From Hardware Hacker to CTO: Building Teams That Scale • Meri Williams & Charles Humble
Experienced CTO Meri Williams shares hard-won insights on scaling technology teams, moving from a reluctant manager to a seasoned leader. The discussion covers practical wisdom on avoiding the 'Google trap' of inappropriately copying big tech, the high-leverage impact of investing in onboarding, and the critical importance of diversity in building products that serve everyone.
The Journey to Management
Meri Williams began her career as a “hardware hacker,” building her first computer from broken parts and getting involved in South Africa’s first satellite project. A move to software and computer science led to an early career at Procter & Gamble (P&G), where the only path for advancement was into management. This transition was not a choice but a necessity for an ambitious engineer.
The initial experience was challenging, managing two direct reports who were older than her father. A key turning point came during a major technical issue; by understanding the implications of the problem, she earned their respect and collaboration. This early experience highlighted the challenges of management, a role she initially struggled with. A later-in-life diagnosis of being autistic and having ADHD provided context for these early struggles, explaining the difficulty in transitioning from a technical to a people-focused role.
Driven by a desire not to be a “bad manager,” Williams sought out research and books to learn the craft, laying the foundation for a career focused on creating environments where great work can happen.
A Philosophy of Modern Tech Leadership
Over two decades, the nature of technical leadership has fundamentally changed. It has shifted from a directive, authoritarian model—telling people what to do—to one focused on creating the conditions for success.
“You shouldn’t be telling people what to do and how to do it anyway. You should be enabling them to figure it out themselves.”
This modern approach requires leaders to be adaptable and capable of managing people from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, many of whom perform jobs the leader has never personally done. Key principles for creating a high-performing and happy environment include:
- Purpose, Autonomy, Mastery, and Inclusion: Drawing from Dan Pink’s Drive, Williams adds “inclusion” as a fourth critical component for team success.
- Focus on Strengths: Inspired by the book First, Break All the Rules, a central question is, “Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?” This shifts the focus from fixing weaknesses to leveraging individual “superpowers,” building teams by identifying and filling gaps in collective strengths.
- Leadership as Influence: Modern leadership is less about command and more about influence—helping people understand challenges and rallying them around a vision. It requires holding strong ideas loosely, being willing to change opinions based on new data.
- Commercial Acumen: Technologists can no longer operate in isolation from the business. A deep understanding of commercial realities is essential for making effective technical decisions and aligning technology strategy with organizational goals.
Navigating the Challenges of Scale
Scaling an organization introduces predictable inflection points, most notably around Dunbar’s number (100-150 people), where informal communication breaks down.
- Avoid the “Google Trap”: A common mistake for scaling companies is to copy the practices of tech giants like Google or Netflix. Williams strongly advises against this. Instead, organizations should seek advice from peers who are just 12-18 months ahead of them in their scaling journey. What works for a 100,000-person company is rarely relevant for a 300-person one.
- Continuous Evolution: Processes are not a “fix it and forget it” problem. As an organization grows, it will continuously hit new inflection points that require re-evaluation and adaptation of its processes and structures.
- Focus on the Real Problem: In a scale-up, it’s easy to get distracted by emulating the complex resilience or engineering practices of large corporations. The real focus should remain on the core mission: understanding users and achieving product-market fit.
Building and Maintaining a Strong Culture
An organization’s culture is not what’s written on posters; it’s defined by daily actions and the standards that are upheld.
- Values Should Be Verbs: To avoid bland corporate platitudes, values should be articulated as actions or behaviors, not standalone nouns. “Be kind and fair” is a much stronger instruction than “fairness and kindness.”
- Be Opinionated: Values should be specific enough to act as a filter, allowing potential hires to either opt-in with enthusiasm or recognize that the culture is not for them.
- Integrate Values Systemically: Culture must be integrated into all people processes, from hiring and onboarding to performance management. It’s crucial to hold everyone, including high-performing leaders, to the same cultural standards.
The Critical Role of Onboarding and DEI
Onboarding is one of the highest-leverage investments a scaling company can make. A well-structured onboarding process that gets new hires productive within their first week (ideally their first day) is invaluable. It shortens the time-to-impact and provides a much clearer signal of performance during the crucial probation period, reducing the risk and cost of a bad hire.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is not a secondary concern but a business imperative. To build great products for a diverse world, the teams building them must be representative of their users.
- Real-World Impact: Williams cites examples from Monzo, where the presence of trans engineers led to a more inclusive banking experience (never using a customer’s “dead name”), and an older engineer with children helped the team understand the value proposition of fixed-term savings accounts.
- Avoiding Anti-Patterns: A common failure is placing the burden of “fixing” DEI issues on the minority individuals within the organization. This creates a “second job” and leads to burnout. While consultation is key (“nothing about us without us”), the responsibility for change lies with the organization and its majority groups.
Personal Insights and the Future of Tech
Williams works a four-day week, an adjustment for a disability that has forced a deeper understanding of personal limits and productivity. She emphasizes the importance of “active restoration”—engaging in activities like video games, Lego, or scuba diving—rather than passive rest, which often fails to quiet a busy mind.
Looking forward, Williams is excited by two main trends:
- Greener, Cheaper Compute: While skeptical that current LLMs will lead to AGI, she believes the AI craze will drive significant long-term advancements in making computing more energy-efficient and affordable, which will be a net positive for the planet and the industry.
- Maturation of Management: The tech industry is getting better at management and leadership. The growth of communities and conferences like Lead Dev signifies a collective desire to move beyond the “accidental manager” trope and embrace leadership as a craft that can multiply the impact of entire teams.