Lead Lead and Not Lead Follow
summary
Zendesk scales SRE from scratch across 700 engineers supporting 145,000 customers and shows concrete practices: team built an upload/installation tool to let SaaS customers install plugins (deployed and still in use), an engineer pinpointed bad queries with new observability to add guardrails and prevent incidents, and a quarterly planning rhythm (five-week prep, three-section plan, cross-team alignment meetings) that turns context into prioritized work. Claims: empowerment boosts retention and faster, business-aligned delivery.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Introduction and background
- 1:25What is lead lead
- 4:17Team input on roadmap
- 5:19Encouraging tough topics
- 6:22Informed decisions on how
- 8:57Leadership role in lead lead
- 12:56Providing context and communication
- 15:23Driving alignment internally
- 15:43Building team culture
- 21:19Planning and prioritization
- 25:41Benefits of lead lead culture
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