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Camille Fournier

What Camille Fournier thinks about management

@camille-fournier · 13 positions · 0 changes of mind

Engineering leader, formerly CTO of Rent the Runway and head of platform engineering at Two Sigma, and a longtime committer on Apache ZooKeeper. Author of "The Manager’s Path" and "Platform Engineering". Writes at Elided Branches about management, career ladders and the technical track.

Camille Fournier did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2017 to 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Camille Fournier has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingDefining what expertise looks like in a job family is not HR’s work, and a career ladder left to them will be wrong.

    Their wordsDon’t let (or make!) HR do all of the work. It’s really not their job to define expertise in your functions.

    ↗10 Years of Engineering Ladderselidedbranches.com 1st of 4 in this piece

  3. Our readingA career ladder must not be a checklist that guarantees promotion, because a promotion depends on the organisation’s needs as much as on the employee’s skills.

    Their wordsYou should not try to create a ladder that functions as a pure checklist or scorecard that guarantees promotion if people check enough boxes; promotions are as much about the needs of the organization as the skills of the employees.

    ↗10 Years of Engineering Ladderselidedbranches.com 2nd of 4 in this piece

  5. Our readingFlat, manager-free organisations do not deliver the equality they promise: they get abandoned, and the informal power left behind is unaccountable.

    Their wordsThe Tyranny of Structurelessness has yet to be overcome, and for those who still care about creating strong, transparent, equitable organizations, this work matters.

    ↗10 Years of Engineering Ladderselidedbranches.com 4th of 4 in this piece

  6. 4 years earlier

  7. Our readingEngineering and management cannot both be improved at once, so a new manager has to stop trying to be the senior engineer as well.

    Their wordsNew managers, make sure that you aren’t trying to be a senior engineer who has direct reports.

    ↗How New Managers Fail Individual Contributorselidedbranches.com 6th of 6 in this piece

  8. 4 years earlier

  9. Our readingThe test of whether someone is ready to manage managers is whether their peer managers would want to work for them.

    Their wordsUltimately, if you want to manage managers, a manager should want to work for you.

    ↗How do managers* get stuck?elidedbranches.com 2nd of 3 in this piece