In Depth A masterclass in engineering leadership from Carta, Stripe, Uber, and Calm | Will Larson (CTO at Carta)
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Nov 16, 2023 
Will Larson, CTO at Carta and former CTO at Calm, discusses engineering strategy, common management mistakes, optimizing engineering velocity, organizational policies, and the value of micromanagement in certain situations. They also explore the challenges of resource allocation, diving into the details, measuring engineering velocity, handling feedback, and building fundamentals in engineering.
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Context Matters
- New engineering leaders often wrongly assume their prior company's context applies to their new one.
- Test ideas and observe reactions before implementing them, like Will Larson did with service migrations at Calm and Carta.
Document Your Strategy
- Unwritten strategies are hard to refine, explain, and onboard new hires with.
- Write down strategies, even if imperfect, to enable disagreement, iteration, and clarity.
Seek Conflicting Viewpoints
- Test your assumptions by seeking out conflicting viewpoints, especially from senior engineers.
- Be open to changing your mind, as Will Larson did at Stripe after conversations with Nelson.