There’s many tomes written and venture dollars lit on fire around culture. We won’t go far down this rabbit hole, save to say remember that culture is a consequence not an output. You can rarely affect it in the way you think; words can ruin it but they don’t make it. Actions do. And your teams will be a combination of your company’s culture and your actions. So don’t overthink this one, lead in your style, focus on being effective and authentic, and strong culture will follow.

Remember, engineers have off the charts BS detectors and will smell inauthenticity a mile a way. If your leadership style is to be a transparent proxy to your boss people will know. It’s not weird to think it’s all about you, because it is, that’s the job. And by being authentic, making it clear what you care about, where your red lines are, you set your team up for autonomy and speed. They can make more and more decisions in your absence because they know how you think about things.

You wouldn’t fire your mom! But there’s hard decisions you have to make leading teams. While it’s enticing to think of your team like a family, people who you forge lifelong relationships and bonds with, the reality is that’s just not the case. Teams are composed, come together, and break apart over time.

The key words in part 1 are time and composed. And you’re the composer. One of your many jobs is to figure out how to compose the right team for what you need to accomplish right now and how to adapt that into the future. Whether you're thinking in terms of Cringley’s Commando’s, Infantry, and Police, or Jobs and A Players, or PG and hackers and painters, the composition of the team is your job.

You’ll have many constraints and obstacles (headcount budgets, your company’s reputation to attract talent, internal talent mobility etc.) but above all else do not be a victim to your circumstance here, team composition is your most important lever. So important that the next point here also deserves its own section…

Hiring is your job, not the Recruiting team’s job.

Hiring is your job, not the Recruiting team’s job.

Hiring is your job, not the Recruiting team’s job.

Hiring is your job, not the Recruiting team’s job.

Hiring is your job, not the Recruiting team’s job.

Hiring is your job, not the Recruiting team’s job.