making a decision
is irreversible. The opportunity cost of that time, you're never gonna get that back.”
- Alamelu Radhakrishnan
Join us at ELC Annual 2023!
ELC Annual is our flagship conference for engineering leaders. You’ll learn from experts in engineering and leadership, gain mentorship and support from like-minded professionals, expand your perspectives, build relationships across the tech industry, and leave with practical proven strategies.
Join us this August 30-31 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco
SHOW NOTES:
- Introducing Alamelu @ Shopify (2:54)
- Why we make decisions as eng leaders (4:11)
- Understand your top priority & its influence on decision-making (11:05)
- Common pitfalls & anti-patterns to avoid in the decision-making process (12:28)
- Tips for making a successful decision stick (16:20)
- Avoiding decision fatigue & learning to delegate when possible (19:51)
- Decision-making, autonomy, & navigating fear of failure (22:41)
- Audience Q&A: decision-making artifacts & organizational aspects (25:39)
- When your gut feeling contradicts your framework / decision (28:39)
- Examples of Alamelu’s first principles concept (30:15)
- Approach for knowing if you’re not delegating enough (31:49)
- Decision-making in remote environments (33:20)
- How to delegate without being perceived as disengaged (34:54)
- The “40% to 70%” guide & knowing when to make a decision (36:40)
- Alignment vs. consensus (37:32)
- Techniques for gaining team / individual buy-in (39:59)
- When you’re on the receiving end of an overly abstracted problem (41:30)
- Strategies for empowering decision-makers as an eng leader (43:31)
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:
Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
The Engineering Leadership Podcast