Getting Buy-In

​

You’re a tech lead with an idea for a large project, one that would make your life easier. But to make it happen, you'll need help. The project requires additional developers and possibly some cross-team collaboration. That means getting it on the roadmap and securing resources. Whether this is your first proposal or not, there’s a clear path you can follow to get your project approved.

Start by clearly defining the problem. To build a strong case for your project, you need to explain not just what’s happening but why it matters. A solid problem statement highlights the impact on your team, the broader project, or even the organization. It often takes time and research to get this right, so don’t rush it. A clear problem leads naturally to a strong solution.

Find people who share the pain. Once you can clearly explain the problem, look for others who are affected by it. These might be fellow tech leads, your manager, a product manager, customer support agents, or anyone else who deals with the issue firsthand. The more people who agree the problem is real and worth solving, the stronger your case becomes. You'll also gain valuable insight and can continue refining your problem statement. Involving others builds momentum and strengthens your proposal.

Work together on a solution. Once others are aligned on the problem, start drafting your best idea for how to solve it. Share it with your collaborators and ask for feedback. Update your proposal and share again as needed. You can go through several rounds until you reach a general consensus. This isn’t a final plan; it’s a starting point. Expect that some details will change once the work begins.

Get leadership buy-in. Now it’s time to approach the decision-makers who can approve your project. Bring your clear problem statement and proposed solution, and walk them through the scope of the work and its potential impact. Be sure to highlight who you consulted, both to understand the problem and to shape the solution. Leaders want to see a strong return on investment, so clearly explain the cost of inaction and the benefits your project will deliver.

Implement the solution. Once your project is approved, the real work begins. Keep the collaboration going throughout implementation to make sure the solution is doing what it’s supposed to. Check in with your collaborators as you hit key milestones, gather their feedback, and adjust as needed. A solution only works if it actually solves the problem, and you’ll know it’s working when others agree it is.

Getting a big idea off the ground takes more than just technical vision. It requires clear communication, collaboration, and strategic thinking. By defining the problem, building support, shaping a solution with input from others, and making a strong case to leadership, you set your project up for success before a single line of code is written. The process may take time, but it builds alignment, earns trust, and increases your chances of delivering real impact. And as a tech lead, that’s exactly the kind of influence you want to have.

Key Takeaways

• Clearly defining the problem with evidence and impact sets a strong foundation for any project proposal.
• Building support by involving others affected by the problem creates momentum and valuable feedback.
• Presenting a well-researched solution and its benefits to leadership increases the chances of project approval and successful implementation.

Understanding JavaScript Promises I just updated my e-book, Understanding JavaScript Promises, for 2024! It now includes information about Promise.withResolvers() and a whole new chapter on using and creating abortable functions. Buy the E-book

Stuff I've Enjoyed this Month

📝 JavaScript's new super power: Explicit resource management by Rezvan Mahdavi Hezaveh
The most recently standardized feature in ECMA-262 is explicit resource management that allows you to indicate an object you're using inside a block. When the block exits, JavaScript calls a special method on the object to clean up resources.

🎬 Windsurf: An agent 10-20 steps head of you by AI Engineer
This video explains the approach Windsurf takes for AI-assisted coding. It's somewhat different than Cursor and GitHub Copilot, as it integrates the concept of a timeline to help anticipate the next logical step while coding. Very interesting watch.

📖 Debrief to Win by Robert "Cujo" Teschner
In tech, we're used to talking about retrospectives rather than debriefs, but the concept is the same. This book focuses on how to run debriefs like a fighter pilot (the author) to get the most out of looking back at what went right and what went wrong.

📝 The LNO Framework Explained by Shreyas Doshi by Timoté Geimer
The LNO framework is an approach for prioritizing tasks that centers around how much effort needs to be put into each task. Not all tasks are created equal and this article explains how to differentiate them to best spend your time.

🎬 What is a vector database? by IBM Technology
Understanding what a vector database is and how it works is central to understanding how LLMs work. This short video walks you through the basics.

📝 Build MCP tools like Ogres...with layers by Richard Moot
Having written two MCP servers so far, I was interested to come across this post that changed the way I thought about organizing tools. MCP server design is an evolving practice and this article is worth reading if you've ever written an MCP server.

🎬 How Notion handles 200 billion notes (without crashing) by Coding with Lewis
A nice overview of not just how Notion handles so many notes, but also how the architecture evolved over time to support new traffic as the company grew.

What I'm Working On

🏠 Real Estate: Thankfully, it appears my rental properties all made it through the harsh midwest winter without any real damage or HVAC trouble. No news is good news! Follow my Instagram for real estate photos.

💻 Freelancing: I'm doing some freelance coding these days (10-15 hours per week). I'd love to work on your JavaScript, open source, AI, or any other project you think I could help with. Reply to this email if you have something in mind.

💻 ESLint:

• I wrote up a retrospective of the v9.0.0 release. This was our first major release in nearly three years and was quite ambitious. In this post, I recount what went right, what went wrong, and what we learned.
• I continued refactoring the ESLint core to create a path towards asynchronous operations in our core rewrite.
• I fixed type-related bugs and added nested rule support in our fork of CSSTree.

Coaching for Tech Leads and Staff+ Engineers

If you're a tech lead or staff+ engineer, chances are your manager has no experience in your role. While they may be well-intentioned, they may not know how to help you grow in such a challenging position.

That's where working with me can help. As a former tech lead and principal engineer at multiple companies, I learned firsthand the ins and outs of these roles. I work with my clients one-on-one to develop their leadership, communication, organization, and problem-solving skills to succeed in the upper ranks of the individual contributor track.

​