“Great leadership, like great engineering, is never finished.”
My goal is to help teams thrive, scale with integrity, and deliver business-critical impact. These principles are the culmination of years spent building products, leading teams, and learning from both success and failure. They guide how I make decisions, build culture, and lead others.
If we’ve worked together before, I’d appreciate your feedback on areas where I can improve. Leadership, like software, improves through iteration.
1. Meaningful Impact
Our work should matter – to customers, to the business, and to ourselves.
- Customer-first mindset. Customers are at the center of everything we do. We earn their trust through secure, reliable, and valuable software – by listening, iterating, and solving real problems.
- Iterative value delivery. We ship early and often to learn fast. A rough feature in front of real users is worth more than a perfect plan on paper. We stay tightly aligned with evolving customer and business needs.
- Empowering and fulfilling teams: People thrive when trusted with ownership, supported by clear expectations, and engaged in meaningful problems. 1:1s, thoughtful feedback, and intentional career growth aren’t “nice-to-haves” – they’re part of the work. When we thrive, our impact scales naturally.
- Retention is an outcome. People stay where they feel stretched, supported, and seen. We all contribute to creating a healthy and rewarding environment.
- Culture compounds. We model kindness, clarity, and curiosity. No brilliant jerks. No fragile egos. No passengers. No misaligned incentives.
2. Technical Excellence
We take pride in our craft. Excellence is a habit, not a one-time event.
- Quality is the baseline. Shipping is not the finish line – impact is. “Done” means tested, observable, maintainable, and production-ready. We ensure no one inherits a mess.
- Own the dates. We commit thoughtfully, communicate clearly, and hold each other accountable.
- Data over opinion. We prioritize evidence-based decisions, measurable impact, and objectivity. We let data challenge our assumptions, not replace our judgment.
- Do the hard things. The highest-leverage work is rarely easy. We tackle complexity, enhance systems, and make difficult trade-offs with rigor.
- Simplicity scales. The best systems are simple, reliable, and elegant. We build systems that are easy to reason about, not just easy to build.
- Collaborate deeply. Great work is synergistic – shared goals, aligned timelines, and honest collaboration. We debate ideas, align quickly, and act with kindness and clarity.
- Institutionalize excellence. We document, teach, and share what we learn. Technical growth is how we improve as individuals and as a group.
- Tempo, not breakneck speed. We aim for a sustainable pace. The proper rhythm helps us stay sharp and effective – without burning out. Good systems support long-term speed, not just short-term delivery.
- Operational excellence. Burnout is not a badge of honor. We resolve noisy alerts, minimize repeat pages, and address root causes. Occasional escalations happen, but if they’re frequent, the system – not the people – needs improvement.
3. Continuous Improvement
We improve ourselves, our systems, and how we work – every day.
- Kaizen mindset. We foster a culture of continuous improvement, applying this to everything we do—from our tools and processes to our skills. We remain curious, reflective, and open to changing our minds, understanding that adapting and evolving is our most sustainable advantage.
- Feedback loops. Feedback loops – between people, teams, systems, and customers – fuel growth. We share it openly, thoughtfully, and often. We receive it with gratitude and use it to improve.
- Process should help, not hinder. Good process accelerates. Bad process clogs. We question the value of every ritual, meeting, and framework – and optimize ruthlessly.
- Efficiency matters. Rework, toil, and waste slow us down. We automate, streamline, and build systems that scale. We design for leverage.
- Celebrate progress. Every 1% gain matters. We recognize effort, reflect on wins, and keep momentum alive.
- Don’t settle. Past success is not a moat. Our ability to adapt, stretch, and evolve is our most sustainable advantage.
