Signals from the work.

The most common assumption in organizational improvement work is that the problem is external.

Security failures rarely begin as spectacular events.

Most of the forces currently limiting engineering organizations are not visible on any dashboard.

Forecasting is seductive because it promises relief from uncertainty.

Digital products rarely become confusing all at once.

Digital platforms are often described as if the hard part is assembling the right components: cloud infrastructure, APIs, data products, partner integrations, dashboards…

Most of what a technology leader does that matters is invisible.

The most consequential leadership decisions in engineering organizations are rarely the ones made in strategy reviews or planning sessions.

In 2010, Eric Schmidt offered a data point that has never fully been absorbed by the organizations it was meant to describe: humanity was generating as much information every two…