What does the slowdown in tech mean for responsible engineering leadership?

After years of rapid growth, for most leaders in the tech industry, an economic downturn affecting them is a new experience. So it’s no big surprise to see quite a few engineering leaders getting nervous as they find themselves navigating unusually rough seas. That's not an excuse, though.

What I'm seeing these days feels shockingly irresponsible.

Across the industry and from companies of varying sizes, I've heard about all of the following:

• First line engineering managers who just carry on without even understanding the value of their team’s impact on the actual business.
• Team leaders who keep hiring like it’s 2021 without knowing what their team’s budget depends on (or, in some cases, where it’s coming from in the first place).
• Directors and VPs being madly in love with KPIs and pre-approved plans and budget figures, but partly clueless about how their teams move the business — beyond that distorted reflection they see in their precious KPIs.

That type of negligence may seem to work while cheap investment money is abundant, but only then.

And obviously, there are consequences:

• Senior leadership are first trying to sit it out and then decide to fix their “sudden” problems with indiscriminate short-notice layoffs.
• Managers are asked to let people go, but have never done so before, don’t feel the ownership, and act quite helplessly.
• Leaders at all levels are making things worse with botched communications.

The economy looks gloomy these days. That happens. It’s ugly. And this time around, tech companies get affected just like everyone else.

So what do responsible leaders need to do in such times?

You first have to remind yourself that you have two separate responsibilities: one to the business, it’s short-term survival and long-term success. And another to your people.

Layoffs happen. If that’s what it takes to save your business, it can be the responsible thing to do. However, if your own decisions — or your ignorance — contribute to a situation where people get laid off… well, then that is, in fact, very irresponsible.

It’s your job to know how your people contribute to the business and why the company affords to pay them. It’s your job to know what factors could change these reasons. And at a time of looming crisis it’s your job to watch out for any such changes to happen and to adjust early on. Stop growing your team before that growth path turns into a wild gamble (even if that hurts you in the short term). Explore options to change focus to something more aligned with business needs in the current economic climate (even if that’s not what you originally planned for).

Yes, depending on who and where you are, all this might be your manager’s job first. Or the CEO’s job. But if you are leading people, just any human beings, then it’s definitely also always your job. Now more so than ever. As a responsible leader it’s your job to try and avoid the worst to happen when things get dire. And if still push comes to shove, you need to be ready and handle layoffs with a sense of proportion, with decency and careful consideration. Especially at a time when even great engineers can't be certain to find a great new job in just a blink of an eye.

What are your thoughts and experiences?

Disclaimer: As with all my posts, the views and observations I’m sharing are exclusively my own, and completely unrelated to my current role (or to any previous role in any previous company).