How I select and grow technical leaders

The strongest engineer is not automatically the right lead. I give candidates real work with a team and watch how they delegate, take responsibility and communicate. Wider leadership needs the same practical preparation.

My principles

07 operating rules

Try the responsibility before the promotion

With an internal candidate, I give them a small team and real work, then stay out of execution. I can observe how they lead before making the appointment.

Watch how they delegate

I look at whether they distribute the work or absorb it themselves. Doing everything personally can make the strongest engineer a bottleneck for the team.

Start with technical trust

The team needs to respect a lead's technical judgment. Beyond that, I look for motivation to lead, ownership, delegation and communication. Technical reputation alone does not show those things.

Put more weight on observed work

I hired someone who interviewed well but showed little ownership in the role. I now put more weight on what a candidate does with real responsibility than on interview performance.

Correct a bad hire early

When a lead's low ownership starts hurting the team, delaying the decision adds to the damage. I need to correct my own hiring mistake rather than leave the team carrying it.

Prepare successors through real decisions

I delegate decisions outside a lead's own function before a broader role opens up. Product, infrastructure and organisational context prepare them to take over with experience already behind them.

Define the trial criteria in advance

I worked this out through a good choice and a bad hire. Next time I would agree what the trial needs to demonstrate before choosing a candidate, and collect structured team feedback.

The decisions I learned from

03 cases

Giving a candidate a team to lead
Case
I had two internal candidates. One was the strongest architect. The other had less technical authority, but was more proactive and easier for the team to communicate with.
My decision
I gave the second candidate two engineers and a complex feature, then stayed out of the execution. I wanted to see whether he could organise the work through the team.
Result
He delegated, delivered the feature and earned the team's acceptance. I appointed him lead after seeing him do the work.
Replacing a lead I had hired
Case
An external lead interviewed very well. After joining, he showed little ownership and started demotivating the team. I had made the wrong call.
My decision
I dismissed him and promoted an internal engineer. She had less formal leadership experience, but the team already respected her.
Result
She became a strong lead. That experience made me much more careful about how much confidence I put in an interview.
Helping a team lead take over from me
Case
I wanted someone ready to run engineering before I left. A team lead needed experience making decisions beyond his own function.
My decision
I brought him into product statistics, infrastructure, architecture and organisational decisions, and gradually delegated more of that work. He became my informal deputy.
Result
He became Head of Engineering before I left, and later CEO after other leaders departed. I had prepared him for broader engineering responsibility; the later CEO appointment was a separate decision.