The Multiplier Effect (Part 2 of 4)

Driving Collaboration Across Teams 🌐

One of the key skills every Staff Engineer must develop is facilitating collaboration across teams. In a growing organization, there is a constant influx of change, and some technical challenges are solved across multiple groups. This might create alignment issues and conflicting priorities. Staff Engineers step in to connect teams, keep workflows aligned, and maintain momentum, ensuring everyone is pulling in the same direction to ensure progress.

Why Collaboration is Crucial 🤝

As projects become larger and more interdependent, the risk of miscommunication, misaligned goals, or duplicated efforts grows exponentially. Without proactive coordination, teams might unknowingly impede each other or hinder their progress, undermining the overall goals of the organization. Collaboration, therefore, isn’t just about managing logistics — it’s fundamental to delivering cohesive results.

Staff Engineers play a pivotal role by:

• Proactively identifying new opportunities and helping define ambitious but achievable goals for engineering teams.
• Bridging communication gaps between technical and non-technical teams.
• Translating abstract goals into actionable plans for engineering teams.
• Identifying interdependencies and resolving potential conflicts early.
• Not waiting for opportunities to arise but rather creating them.

Consider a scenario from my own experience. I was once tasked with building a rewards system for a company’s credit card. This effort required close collaboration between various engineering teams, product management, and the leadership team. At first, each team operated in isolation, leading to inconsistent priorities and delays. One of the main goals was to facilitate collaboration.

Ensuring success 🛠️

To ensure success, I focused on creating alignment:

• Kickoff with clear agreements: I started by breaking down the problem for the group, and together we defined an MVP given the timeline we had. This early investment prevented the cascade of last-minute changes that could have derailed the project.
• Regular syncs: Weekly updates provided both an opportunity to share challenges and tangible progress. Within the engineering team, we used it to address technical blockers early on. One example was how I facilitated group discussions to define the API contract upfront.
• Stakeholder engagement: Beyond aligning engineering teams, I regularly updated stakeholders. This transparency ensured everyone — from product managers to executives — had visibility into the roadmap.

This intentional effort didn’t just deliver a successful project on time — it also fostered trust and established collaboration norms for future initiatives. This is the kind of organizational value Staff Engineers are uniquely positioned to create.

Strategies for Effective Cross-Team Efforts 🔄

To amplify impact through collaboration, consider these best practices:

• Start with clarity. Before tackling a project, spend time clarifying the scope, success criteria, and roles with all parties involved.
• Develop shared rituals. Regular check-ins, retrospectives, or RFC (Request for Comments) discussions can prevent misalignment.
• Be the translator. Help teams and stakeholders understand how their work contributes to the larger vision, bridging communication gaps along the way.
• Make it human. Building personal connections fosters trust and smooths over conflicts when challenges arise.
• Elevate people. Emphasize their strengths with encouraging words or through mentorship.

By investing in cross-team relationships, Staff Engineers not only solve today’s problems but also lay the groundwork for stronger long-term collaboration.

Leading High-Impact Projects 🎯

Beyond facilitating team alignment, Staff Engineers are entrusted with some of the organization’s most complex and visible challenges. These high-impact projects often come with ambiguity, pressure, and tight deadlines — making leadership, judgment, and technical excellence essential.

The Role of a Leader 👑

Unlike smaller feature projects, high-impact initiatives are rarely straightforward. They involve:

• Ambiguous objectives: Where the problem isn’t clearly defined upfront.
• Multiple stakeholders: Sometimes competing for priorities and resources.
• Technical complexity: Challenging the team to solve problems they’ve never encountered before.

Staff Engineers take ownership of these cross team challenges — not just executing the work but also shepherding the project from start to finish. This includes defining goals, engaging the right stakeholders, breaking down complexity, and ensuring timely delivery.

A Real-World Example 🚧

One of the most rewarding projects I led involved building out a proof of concept (PoC) to decommission several AWS Lambda functions for cost optimization and application rationalization. The lack of an existing roadmap made the project feel daunting at first. There were competing priorities, no clear starting point, and the technical solution was entirely undefined.

Here’s how I approached it:

• Clarified success metrics: I began by meeting with stakeholders to understand their needs and gain clarity on both the technical and business outcomes they were aiming for.
• Crafted a blueprint: With the success metrics in mind, I drafted an initial architectural plan and opened it for feedback. Collaborating with other engineers helped refine the approach and build early alignment.
• Distributed Ownership: For challenges requiring iteration, I delegated smaller components of the PoC to team members while mentoring them through the process. This ensured scalability and shared learning.
• Overcame Blockers: One key challenge emerged mid-project: We needed thorough testing to validate the PoC, but there was no easy way of comparing the new implementation with the Lambda functions. Rather than letting this extend the deadline, I invested time in documenting all current AWS functions. Based on that, we were able to define proper requirements.

Ultimately, the PoC proved successful, laying the foundation for a broader cloud migration. But the value went far beyond technical outcomes — this project helped foster a culture of curiosity and ownership across the team.

Principles for Leading Large-Scale Initiatives 🚀

Every high-impact project will bring its own set of challenges, but strong leadership tends to follow recurring principles:

• Start with clarity. Define success criteria early and ensure they’re measurable.
• Share ownership. Empower your teammates to contribute while offering guidance and mentorship when needed.
• Proactively communicate. Align stakeholders regularly to maintain shared expectations throughout the project.
• Adapt and unblock. Be ready to pivot and remove obstacles, ensuring the team remains focused and confident despite uncertainty.
• Lead by example. Always be willing to play any role needed to finish the goal.

By leading these types of projects successfully, Staff Engineers not only develop a reputation for reliability but also build confidence in others, showing that complex and ambiguous challenges are conquerable.

Multiplying Impact Through Collaboration and Leadership ✨

Staff Engineers aren’t just excellent problem-solvers - they’re multipliers, empowering those around them, and pave the way to success. By fostering cross-team collaboration and stepping up to lead high-impact projects, they demonstrate not just technical prowess but also strong communication, ownership, and leadership skills.

In part 3, we’ll explore how Staff Engineers drive long-term technical strategy, tackle high-complexity problems, and influence engineering decisions at a company-wide level. Stay tuned as we continue this journey toward making an outsized impact as a Staff Engineer.

Being a multiplier helps deliver great value to the company. What story can you share?

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Jernej Klancic

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