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writing about Culture in Tech | Mentor | CTO | Dad 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Be honest now. The world of work in tech-land looks a little more difficult than the positive world we perceive on social media.

I talk about my experiences, my mistakes and what I've learnt the hard way here on LinkedIn in videos and posts. 

You can benefit and learn from it. 

I'm Adrian Stanek, I've been in the field for 24 years and have been an independent CTO for more than a year.

If you want ownership in your team, stop talking about it and change how you ship.

Most leaders say they want “more ownership” and “senior behaviour” – and then run a release process that requires three approvals, a hero deployment and a bit of hope every month. 

That’s not a tooling problem, that’s a leadership choice – or the absence of it?

Continuous Delivery is, in my opinion, one of the most honest leadership practices we have in tech.

It forces you to show whether you really trust your team, your process and yourself, or whether you’re still hiding risk at the end of the quarter.

👉 Nothing forges a mature team as good as staying in motion together as a unit working together on a mission by a vision.

This morning’s article is about CD as a leadership and self-leadership discipline: credibility, role model, vision, challenge.

... and the courage to keep it boring and ship small batches every day.

If you’re a Tech Lead, Staff, or CTO and you feel your team is stuck in “we’ll release when it’s ready” mode, this one is for you.

—Adrian

Adrian Stanek

Stoic Tech Leadership for Tech Leads & CTOs | Clarity, courage & coaching skills under pressure | Worth Following Podcast & The Stoic Leader Blog

View newsletter: Adrian Stanek | Tech Mentor

Why CD is a great practice for high-performing teams and daily improvement. If you want ownership and maturity in your team, stop talking about it and

Open article: Continuous Delivery: The Leader’s Choice by Adrian Stanek • 8 min read

Continuous Delivery: The Leader’s Choice

“We won’t work like this anymore.”

This is what we should say more often.
As an individual and as a team.

Why is that so common, not to do this?
Insecurity, indifference, or maybe fear?

A bit of everything, as long as we aren't confident as #developers. 

Confidence stems from self-worth and the credibility you know you have.

For example, in Continuous Delivery (CD), we aim to be confident in deploying regularly. We can do that because we are convinced that the deployment will very, very likely go live without issues. And if we face a problem, we will discover it early and fix it quickly. We can do that.

That was a practical example, but how do we translate that confidence as a team of developers into confidence towards people who want to control us via JIRA tickets? Towards people who simply see devs as a department, a feature factory.

It always starts and depends on the credibility. We need to speak up, of course, but the possible result of a bottom-up change heavily depends on how other people see us as individuals or teams.

𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲?
Are we living up to the standards we tell everybody?
How do we act and react in case of issues we have caused?
Are we joining the blame games quickly, or can we stay calm and professional?

In recent years I worked with a lot of developer teams and most of these teams lacked solid credibility. Most of them knew their craft, but were lacking the necessary self-leadership skills to actually perform outside of their IDE and Pull Requests well as humans; as team players in the bigger picture of the company.

Which was often the case, higher tech leads or business people told me behind the curtain things like:
"It's always like that."
"I can't rely on them."
"You always need to shepherd them; you cannot look away if you want to have it done right"

Well, in most, if not all, cases, it wasn't fair and ok to say that, because the leadership wasn't really one either. 


𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗱𝗮𝘆.

The point is, you need to be able to communicate clearly what you think is best for the process and the higher good of the company. For that, you need to work constantly on your credibility, because otherwise, no one will listen to your words. 

And the more often you do that, the more credible you become. Why?
Because you show that you care and that you want to protect the company, the product, and the process.

It is still possible that the "other side" is rigid and doesn't care after all, but that is rare, and if you work on yourself, you have done something for yourself, for your direct team.

And if this doesn't help you in this company, it will in the next one.

It always starts with you.
You define who you want to be.
You shape who you will become.

"𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘳."
𝘈 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘤 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘈𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘶𝘴

—Adrian

“𝘐𝘧 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥?”
 
This sentence from Dr. Alexander Madaus hit when we recorded this episode.
Most leaders demand discipline, focus, and performance from their teams:
 
𝘉𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

 𝗔𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆:
• don’t train their mind
• don’t protect their sleep
• don’t take care of their body
• don’t hold themselves to the same standard

 
Yes, you can be a “good enough” leader while being 20, 30, or 40 kilos overweight and living undisciplined. But you would be a 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 leader if you lived the discipline you expect from others.
  
Leadership is not a speech; it’s a lifestyle.
As Alexander calls it: the 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦-𝘪𝘵-𝘢𝘭𝘭 lifestyle – growth instead of slow decay.

Watch this short clip and ask yourself
👉 Where am I asking for discipline from others that I’m not living myself?
 
—Adrian

Most “alpha” leaders are not leaders.
 
They are just the loudest managers in the room.

You can push people with a title and pressure for a while, but you cannot hide a straightforward question forever:
 
❓𝗔𝗺 𝗜 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗼𝗿 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲?
  
Before you look for the next leadership framework, course, or CTO playbook, ask yourself:
 
• Do people trust my 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, or just my authority?
• Do I live as a 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹, or do I treat myself as the exception to every rule?
• Do I give a clear 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, or do I only move tickets and OKRs around?
• Do I create a 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 that grows people, or only stress that burns them out?

If one of these pillars is weak, no “system” will fix your leadership.
 
It starts with how you shape yourself, how you keep your baseline, how you turn habits into virtues.

That is exactly what I work on with my mentoring clients, and it is what this week’s Mentor’s Session is about: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟰 𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽, 𝗮 𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴.

If you feel that tension between who you are today and the leader you want to be, watch the session and sit with these questions for a while.

I personally use this little framework daily, both in leadership and in self-leadership. 
I am surprised how often I lose it, and these simple aspects are pulling me back to my baseline.

—Adrian

♻️ Sharing is caring; If you find this helpful, please repost it.

--
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘞𝘦𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 4 𝘗𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱.

When things break, your real leadership shows up.
Not in the values slide, not in the retro, in that exact messy moment.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀:
Do you own mistakes or start blaming?
Do you bring calm structure or add to the chaos?
Do you stay present with them or disappear into “important meetings”?

👉 𝗕𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱:
In the last really stressful moment … Would you want your whole team to copy your behaviour for the next five years?

If the answer is “mh… not really”, that’s not a shame moment – that’s your starting point.

In today’s mentoring article, I walk through my 𝟰 𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽:
• Credibility
• Role Model
• Vision
• Challenge
           
It’s a small framework I use myself to check 𝘩𝘰𝘸 I show up in exactly those situations.
 
If you want to learn and apply it, read the article (link in the comments) or DM me “4 Pillars” and I’ll send it to you.

—Adrian

Most dev teams don’t have a “testing” problem.
They have a 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 problem.

In mentoring sessions I see the same pattern:
Developers ship features, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 someone says “we should add tests” or “QA will catch it”.

That’s not quality. That’s 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.

𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: a freelancer once told me in a call that he assigns his PRs only to colleagues who are on vacation,
so the review won’t come back and the ticket won’t bother him for a while.
That’s the exact opposite of ownership. 
𝘈 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘷 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.


𝗧𝗗𝗗 𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆:

• You design behaviour 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 you write code
• You prove it works as you build
• You keep ownership of quality in the team, not in a separate QA department
• In combination with Continuous Delievery it leads to a mature dev culture

👉 A hand-off is always a hand-off of responsibility.
The more you rely on “someone later” to catch issues, the less your team truly owns what it ships.

As a Tech Lead / EM, your job is to make this non-negotiable:

“We write tests 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 we code. That’s how we work here.”

--

I’m Adrian Stanek – I used to talk about tools & practises as snackableCTO,
now I mentor Tech Leads to build teams where maturity & ownershiop aren't just words on the floor wall,
and quality is a developer habit, not a post-processing step.


👉 Fellow devs:
What is your idea of testing? 
Do you prefer TDD? 
How do you cultivate maturity.

As a leader, you need to be able to be in the storm and still operate.
 
Not hiding in a safe corner.
Not “recharging” far away from where things actually happen.

As Stoics, as leaders, we are supposed to live where the action is – where we can be harmed, where the stress is, where decisions really matter. That’s why I use the metaphor of 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘃𝘀. 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹.
 
A fortress is not a hideout in the mountains.
 
It’s a 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲.
 
You are on the front line, fully exposed to reality – but you have structure inside yourself that lets you stay calm, think clearly, and act with intent.
 
The walls of that fortress are your own strength: your ability to distinguish between what you can control and what you cannot; your willingness to challenge yourself and let others challenge you; your discipline to stay present when emotions and pressure hit you from all sides. You still see those emotions right in front of your walls, but they don’t dictate your next move.

The 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹 is the opposite.
 
It’s where you retreat so you don’t have to be challenged. You avoid hard conversations, real risk, and honest feedback. You protect your ego instead of the mission. You might look busy, but you’re no longer leading – you’re just surviving.
 
You can’t build 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 if you always run when it gets hard.
You can’t be a 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 if what you model is escape.
You can’t lead people toward a 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 if every storm blows you off course.
 
Leadership means staying at the front when everyone else wants to step back; holding your position so others can hold theirs; helping people build their own inner fortresses instead of joining them in their cells.

Become worth following and be the light until others can be the same, and no leaders are necessary anymore.
 
So the question for you and me is simple:
Are we confident leading at the front?
Are we an example, or do we lie to ourselves and others?

Keep asking yourself these questions, because they never become irrelevant.

—Adrian

Why every leader needs a Mirror Book – And why To-do lists fail.

Most leaders & tech leads don’t fail because they’re unskilled.
They fail because their 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗷𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮 before they even start.

One call.
One “urgent” request.
One fire.
One bug.

And suddenly you’re living someone else’s priorities instead of your own.

For years, I’ve used a simple tool to prevent that:
a small notebook and five quiet minutes every morning.

Not to “be productive.”
But to be 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁.

I write down:

• 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺
• The 𝟭–𝟯 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 that truly matter
• The commitments I cannot break
• And in the evening, what I can honestly 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁

It’s not a diary.
It’s a 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿.
A daily check: am I drifting… or becoming who I said I wanted to be?

Most leaders I mentor struggle with this exact issue.
They know what matters — but noise wins.

Journaling, done right, gives you your clarity back.

Your agenda.
Your identity.

Tomorrow in my mentoring session, I’ll share the whole structure of the Self-Mirror Book – the method I teach to CTOs, founders, and tech leads to stay focused and grounded.

If your days often run you instead of the other way around…
This will help.

— Adrian

6 weeks left.
I bet 2026 still looks exactly like this year for most leaders.

We love the January fairytale: 
“Next year I’ll really lead, not just react. After the break, everything will change.”

But that’s not how it works. Homeostasis kicks in, your org returns to its baseline, and by week 3, you’re back in the same meetings, with the same excuses, fighting the same fires.

If you want 2026 to be different, you have to end 2025 differently.

"So let it be written; so let it be done:"

Write down the following and keep it where you see it every day:

1️⃣ What I will change in myself before the year ends.
2️⃣ What I will change in how my team works before the year ends.
3️⃣ How we will notice in January that this change is real.
❓ And if I don’t do it: what is the consequence for me and my team?

Then share it with your team on Monday and hold them accountable.


In short, you need to manifest a deliberate intention as a leader.
You need these questions in your mind every day:

- Who am I?
- What is my purpose?
- What is my goal?

Treat them as daily hypotheses and look for answers in the evening.



"You are both the marble and the sculptor"
Stoic Principle.

👉 Now read the article and decide who you want to be in 2026.

Be honest for a second: are you already lying to yourself about 2026 again? Telling yourself the same old story, making big promises you’ll “definitel

Open article: It’s November; are you prepared for 2026? by Adrian Stanek • 6 min read

It’s November; are you prepared for 2026?

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