More often than you think, you are making decisions about accepting work in your job. Have you ever asked yourself if the new job or new work you are about to accept will be fun? If your work is fun, and the people you work with are fun, it can make a lot of things about the job better. 

As a technical leader you are more likely to not have clear direction on your priorities and tasks. You are in a role where you give direction and priorities. As an executive, reporting to other executives, the detailed kind of priorities and instruction you got in more junior roles fall away. It is important not to slow-down in the face of the increased uncertainty.

In any technical leadership role, you are only temporary. That concept helps frame the importance of spending time on only those most important things. Only things you can do. When you delegate some of your work to others on your team, you develop their capability to carry on without you (and establish a powerful relationship as a leader).

As technical leaders, our job is very often to convince others of something. As you consider these goals, it is important to evaluate your actions through the lens of those you want to convince. What you would want to hear is often different than what will be convincing for others.

When we think of prioritization or focus, we often think of making a list. Perhaps prioritizing that list and asking ourselves what we tasks we want to be sure we do. When was the last time you asked what you should stop doing?

It is natural to manage with assumptions about your team, your peers and your boss. We have blind spots in our assumptions. Our blind spots are often easier to see when we put ourselves in the other persons’ position. 

Signal to noise: a measure of how much useful information there is in a system, such as the Internet, as a proportion of the entire contents. The tactic of narrowing down your focus, and eliminating the noise, will fundamentally increase the signal on your productivity. 

Do you ever feel like work owns you, whether because they give you a large salary or good benefits? Have you had a job where you didn't feel that work had a claim on your entire world? How can you get the balance of not feeling owned, regardless of the responsibility, salary or benefits.

I have found effective prioritization as a key to success as my world has become more and more complicated. As you become more senior in you organization, it will be incumbent on you to choose where you spend time. I have found a simple bullseye as an effective tool for prioritization.

Whether in individual conversations or larger meetings, there is value in leaving space for the unknown. Leave time for questions and observations that will surprise you.

Often I hear software engineers looking to move up in their organization and setting their sites on a technical architect role. Make no mistake, an architect is a leadership position that can be harder to achieve results than a project manager or development director. Here are some useful tactics to employ.

Overhead is almost a dirty word. Nobody wants to be overhead. People want to be spending time on the “real work” rather than the overhead. Overhead is necessary in organizations. The overhead required in a small organization is much different than in a large one. 

Do not wait around for someone else to develop your career. Take control, help yourself and others. Here are some simple tactics to be your own career coach.

Hate meetings? Love them? Don't decry all meetings as a waste of time. How do you use meetings as an element of your communication strategy?

I sometimes lose sight of whether or not I’m delivering the results I expect. I find value when I take time to reflect on the results I deliver and take stock of my performance. Here is how I hold myself accountable to make progress against my goals.

When you choose to do everything, you do none of it well enough. You are guaranteed to do the important things badly. There is no more important skill than to apply good judgement on what is important, and strip away distractions.

Hold on to your successes, let go of your failures. It seems like a simple formula for happiness. It isn’t complicated although in practice it is difficult.

Your staff can’t force you to give them feedback. They will reward you by making you look like a hero as they deliver better results. You are only as good as the team you lead. Relying on performance reviews for feedback is not a way to build a good team.

It is common to ask someone “how are you?” to begin a conversation. Whenever someone asks me, I reply “I’m fantastic” as enthusiastically as I can. Sometimes it gets a chuckle or a surprised reaction, but those people who I talk to often know that’s what they’ll hear. I’m fantastic because I choose to be.

Often, the right path forward isn’t clear. As your role gets bigger you become more responsible for setting your own direction. You won't know the right answer unless you take action and get going.