Thoughts on thought leadership

However, there’s actually some advantage to this - an organisation adopting a consistent, well-defined technical posture means that a lot of tactical decisions are off the table, reducing cognitive load. The organisation can move at a more consistent pace without the constant evaluation of everything under the sun, allowing the problem domain to have more of the focus.

The TRUE test of tech leadership, though, is in justifying this posture and getting the team aligned around it. The effective tech leader can get buy-in from colleagues around the selected methodologies and tooling, rather than just being a brash sort teetering on a soapbox of ego blurting opinions.

Granted, nothing comes for free and it’s tradeoffs all the way down. Method/tool X might not be the absolute ideal tool for a particular task and there’s always a risk of getting left behind. That’s not my focus here; I’m presenting a single side of an argument as a kind of polemic against the culture of “NEW TOOL OR METHOD JUST DROPPED, DUMP YOUR COGNITIVE CACHE” every 5 minutes.

Following a strong, clear, coherent vision is easier than approaching every single problem from first principles.

Except, of course, when it isn’t.

Have fun in the tech industry! (I do)