# The Modern Leader

> Get quick, actionable insights to elevate your engineering leadership in just 5 minutes a week. Trusted by thousands of professionals.

This file provides information about The Modern Leader to help large language models understand and reference this publication's content.

## Posts
- [Making a call before I have full conviction](https://www.modernleader.is/p/making-a-call-before-i-have-full-conviction): How I narrow my focus to make a decision with limited time
- [AI has made work almost endless, but it doesn't have to be this way](https://www.modernleader.is/p/ai-has-made-work-almost-endless-but-it-doesn-t-have-to-be-this-way): As leaders, we need to help our teams learn when to stop
- [In defense of the messy exploration](https://www.modernleader.is/p/in-defense-of-the-messy-exploration): The fastest path to a good plan sometimes runs through a bad draft
- [The backlog is finally getting its moment](https://www.modernleader.is/p/the-backlog-is-finally-getting-its-moment): Higher output and shorter review times are making a clean backlog non-negotiable
- [Your values are showing](https://www.modernleader.is/p/your-values-are-showing): Your personal values shape your leadership style, whether you realize it or not
- [The danger of being too useful](https://www.modernleader.is/p/the-danger-of-being-too-useful): Stepping in can solve the immediate problem, but it can also hide the reason the work was stuck in the first place
- [Finding the line between top-down and bottom-up decisions](https://www.modernleader.is/p/finding-the-line-between-top-down-and-bottom-up-decisions): On organizational design, team ownership, and deciding who gets to decide
- [The trap of being promoted from within](https://www.modernleader.is/p/the-trap-of-being-promoted-from-within): Getting promoted onto a team you already know feels like a head start, but it's also the easiest way to act on a picture you've only seen half of
- [The rise of the Forward Deployed Engineer](https://www.modernleader.is/p/the-rise-of-the-forward-deployed-engineer): It's not a new role, but it's making a big splash
- [The AI fluency gap between companies](https://www.modernleader.is/p/the-ai-fluency-gap-between-companies): What's normal at one company is still new at another, and that gap changes the bar for your job, your team, and your next interview
- [Manage your energy, not your time](https://www.modernleader.is/p/manage-your-energy-not-your-time): Your calendar isn't the bottleneck, your cognitive load is
- [I'm hosting a workshop on having tough conversations](https://www.modernleader.is/p/im-hosting-a-workshop-on-having-tough-conversations): I'd love for you to be there!
- [Resetting on engineering expectations in the age of AI](https://www.modernleader.is/p/resetting-on-engineering-expectations-in-the-age-of-ai): Like it or not, AI is an integral part of an engineer's work, and with that comes new expectations
- [Gaining the confidence to speak up when cross-team work isn’t working](https://www.modernleader.is/p/gaining-the-confidence-to-speak-up-when-cross-team-work-isn-t-working): When another team’s habits create drag on yours, staying quiet feels polite but slows down progress
- [If you can’t name the tradeoff, it’s not a real decision yet](https://www.modernleader.is/p/if-you-can-t-name-the-tradeoff-it-s-not-a-real-decision-yet): If you can't name what you're giving up, you're probably still avoiding the decision
- [Knowing when not to answer](https://www.modernleader.is/p/knowing-when-not-to-answer): Most leaders default to jumping in. Here's a three-question framework for deciding whether you should
- [When code stops being the bottleneck](https://www.modernleader.is/p/when-code-stops-being-the-bottleneck): AI is accelerating how fast we write code, and it's exposing where the real bottlenecks have been all along
- [How to prepare for a skip-level meeting](https://www.modernleader.is/p/how-to-prepare-for-a-skip-level-meeting): They can feel weird and unproductive if you don't know what to talk about. Here's what actually makes them useful
- [Why peer relationships are the hardest to manage](https://www.modernleader.is/p/why-peer-relationships-are-the-hardest-to-manage): The context gap that makes working with peer EMs so hard
- [[All Access] Mastering tough conversations](https://www.modernleader.is/p/all-access-mastering-tough-conversations): All Access subscribers get free access to my Mastering Tough Conversations course this month
- [When "I'm just being direct" becomes an excuse](https://www.modernleader.is/p/authentic-jerk): The invisible gun gets dangerous when you refuse to holster it on principle
- [Not every opportunity is yours](https://www.modernleader.is/p/not-every-opportunity-is-yours): The hardest limit is stepping back from good ones and seeing the ones you've already said yes to through
- [Saying no to good ideas](https://www.modernleader.is/p/saying-no-to-good-ideas): The hardest no isn't to a bad idea. It's to a good one, and it's one of the most important choices you make
- [How I'm learning to delegate to AI as an engineering leader](https://www.modernleader.is/p/delegating-to-ai): We may know how to delegate to our team, but choosing when and how to delegate to AI takes some adjusting
- [[All Access] Managing performance](https://www.modernleader.is/p/all-access-managing-performance): How to identify and support the 5 types of performers on your team
- [What happens when AI replaces the parts of work people love?](https://www.modernleader.is/p/what-happens-when-ai-replaces-the-parts-of-work-people-love): We’re using AI to move faster. I’m not yet convinced we’re using it to work better.
- [Digging up the skeletons at a new company](https://www.modernleader.is/p/digging-up-the-skeletons-at-a-new-company): Every company has tradeoffs. Six months in is when you start deciding which skeletons matter the most
- [What your absence reveals about delegation](https://www.modernleader.is/p/what-your-absence-reveals-about-delegation): Time away is a stress test for your leadership system