
Latest
-
New study suggests major productivity boost when using Cursor’s coding agent
Is this the massive productivity benefit we’ve been waiting for?
-
Why introverts get overlooked (and what to do about it)
Introverts have natural abilities that can make them the strongest leaders, but getting the visibility on these skills is the key.
Editor’s picks
What is a staff engineer? Technical leaders who aren’t managers
Staff engineers are technical leaders who have deep domain knowledge, walking the line between tech and the business.

Deadline: January 4, 2026
Call for Proposals for London 2026 is open!
Essential reading
On our StaffPlus playlist
How to master the four Staff archetypes and elevate your impact
While the specifics of the job can vary widely, Will Larson has famously categorized the Staff+ experience into four archetypes: Tech Lead, Architect, Solver, and the Right Hand.
Understanding the role as a Staff engineer
How to define, develop and deliver in your role on the technical track.
How to balance technical direction and leadership work
But as is often the case in business, priorities constantly shift and where you focus your efforts will too. So how do you strike the right balance between working on the technical direction of the business and those tasks that require you to put your leadership hat on?
Start with an exit in mind: How to be effective by being selfish as a staff engineer
Staff engineers often get overwhelmed by long-term ownership of critical projects. This talk explores how to avoid burnout by starting every project with an exit strategy—whether transferring ownership, pausing or bootstrapping a team.
More for Staff engineers
-
AI-first hiring is everywhere and it’s not slowing down
Engineers might start being penalized for not using AI in technical interviews.
-
Why untested AI-generated code is a crisis waiting to happen
Here’s why the sector should embrace the principle of more haste, less speed.
-
MCP and the future of AI tools
What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and how does it simplify data access, enhance AI reliability, and accelerate development?
-
How AI will change software engineering
No one can agree how AI will change software engineering. Here’s how to prepare anyway.
-
7 principles for balancing agility and durability
Engineering is a game of trade-offs – move fast and break things, or build slow and last forever? Know when to do which.
-
Be the best ally to your business development team
As a staff+ engineer, being the bridge between engineering and the business development team isn’t always straightforward.
-
The 6 warning signs of overengineering
How to look for the signs of overengineering in software, why it happens, and how to prevent unnecessary complexity to build maintainable systems.
Videos for Staff engineers
-
Growing pains: Scaling and re-architecting systems under fire
Explore how stakeholder buy-in can make or break your system re-architecture during high-pressure scaling challenges.
-
FORTRAN’s AI Playbook: Leadership lessons from history
Learn proven leadership strategies from FORTRAN’s history to successfully adopt AI, upskill teams, and drive lasting transformation at scale
-
From monitoring to mastery: Building an observability-driven culture
This talk explores how Phorest shifted to an observability-driven culture by aligning technical vision with customer pain, empowering teams through proactive ownership, and embedding observability into software practices to enhance customer trust.
-
Escaping the rewrite trap
Gain practical frameworks to assess rewrites vs. evolution, plan successful migrations, and align teams and stakeholders without losing momentum.
-
Technical Steering Groups: Balancing autonomy, technical alignment, and speed through strategic collaboration
Learn how technical steering groups drive technical alignment while fostering ownership – balancing autonomy and collaboration to fuel speed, innovation, and impactful decision-making across teams.
-
Becoming an AI Engineering company
Learn how to operationalize AI across your organization to drive innovation, improve efficiency, and stay ahead in a competitive market
-
The million dollar bug: Quality leadership lessons from costly failures
CrowdStrike lost $5.4B, Sonos stumbled into a $500M crisis – and they’re not alone. Learn battle-tested leadership strategies to protect your organization from quality catastrophes that can shake your business to its core.
-
Optimization of mobile development strategy for maximum business impact
Learn how to optimize mobile strategy—tech choices, team structure, and processes—for faster delivery, scalability, and measurable business results
-
Tracking repository health at scale
Discover how data-driven repository health tracking improves visibility, drives behavior change, and aligns engineering efforts with long-term business goals.
-
How Monzo tolerates full cloud outages
Learn how Monzo built a fully independent backup bank to ensure 24/7 reliability—even during full cloud outages
-
Becoming AI engineers
Discover how to build reliable, high-impact AI features—tools, patterns, and team practices that make AI integration truly transformative
-
Monolith-ifying perfectly good microservices
Learn why consolidating microservices into a Rails monolith boosted performance, reduced complexity, and helped Intercom scale more efficiently




