About Phil
I'm a senior software engineering lead with over twenty years experience and a passion for helping teams get important shit done.
I swear more than I should, I'm too opinionated to be a good coach, and my mental state oscillates wildly between "Fast and Furious movie" frenzy and "Bill Evans jazz" tranquility.
Here's the thing: If your engineering team is stuck, broken, or underperforming---and you've tried everything else---I can fix it. I've turned around dozens of teams from disaster to delivery.
Got an engineering leadership challenge that's keeping you up at night? One that you just can't unpick no matter what you try?
My approach
Most leadership coaches will give you frameworks, acronyms, and a reading list. I start by listening to what's actually happening---the politics, the frustration, the unspoken tensions---and work from there.
I've been the engineer who hated their manager. I've been the manager who couldn't figure out why nobody listened. I've been the tech lead drowning in meetings while the codebase rotted.
That's why my coaching doesn't come from textbooks. It comes from having been in the trenches and learning what actually works when everything is on fire.
I focus on three things:
- Trust --- Without it, nothing else works. Every team problem I've ever seen has a trust problem hiding underneath it.
- Alignment --- Making sure everyone is picturing the same fish. Clear expectations eliminate 90% of conflict.
- Motivation --- Connecting what your team actually cares about to what the business needs. Not with pizza parties.
Why “Punk” Leadership?
Because punk was never about being the best musician. It was about having something to say and saying it anyway---even when nobody asked, even when it wasn't polished.
That's what good engineering leadership looks like. You don't need a perfect system. You need the courage to name the real problems, the honesty to admit when things aren't working, and the energy to do something about it.
I wrote a book about it. It's called Punk Leadership and it covers everything I've learned about leading engineering teams without losing your mind.
Let's talk about your engineering team
Book a free call. No fluff, no sales pitch---just a conversation about what's actually going wrong and how to fix it.