Skill of a staff engineer

2 types of skills

1. Personal skills:

   • Conflict navigation
   • Engineering taste & judgement
   • Clarity in vision

2. People skills:

   • Multiply through others
   • Cross-functional co-creation

Self evaluation

1. Personal skills:

   • Conflict navigation (7/10)
   • Engineering taste & judgement (6/10)
   • Clarity in vision (10/10)

2. People skills:

   • Multiply through others (5/10)
   • Cross-functional co-creation (3/10)

I believe underlying these visible skills are these lagging skills

• Emotional management (2/10) - Oops 😢
• Speed of execution (6/10)
• Cross-functional communication
• Mentorship
• Intellectual horse power

Based on my goals in 2026, I need to improve these skills (in decreasing order of importance):

1. Multiply through others
2. Cross-functional co-creation
3. Engineering taste & judgement

To do these well, I need to work on:

• Cross-functional communication (writing, public speaking)
• Mentorship (mentor junior engineers)
• Intellectual horse power (solve puzzles, read books)
• Speed of execution (do more projects)
• Emotional management (meditation)

Reference

https://substack.com/@techworldwithmilan/p-166075988

— Jul 31, 2025