Topics discussed

• Transitioning from technical role to leadership
• Interviewing for technical positions
• How to not be a pointy-haired boss: trust people as adults
• Working with distributed teams

Questions asked

• 3:15 what got you into technology in the first place?
• 6:00 what was it about the commercial sector that attracted you?
• 6:55 what drew you to leadership?
• 20:33 is there anything else you think needs to be said about not to be a pointy-haired boss?
• 24:16 how did you have that difficult conversation of letting someone go?
• 27:10 do you enjoy leadership?
• 34:12 how was your experience moving to Australia from the US?

Quotable

• 0:50 “You don’t need to be a jerk to be successful”—Ted Tencza
• 7:42 “I wanna give it a go and if I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and I’ll move on from there”—Ted Tencza
• 7:54 “ As technical people, we are not supposed to good at leadership. So I wanted to do what people said couldn’t be done”—Ted Tencza
• 18:00 “Don’t tell people what to do, tell people what needs to be accomplished and let them surprise you on how they get there”—Ted Tencza
• 23:56 “If you let the underperformer continue, your good performer is gonna get tired of doing two jobs”—Ted Tencza
• 28:33 “I like the interviewing process, not for interviewing itself but trying to be good enough at it to only let the right people into the team”—Ted Tencza
• 43:29 “You’re judged not only on how well you do, but how well the people you train will do”—Ted Tencza