Technical Leadership

What does it actually mean to be a technical leader? Not the job title - the day-to-day reality of it. The trade-offs, the meetings, the moments where you have to understand the code and keep everyone moving in the same direction.

I've been a Software Engineer, Engineering Manager, and now a TPM at Xbox Game Studios. These articles cover TPM skills, staying technical in leadership, and delivering complex projects. If you're an engineer moving into leadership, hopefully something here is useful.

Technical Leadership
Staying Technical as a Technical Program Manager

18 February 2026

Staying Technical as a Technical Program Manager

Learn practical ways Technical Program Managers can stay technical - daily habits, internal engineering practices, and hands-on routines that keep skills sharp while leading programs at scale.

14 March 2022

Leading Virtual Teams - Book Review

I’m always on the lookout to improve both myself and my team's daily work, so when I came across a book entitled Leading Virtual Teams by the Harvard Business Review, it really caught my eye.

1 March 2018

Lessons learnt: Leaving an organisation

In my experience, leaving an organisation is a big deal. Given the amount of time we spend at work, we ultimately end up spending more time with our colleagues than our loved ones! If you’ve been with an organisation for a while, you’ve probably worked hard to establish

7 May 2015

Good Engineering Manager / Bad Engineering Manager

During my daily commute into the office, I like to alternate between reading the newspaper and a good book. Lately I’ve been reading a book entitled “The Hard Thing about Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz. It’s a great insight into the trials and tribulations of running your own

7 April 2015

I'm Contributing to a Smashing Magazine Book - A Career On The Web

I am proud to say that I have been involved with and contributed to the latest Smashing Magazine book entitled A Career On The Web: On The Road To Success, this book provides a number of tips and best practices to guide you through the different stages of the job

21 October 2013

Slides - Interviews: Stand out from the Crowd

I've spent a lot of time in interviews during my career as a software developer. Whether it involves being interviewed, or spending time interviewing new candidates, the career searching process has always interested me. I recently wrote an article for Smashing Magazine which talked about the different steps that

3 July 2013

The "ideal" sprint length

Many organisations today use Scrum as a framework for managing software projects and developing applications. As a certified ScrumMaster, I have been using Scrum for over five years and have seen it run in many different companies. When implemented correctly, I have seen that Scrum can be extremely successful. However,

30 October 2012

The Five Whys

I've been reading a book called the Lean Startup recently. It is filled with great advice and the Lean Startup is basically a business approach that aims to change the way that companies build and launch new products. Whilst reading the book I came across a chapter that dealt