Product teams and engineering teams tend to have rocky relationships. Why is this? They’re working toward the same goal, at least they are in theory, so what is the reason for their misalignment? In organizations with product and engineering teams that work together in harmony, what is their secret to success?

How do you respond when your boss or board asks “What's our AI strategy?” In this episode, Lena Reinhard talks with Daniel Paulus, VP of Engineering at Checkly, about developing a pragmatic approach to AI initiatives that creates real value while avoiding the pitfalls of hype-driven development. Daniel shares his experience leading AI initiatives and provides actionable insights for engineering leaders.

Your middle managers are more than just intermediaries between your leadership team and employees on the ground. Learn how to equip them with the context, ownership, and clarity they need, and you will not only empower them, but also enhance the overall productivity and morale of your entire organization.

Master the art of annual planning for your engineering organization. Use the steps in this article to create a strategy that helps you hit the ground running, embrace flexibility, and involve your teams for alignment. And: Get a FREE planning template!

Leading during an economic downturn means adapting our thinking, shifting from high-growth and scalability to efficiency. In this article, I lay out concrete steps you can take to prepare for and lead in an economic downturn.

As leaders, we cannot be everywhere, all the time. As more and more companies move to hybrid working models, new leadership challenges are brought to the table. Understanding the nuances of remote work and what it means for different groups of people can increase empathy and form a solid basis for a more effective, and more equal, hybrid working environments. 

“Strategic leadership” is a nebulous concept for many leaders - and something that gets thrown around a lot without much explanation. In part one of the ’Stop, Strategy time’ series, I introduce the concept of strategic leadership, what strategy is and isn’t, and outline my three golden rules of strategic leadership.

Hybrid working contains multitudes, it’s not a singular experience. Here are practical steps you should take to create a highly effective hybrid working environment for your teams.

Most startup leaders have no plan, rely on reactive hiring and, here’s the big one, look for copies of themselves. Read my tips for addressing the main issues leaders face when hiring and how to overhaul your hiring process to focus on impact.

Hiring is mission-critical, yet most leaders treat it as an afterthought. Learn about the 15 most common startup hiring mistakes, and offer some tips for how to fix them. By the end, you’ll know how to hire in a way that supports growth and maximizes the impact of your teams.

Use the exercises in this article to create an onboarding plan for the new manager in your startup. I’ve also put together a downloadable onboarding guide that you can use to guide your onboarding process with not just new managers, but all new employees.

Times of change are some of the hardest to lead in - not only do leaders need to be able to respond to change and deal with high degrees of ambiguity, but they also need to take charge of creating change. Learn the theory of change and successfully lead change in your organization.

In my work, I’ve seen many early-stage startups make similar mistakes as they start to hire for scale. In this article you’ll learn how to identify warning signs and avoid the common traps startups often fall into when scaling. 

One of the biggest inflection points leaders face in this time is going from directly running their teams and operations, to a point where, in order to scale, effective systems will need to be put in place. Here are five things you should consider when deciding to hire new leaders.