6:15 AM — The Early Inbox Scroll
I wake up before my alarm because, like most software engineering directors, my brain has been trained to “pre-boot” as soon as it senses daylight. I grab coffee and open my phone, not to check social media, but to scan Slack and email for overnight issues. Someone in Europe found a race condition, a customer escalated a bug, and our on-call engineer has already mitigated the incident. The best kind of emergency is the one that’s already been solved.
7:00 AM — Strategic Thinking in Sweatpants
Before the day begins in earnest, I spend a few minutes thinking about the bigger picture: Are we building the right things? Is the roadmap aligned with the company goals? What risks are lurking that might make Q3 a disaster? These quiet moments are rare and precious. I use them to adjust my mental chessboard before the meetings begin.
8:30 AM — First Meeting: Engineering Leadership Sync
We run through key metrics: deployment frequency, open bugs, team load, upcoming launches. I play traffic controller — making sure teams are not blocked, priorities are clear, and our culture is humming. Someone brings up tech debt. Someone else says “just one more sprint.” I nod knowingly.
9:30 AM — Design Review
We gather around a virtual whiteboard to discuss a new system architecture. I’m not the primary designer, but I’m there to ask the uncomfortable questions:
- “What happens when traffic spikes 10x?”
- “What’s the rollback plan?”
- “How hard will it be to onboard new engineers to this?”
I’m not trying to catch anyone out — I’m trying to help them build something future-proof. Leadership sometimes means being the person who sees around corners.
11:00 AM — One-on-One Conversations
This is my favorite part of the day. I meet with a staff engineer who’s navigating team dynamics. I mentor an engineering manager who wants to grow into a director role. I talk with a junior engineer who’s nervous about an upcoming presentation.
My job isn’t just about building software; it’s about building people — and helping them build themselves.
12:30 PM — Lunch (ish)
Lunch is often a hurried sandwich between meetings. Occasionally I have a “real” lunch with someone from product, design, or another department. These cross-functional lunches are gold: they help me understand what matters to them and where we might be misaligned.
2:00 PM — Roadmap Review with Product
This is where the negotiation happens. We balance customer demands, technical feasibility, and organizational capacity. Sometimes I say “yes.” Sometimes I say “not this quarter.” There’s an art to saying no in a way that still builds trust.
3:30 PM — A Surprise Fire
An incident in production. Not catastrophic, but enough to warrant attention. I jump into the incident channel, not to take over but to support. The team is calm. We’ve practiced for this. I make sure we’re thinking about communication and follow-up, not just the immediate fix.
4:30 PM — Recruiting & Hiring
We’re growing, and hiring is one of the highest leverage activities I can do. I review resumes, join interviews, and talk about culture. I’m looking for people who are not just technically strong, but kind, curious, and collaborative. Skills can be taught. Attitude is harder to build.
6:00 PM — Wrap-Up and Reflection
I scan Slack for anything I missed, check in with a few managers, and update my notes for tomorrow. I close the laptop and force myself to disconnect — not always easy, but necessary.
Later, I write down a few thoughts:
- Did I unblock enough people today?
- Did I help someone grow?
- Did I move the company closer to the vision?
If the answer is “mostly yes,” it was a good day.
Being a software engineering director is less about writing code and more about writing the story — of a team, a product, and a vision. Every day looks different, but the goal is the same: enable great people to build great things.
And yes, I still code sometimes. Mostly to remind myself how hard it is.
If you’re curious about leadership in engineering or want more behind-the-scenes stories, feel free to reach out. I love sharing what I’ve learned — and what I’m still figuring out.