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Always be quitting
April 12, 2021 * About 4 minutes * Tags: opinion, twitter-thread
A good philosophy to live by at work is to "always be quitting". No,
don't be constantly thinking of leaving your job . But act as if you
might leave on short notice . Counterintuitively, this will make you
a better engineer and open up growth opportunities. A thread .
So what does it mean to always be quitting? It means "making yourself
replaceable"; "deprecating yourself"; "automating yourself out of
your job". You might have heard these more-popular names (which
you'll need to do your own research) and they hint at how to act.
The key lies in NOT being indispensable. If you are, you'll be stuck
at your specific job for as long as that job is relevant with little
chance to disconnect (no vacations, no growth). And when (not if) the
job becomes unnecessary, so will your position.
Paradoxically, by being disposable, you free yourself. You make it
easier for yourself to grow into a higher-level role and you make it
easier for yourself to change the projects you work on. Confused
still? Here are 10 specific things you can do:
1. Document your knowledge. Every time someone asks you a
question, they are highlighting a gap in the documentation. Take
the chance to write the answer down (in a document, bug, code
comment--wherever) so that the next person doesn't need YOU.
2. Document your long-term plans. People should know what's coming
up in your projects and/or team by looking at those plans, not by
relying on you to tell them "in real time". Plan a few months
ahead so, if you leave, your peers won't be lost from day one.
3. Document your meetings. Keep (public, within the team) notes
for all meetings you attend, listing who was there, what was
discussed, and any conclusions. Reference those notes from design
documents. Your replacement will need these to catch up.
4. [?] Bring others to meetings. If not a 1-on-1 and you are the
only person from your team attending a meeting, involve someone
else. Different perspectives are useful, but more importantly,
you are avoiding becoming the only point of contact.
5. Train people around you. The goal is for them to be
independent (what is usually considered "seniority" in a typical
engineering ladder). Familiarize them with the plans and
technologies and make sure they know how to use the
documentation.
6. Identify and train your replacement. In the same vein as
training others, to switch roles you'll need to replace yourself.
Identify who that replacement might be and actively and
continuously coach them.
7. Give power to the people. Trust them to do the right thing. If
you are in a leadership position, don't make it so people come to
you asking for permission. Let them make their own choices. Guide
them so that their choices are based on the right data.
8. Do not make yourself the point of contact. Establish mailing
lists or other forms of communication that can accommodate other
people, and then grow those groups. (The exception is when
management needs names for accountability.)
9. Delegate. Once you have given power to others, included them
in groups and meetings, and documented your knowledge, they'll be
ready to take work from you. Delegate work that can make them
grow and focus on the things only you can do.
10. Always be learning. Take the chance to grow your knowledge in
any area you are interested in, and keep it fun. Bonus points if
that area aligns with the future path you want to take.
Note that nothing here implies abdicating responsibility. You still
have to be responsible for all the projects and teams you own, and
you have to be for as long as you are in your role. This is important
because this responsibility is what will open up new gates.
Lastly note that, by doing all of the above, you are actively making
your whole team better, not just yourself, even if you are an IC. In
fact, you are practicing a subset of the skills sometimes associated
with staff/principal+ engineers.
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