Stake Taco
Services

How I work with engineering organizations.

Three engagement shapes. Each one can focus on whichever practice area is most useful for the leader or team involved.

Engagements

1:1 Executive Coaching

One leader

Private coaching for a senior engineering leader the company is investing in. Common situations:

  • A director taking on a larger scope
  • A senior manager being prepared for VP
  • A leader inherited through an acquisition

Two sessions a month, with async support · Three to six months

Cohort Programs

Six to twelve leaders

A layer of leadership at a similar level, developed in parallel. Group sessions, structured peer practice, and some individual coaching for each person.

One org, one level · Several months

In-house Workshops

One leadership team

A good first piece of work with a company, and sometimes the only piece a team needs.

  • Managing managersNew directors and senior managers
  • Leading through a reorg or acquisitionA leadership team in the middle of one
  • Briefing executivesManagers and directors who present upward
  • Developing the next layerDirectors building their bench

Half day · Up to twelve people · Remote or on-site

What we work on

Inside any engagement, the content falls into one of three practice areas. AI fluency runs through all of them: engineering leaders need to use these tools to coach their teams on them.

Leading at the Next Level

The bulk of my work: managing managers, and the loss of direct control that comes with it.

  • Where your time creates value at this level, and what to stop doing
  • Leading through reorgs, acquisitions, and divestitures
  • Org design: when to fight for scope, and when to give it up
  • Build platforms, not empires

Communication & Executive Presence

Being clear and credible with the people above you.

  • Status updates that get read
  • Architecture documents that move decisions forward
  • Briefing executives without watering down what you think
  • Managing up in a way that builds trust

Making the Leap to Management

Adjacent, and often part of it: the high-potential ICs and new managers your directors are betting on.

  • The shift from doing the work to multiplying through other people
  • Credibility with engineers who used to be peers
  • A promotion case that holds up in calibration

How an engagement runs

  1. A first conversation

    With the leader sponsoring the work, or directly with you. Pricing and shape come out of this call.

  2. Goals agreed three ways

    The leader, their manager, and I agree on what should be different by the end. Those goals are how we judge the engagement.

  3. The work

    Sessions built around the decisions in front of the leader that week.

  4. Check-ins with the sponsor

    At the midpoint and the end, we review progress against the goals with their manager.

  5. A close

    What changed, and what to keep working on after we stop.

What stays between us

Session content stays with the leader. Their manager hears goals and progress, with the leader in the room. I don't carry performance feedback in either direction. Cohort sponsors hear themes, never names.

Based
Seattle area, Pacific time
Sessions
Remote, over video
Workshops
Remote or on-site
Contracting
Contracts through Stake Taco LLC
Get in touch
For individuals

Working with me privately.

I take on a small number of individual clients outside of corporate engagements. Senior engineering leaders working privately on a transition, a hard decision, or the next move in their career. Same work, smaller roster by design.

Directors, managers of managers, or managers stepping into that job · Two sessions a month · Three to six months

Inquire about private coaching