What Will Larson thinks about innovation
Engineering executive who has led infrastructure and engineering organisations at Stripe, Calm, Carta and Imprint, and previously at Uber and Digg. Author of "An Elegant Puzzle", "Staff Engineer", "The Engineering Executive’s Primer" and "Crafting Engineering Strategy". Writes about organisational design at lethain.com.
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2 dated positions, 2018, in their own words. Our reading of what Will Larson has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our reading · no longer heldInnovation should happen inside the existing teams rather than in a fresh team spun up for it, because a separate innovation team creates a two-tier class system.
Recalls holdingI’ve historically done this myself, but I’ve moved towards innovating within existing teams.
SaidThis requires very deliberate decision making and some bravery, but in exchange you’ll get higher morale, a culture of learning, and avoid creating a two-tiered class system of innovators and maintainers.
↗Sizing engineering teams.lethain.com 4th of 5 in this piece
- 4 weeks earlier
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Our readingInnovation tends to come from slack time away from firefighting, not from being fully utilized.
Their wordsIn this case, it’s to maintain enough slack in your team’s schedule that the team can build quality into their work, and operating continuously in innovation, and avoid backtracking.
↗Staying on the path to high performing teams.lethain.com 3rd of 6 in this piece