Jean-Denis Grezè honed his engineering leadership chops as the former Director of Engineering at Dropbox before joining fintech startup Plaid as the Head of Engineering. But it's perhaps his brief stint as a lawyer that had the biggest impact on his tech management philosophy.

“Engineering and math can make you feel like there’s one right answer to everything. But the reality is in real-world engineering, there’s no right answer. There’s always a range of answers and they have tradeoffs. What’s really important is convincing other people to align behind one answer. That’s what I learned in law school,” he says.

Now at Plaid, Grezè abides by a pragmatism versus perfection approach. Here's why: “When I was younger, I really liked the idea of building a perfect system and engineering something really perfectly. And that’s nice in the world of computer science and engineering and in the abstract, but pragmatically, you’re at a company with a budget. And in that world, great engineering is about solving business problems faster and better than your competitors can — and that just boils down to pragmatism,” he says.

How to Build a Culture of Ownership, and Other Engineering Leadership Tips from Plaid & Dropbox

If you pull on any thread in Grezè's engineering leadership career, you'll see this pragmatic philosophy unspool over and over — from fostering a sense of ownership for each engineer (not just those with the most tenure), to why he prefers folks on his teams don't have titles. Today on the Review, Grezè gets tactical on how he approaches five of the biggest challenges engineering leaders face. Here's a preview of what he tackles:

• How to craft a bottoms-up culture of ownership from the top.
• How to motivate for tackling big problems at scale.
• How to balance company goals and employee goals.
• How to build a team with high humility and low egos.
• How to transition to becoming a manager-of-managers.

It's a must-read for technical leaders or those who are eyeing the engineering leadership track, but there's also plenty of pointers for motivating and empowering teams to take on big problems at scale, no matter the function.

Thanks, as always, for reading and sharing.

-The Review editors

Resources worth sharing: 

• For exclusive interviews with top product leaders as they unpack the biggest launches of their careers, register for UserLeap's weekly series "The Biggest Launch" — coming this February.
• Take control of your overwhelming calendar by aligning it with what matters most.
• 5 reminders for managers who need to step up how they deliver feedback.
• The hidden cost of "yes, but" in product investment decisions.
• One former founder unpacks what the science of stress tells us about peak performance.

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