As we roll into 2023, the headwinds in tech continue. Most of the big guys have done a round of layoffs now, with the notable exception of Google. But there is incessant chatter that Google will find some way to reduce headcount cost.
Smart engineering leaders have already pivoted from “boom cycle” concerns around hiring and managing fast around to “hard times” focus on costs, velocity, and getting more out of the engineering team you already have. This is the time to work incredibly closely with product partners on achieving intense focus – what can we live without building this year?
This year however brings a large wild card to the party – the action at Twitter led by Elon Musk. Elon has fire more than 50% of staff, and yet not only does Twitter continue to operate but in fact the pace of new product delivery has increased. There is reasonable debate about the utility of many of the new features, and the risks that may be festering as a result of the headcount reductions. Nevertheless, Elon is so far winning the argument that Twitter can in fact do more with much, much less.
Regardless of what you think of the moves taken at Twitter, I would caution all engineering leaders to keep one thing in mind: your CEO is paying very close attention. And they are wondering whether your group too could be “doing much more with less”. (To be clear: this is my personal speculation – I have not discussed Twitter with any of the actual CEOs in my life!).
What do we do as engineering leaders in this environment? Simple – understand exactly what every person on your team is doing, and why it’s valuable to the company. You need to understand where your engineering investment is going, what are the key trade-offs you are making, and how to effectively surface telemetry on those trade-offs to your stakeholders. At worst case you need to be able to explain what will break? in the case that investment is reduced in a certain area.
The truth is that this is an evergreen part of the eng leader’s job – there just happens to be more pressure and scrutiny in this environment. The trick is to build this discipline and then carry it forward as the market environment improves.
scott persinger 