##Five Engineering Leadership Principles I Live By—From a Young Leader’s Perspective

As a co-founder and CTO who became a Director of Engineering at an age when most are still figuring out their career paths, I’ve learned that leadership isn’t about grey hairs or decades of experience — it’s about passion, adaptability, and a willingness to learn alongside your team. Here are the five principles that guide my leadership style, and shaped by my journey so far.

##1. Keeping My Hands Dirty, Is My Superpower. Tech Cred Is Non-Negotiable.

Let's be real: when you're the young gun in the leadership seat, maybe managing engineers with more years logged than you've been alive, the fastest way to lose the room is to lose touch with the tech.

In engineering, if you can’t hold your own in a code review or explain why we’re using a specific tech stack, your team won’t follow you. It's not about being the fastest coder or knowing every framework nuance anymore. That ship sails pretty quickly as your calendar fills up. It’s about maintaining respect and connection by demonstrating you still understand the ground truth and about staying sharp enough to understand the "why" behind our choices. I’m constantly levelling up, whether it’s through online courses, hackathons, or just messing around with the latest AI tools on weekends. This keeps me credible and ensures I can jump in when the team needs a hand. Plus, it’s fun — nothing beats the thrill of solving a tricky bug or optimising a system.

##2. Transparency Is My Team’s Best Friend

Companies move at warp speed [if not then they should, because markets surely do], and decisions can flip on a dime. That’s why I over-communicate—constantly. I share the "why" behind every pivot, every feature we kill, and every hiring decision. I use tools like Slack/Teams, Notion/Confluence obsessively. Even a weekly “What’s Up” emails keep everyone in the loop. When my team knows what’s happening, they feel trusted and empowered to make bold moves. It’s not always easy, especially when I don’t have all the answers, but admitting uncertainty builds trust faster than pretending to know everything. Lastly, I am always clear about the limitations – runway, deadlines, technical debt, resource constraints. People are smart; they know when you're hiding something.

##3. Challenge Meets Safety: The Growth Zone

I love pushing my team to stretch their limits — it’s where the magic happens. But growth only works if people feel safe to take risks. That’s why I’ve thrived to create a culture where failure is okay but lack of ownership is not. I have tried in my past lives at different companies a “Fail Forward Fridays,” [I did not come up with it, I read about it and stole it] where team members can share what went wrong and what they learned.

##4. Teams Are Like Code: Optimise the Whole System

Just like in software, where one bug can tank the whole app, in teams, one misalignment can derail a project. I apply systems thinking to my team dynamics. I’m always looking for bottlenecks, encouraging cross-functional collaboration, and using retrospectives and process revisits to become better.
It’s not just about individual heroics — it’s about ensuring every part of the team works together seamlessly. And honestly, it’s way more fun when everyone’s rowing in the same direction. Sometimes a leaders job is to just make the team aware of the what same direction means, and get out of their way

##5. Leadership Is Serving, Not Showing Off

I realised this and it was a total game changer, My most critical function is often being the "Chief Obstacle Remover." As a young leader, it’s tempting to prove yourself, but ensuring the team gets the recognition and credit for their successes IS my success. Taking the blame and the heat when things go sideways IS THE JOB I take on the admin headaches [resentfully sometimes I’ll be honest] so my engineers can focus on building cool stuff. But serving as a leader is not all charity, for a young leader, this aggressive "obstacle remover" stance is also a powerful way to demonstrate tangible value and earn respect from all directions of the ladder

Still Learning, Still Leading (Maybe a Bit Faster Now)

So, those are the big five that became my compass through the whirlwind years of startup leadership. Are they the final word? Definitely not. Do I still stumble and have to remind myself of them? Absolutely.

Putting Principles into Practice

These principles aren't just posters on a wall—they guide daily decisions. For example, when facing tight deadlines, principle #1 (technical excellence) might suggest investing time in crucial refactoring despite timeline pressure. Principle #3 (balance of challenge and safety) might mean declining a request that would overwhelm the team, even if it came from senior leadership.

Living by these principles has made me both a more effective leader and, frankly, a better person. They're continually evolving as I learn, but they've provided a remarkably stable foundation through company changes, team reorganisations, and industry shifts.

What principles guide your leadership approach? I'd love to hear what resonates with you or what different principles you've found valuable. Write to me at [email protected]