Set Direction Your Team Will Follow
- Shawn West
- Jul 30
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 6
Engineering Leadership · Part 5
Without a direction, a team ships whatever's loudest that week — a scattering of features that individually make sense and collectively go nowhere. Direction is what lets people say no to good ideas in service of the right ones. This walks through setting team direction that actually steers: a vision people can repeat, quarterly goals the daily work connects to, and the discipline of a roadmap that's a set of choices rather than a wish list.
Without direction, teams ship random features. With direction, every PR contributes to something. Big difference.
Step 1: The Vision (10 min)
A single sentence:
"This team enables marketers to launch campaigns 10x faster."
Not:
"Build cool things in the marketing space."
Specific. Quantified where possible. Aspirational but real.
Repeat it in standups, all-hands, 1:1s. People forget. Repeat.
Step 2: Quarterly Goals (15 min)
3-5 goals per quarter:
Q3 2027:
1. Ship campaign templates (reduces new-campaign time 50%)
2. Launch the editor preview (P0 customer ask)
3. Cut p99 latency on /campaigns to <500ms
4. Onboard 2 new engineers
Each goal:
Specific
Measurable
Tied to the vision
Don't have 15 goals. 3-5 forces prioritization.
Step 3: Connect Work to Goals (5 min)
For every ticket / PR / project:
"Which goal does this serve?"
If the answer is "none" — why are we doing it?
Sometimes the answer is "tech debt" or "maintenance" — fine; reserve capacity for that. But it should be intentional.
Step 4: Weekly Priorities (10 min)
Each Monday:
What's the most important thing this week?
What's blocked? Who can unblock?
What's coming up that needs preparation?
Brief team sync. 15-30 minutes max.
Quarterly goals are the marathon. Weekly priorities are the steps.
Step 5: Saying No (15 min)
Requests come in:
"Can your team build X?"
"We need help with Y this sprint"
"Quick favor: Z"
Default: politely no.
"That's interesting; how does it fit Q3 goals? If it's higher
priority than [current commitment], I can swap. Otherwise: backlog."
Saying yes to everything starves the goals. Saying no protects focus.
The team needs you to be the shield.
Step 6: Roadmap, Not Wish List (10 min)
A real roadmap:
Q3:
- Templates (ships Aug 15)
- Editor preview (Sept 1)
- Latency work (continuous)
Q4:
- Multi-channel campaigns
- A/B test framework
H1 2028:
- TBD; depends on Q4 learnings
Specific near-term. Loose long-term. Honest.
A "wish list" roadmap with everything in Q1 = lying to yourself.
Step 7: Talk About Trade-offs (10 min)
To stakeholders:
"We can ship A or B in Q3 but not both. Which matters more?"
Force the trade-off conversation. Don't quietly drop one.
When stakeholders say "both" — push back with concrete capacity:
"To do both, we'd need to drop X. Is that OK?"
Step 8: Update on Drift (5 min)
Mid-quarter: goal at 30% with a month left.
Options:
Push harder (often unrealistic)
Cut scope
Slip; communicate
Have the conversation with stakeholders. Don't surprise them at the deadline.
Step 9: Quarter-End Review (10 min)
End of quarter:
What did we ship?
What did we miss? Why?
What did we learn?
What's next quarter look like?
Honest. Share widely.
This is where vision compounds. Each quarter you set up the next one better.
Step 10: Adjust the Vision (5 min)
Annually: zoom out.
Is the vision still right? Has the business shifted? Have we accomplished it?
A team that achieved its vision needs a new one. Don't drift.
What You Just Did
Direction: vision, goals, work-to-goals, weekly, saying no, roadmap, trade-offs, drift, retro, vision review. Direction set; team aligned.
Common Failure Modes
No vision. Random feature work; nobody knows why.
15 quarterly goals. Everything is a priority = nothing is.
Say yes to everything. Goals miss; team burns out.
Roadmap as wish list. Stakeholders believe; disappointed.
Quarterly retro skipped. Repeat mistakes; no learning.
Continue the Engineering Leadership path
Previous — Part 4: Make Technical Decisions
Part of the Engineering Leadership learning path.
