Nobody tells me what to do!

That’s not a declaration of what I want to happen. It’s not me saying “I’m not going to listen to you,” or anything even remotely similar. Nope. It’s just a statement of fact. It’s a description of what my PE career at Amazon feels like.

Let me explain…

My first day at Amazon, September 2016. It just started. Nobody said, do this, or do that. I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do, but I never really thought about that. Actually, it never crossed my mind. I just started doing.

At some point my manager did sit down with me and share a few long-term goals he wanted me to prioritize. But, that was it. He never told me how to do it. Didn’t tell me who to talk to about it, or what to do.

Fast forward to 2024. Still, to this day, nobody has ever told me what to do. It’s a wonderful way to work.

I later learned a nice term for this style of management: outcome based leadership. If you don’t have this, you need to go get it.

Why is this good?

Empowered, autonomous people are more productive, happier, and more committed. This kind of motivation is powerful.

I don’t have the data or studies to back this statement up. But, I’m very confident in it. And, it sounds reasonable, right? Would anyone dispute this? Does anyone enjoy being micromanaged?

A former colleague from my brief time at Zwift introduced me to a term that I found interesting: “ticket takers.” A ticket taker is someone who comes into work, looks at the next thing that some authority figure put on the work list, and then starts working on it. Repeat until you die. I won’t judge you if you prefer this work style; I think a few people might prefer it. However, I do not, and I find most people I know and work with also do not.

People want to have some say in their destiny. People thrive with autonomy.

That’s great for a PE, but what about me?

Yes, being able to operate this independently is probably table stakes, and thus expected at the Principal Engineer level. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t get it too.

I say, start out by aligning on outputs with your manager. That means something different for everyone. It’s something that can be measured so that you and your manager can agree on the completeness and quality of your work.

Now, the most important bit: make a deal with your manager. With outputs aligned, ask your manager to give you the space to go achieve your goals. Part of this is you asking your manager to hold you accountable. In other words, “hey, I’m gonna get this done for you on my own, but in return I ask you to hold me accountable on the outputs.”

With that in place, you need to go get your stuff done! The entire objective here is to earn your manager’s trust. Every time you deliver on time, high quality outputs in an independent fashion, you earn just a bit more trust with your manager. You become a “fire and forget” person for them, and ultimately you make their lives both easier and better.

So, make the deal, do the work, earn the trust, rinse and repeat.