Start Here
Start Here
You've probably spent years getting good at engineering. Then one day, someone handed you a team and expected you to figure out the rest.
I'm Eric. I've been an engineering executive for the past decade — CTO twice, VP Engineering twice more, leading orgs from 20 to 200+ engineers. I've made most of the mistakes you can make in this job, and I've written down what I learned so you don't have to repeat them.
The Desk Reference is where I collect frameworks, mental models, and hard-won lessons for people running engineering organizations. No filler. No thought leadership theater. Just the stuff I wish someone had told me.
If You're New Here
Start with these. They'll tell you whether the rest is worth your time.
For Building Teams
Productivity Plow, Clear a Path to Success — Wait states kill productivity and motivation. Here's how to identify and eliminate them.
For Shipping Software
Get Your Teams to Estimate Well — Why story points fail and what to do instead. The accuracy vs. precision distinction will change how you think about planning.
Things Are Great, Right? Measuring Progress — Three metrics that tell you whether your organization is actually improving.
For Leading People
The Economy of Political Capital — How to build influence, when to spend it, and why doing the "right thing" sometimes costs you. The most important essay I've written.
Speaking To Be Understood — When your team doesn't understand you, it's not their failure. It's yours.
Use the Right Lever for Successful Change — Successful change requires doing the right thing, in the right place, at the right time.
For the AI Era
The Pass: Agentic Engineering — You're no longer the line cook. You're the executive chef at the pass, directing agents who compile, test, and retry at high speed.
The Coming PR Tsunami — LLMs broke the code production bottleneck. Now review is the constraint. Here's how to adapt.
What You'll Find Here
Guides — Comprehensive how-tos for org design, delivery mechanics, and people management. Reference material you can return to.
Essays — Shorter pieces exploring a single idea. Often personal, always practical.
Frameworks — Mental models and decision tools you can apply directly.
Stay in the Loop
I publish infrequently, maybe once a month. When I do, it's because I have something worth saying.
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No spam. No growth hacking. Just the occasional useful thing in your inbox.
About Me
I'm currently CTO at Whitepages. Previously: Senior Director at Narvar and a bunch of IC and management roles before that. I still write code in my spare time, mostly in Rust, because I find it interesting.
I'm also writing a book on engineering leadership. Some of what you'll find here will end up in that book; most of it won't. The site is where I think in public.