Back in mid-October I closed my Macmillan laptop (my MacTop, if you will) for the final time, leaving my role as Director of Engineering. I left behind the Engineering division I had created and some excellent and passionate people - not an easy decision and I'm still working through how I feel about everything, including the wider Tech industry. This is one reason it has taken so long to write this reflection.
I was at Macmillan for nearly three years. When I started, the organisation had some in-house technical capability but the people were scattered around working under project managers on systems that were badly in need of modernisation. I can write lots about how we created technical strategy, developed a software engineering culture and community and brought in greater automation, and all of this would be true, but the most important work was bringing the software engineers together and giving them a voice. The most important work is always with the people.
Over these three years I've seen many people grow into new versions of themselves by giving them space and encouragement. Some have embraced the wider context of their roles - looking beyond the specific technical problem to why it's important and realising they have a voice in this space, which can result in better solutions. Some have taken better ownership of their work, owning processes rather than simply implementing them and then flourishing as they realise they can improve and refine. Others have been able to express the needs of a previously ignored service - very common with infrastructure elements - and deal with issues and annoyances to move those areas forward. Still others have taken on line management or team leadership duties and started their journey into wider leadership activities.
I've spent the last eight years or so of my career trying to show the value of technical voices at all levels in an organisation, so having the opportunity to demonstrate this in action while enabling lots of people to grow and flourish has been great.
On a personal level, I've also grown a lot in these three years. I've learned a ton about being part of a director cohort in an organisation, and this is the first time I've worked in the charity sector. I was also recognised at an industry event as part of a group of up and coming "next CIO"s which is not only fantastic for the ego, it's also something I wouldn't have even considered a couple of years earlier. I've experienced several forms of restructure, all of which have taught me something new, and I've been responsible for shifting organisation culture in ways that go far beyond what I've done in the past.
I've also worked with some amazing people who have helped shaped my thinking and career in hugely significant ways. I'm not going to name names, but if you think it's you you're probably right. If I worked closely with you and you DON'T think it's you, you're probably wrong. In both cases, thank you.
So why leave? Primarily, the organisation needs to crack some really knotty legacy technology issues. I've been working on these since day one, and I believe I've built foundations on which solutions can now surface. However this has been a long journey, including migrating physical server rooms and a load of hiring and restructuring, and I did not feel I was the right person to take things forward in the next phase. The org needs someone fresh and enthusiastic for the challenge and after working on this for three years, I need a new problem to re-motivate me.
However, I am still sad to leave behind some excellent people - some of whom I've helped make serious changes to their careers. I'm going to miss them, and I hope I can work with them again. I've been part of a huge change in Macmillan technology, and this is something for which I can feel some pride. A friend says that a mark of success is leaving the place better than you found it, and I think by that metric I've done ok.
Looking forward, I'm enjoying some time away from work and considering my options. Reading back my Leaving GDS post was an interesting insight - at the time, I said "I'll likely jump into another maelstrom of "interesting problems"" and this proved to be rather prophetic. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to containing work and maintaining balance with the rest of life so I'm going to embrace this break as another opportunity to reset myself. Certainly, I'm currently enjoying the freedom to work on my health and fitness and learn some new skills. I've been making candles and writing lots of code, as well as starting to write again - all things I've been too tired to do while in role. I really want to find the not-work person underneath and bring them out enough to do a better job surviving the next job.
I'm considering my next professional steps carefully, especially how much Data I want to be taking on going forward. Do I want to push in the direction of a Chief Data Officer role? Do I want to stay very much in the core technology space? Regardless the answer, this is certainly something to look at in any job spec to avoid adopting data through the back door into a software engineering role, which I feel will set up a role for disaster. The tech industry is going through another seismic shift - we are in the early stages of the AI revolution, with everyone racing to "do data and AI". There is a huge software engineering component to this, but it goes a lot wider into organisational process and culture, and this work needs clear air and appropriate reach to have any chance of success without being overloaded. Fortunately, culture and technology is an intersection I have a lot of experience working on so there is certainly also potential here.
Before jumping anywhere, I need to revisit my own motivators and see what I actually want to be doing. Macmillan has been amazing experience, but I want to build on this, not just do it again somewhere else without some serious thought first. Last time I wrote one of these posts I said I was keen to continue promoting technical leadership and I feel the same way now, but I need to decide how.
In the meantime, if anyone would like to talk about the tech industry, data, growing your software engineering capability, people or anything else please do give me a shout in the new year - I'm easy to contact on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Right now, I'm enjoying the peace in that strange time between Christmas and New Year when the world is on pause and nobody expects anything of you.
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