The Technical Leader’s Field Guide

Tactical systems, hard-won lessons, and real tools for modern engineering leadership

This is your practical guide to the messy, high-pressure world of technical delivery. It's built for engineers who lead, whether you're managing a team, owning a project, or navigating cross-functional chaos while still writing code.

Learn how to manage scope, guide architecture, align stakeholders, coach your team, and drive real outcomes - without burning out or becoming the bottleneck. Backed by two decades of field experience and full of reusable systems, this book shows you how to lead with clarity, consistency, and control.

Launching September 1st, 2025

Be the first to read it on launch day

About the Book

The Technical Leader's Field Guide is for engineers who've found themselves running delivery and wondering why no one told them how hard this would be.

Scope creep. Stakeholder chaos. Team burnout. Misaligned priorities. Constant rework. If you've ever led a project and thought, "Why does this feel harder than it should?", this book gives you the answer, and the tools to fix it.

You'll get systems for managing scope without becoming a blocker, strategies for defending architecture without sounding like a purist, and frameworks for leading your team without becoming a babysitter or a PM.

It's the book engineering leaders wish they had 3 roles ago — built from real delivery experience, and already being used to coach teams inside global organizations.

Be the first to read it when drops in September 2025

What’s Inside

The book is divided into four parts, each focused on a critical area of real-world technical leadership. Every chapter is designed to be immediately useful — with frameworks, checklists, and clear examples from the field.

Part 1: Leading the Work

Chapter 1: Mastering Scope Control
Chapter 2: Architecting for Reality
Chapter 3: Navigating Constraints and Trade-offs

Part 2: Leading the Team

Chapter 4: From Senior Contributor to Leader
Chapter 5: Operational Team Management
Chapter 6: Debugging Dysfunction
Chapter 7: Running Code and Architecture Reviews That Teach
Chapter 8: Metrics That Actually Matter

Part 3: Leading the Organization

Chapter 9: Building Trust with Clients and Stakeholders
Chapter 10: Defending Strategy Without Alienating People
Chapter 11: Revenue and Advocacy

Part 4: The Playbook

Chapter 12: The Scoping Conversation Guide
Chapter 13: The Architecture Review Framework
Chapter 14: The Client Communication Script Book

Get the Scope Starter Kit

This free toolkit includes the systems and scripts from Chapter 1 of The Technical Leader’s Field Guide — designed to help you define, defend, and deliver scope with clarity.

It's already being used by tech leads and delivery managers to avoid scope creep, align stakeholders, and say “yes, but...” with confidence.

What People Are Saying

“This is an excellent book. I wish I’d known this stuff when managing projects in my old IT career!”

About the Author

Michael Smith is a seasoned technical leader and solutions architect with more than 20 years in software — including over a decade spent leading delivery across large, fast-moving engineering teams.

He's worked inside Fortune 100 orgs and startup chaos alike — building systems, guiding architecture, putting out fires, and learning (sometimes the hard way) how to lead well under pressure. He's made the mistakes, asked the hard questions, and built the playbooks he wished he'd had years ago.

Michael believes that good leadership is built on clear thinking, repeatable systems, and the ability to scale without becoming the bottleneck. This book is the result of that belief, a tactical guide built from battle-tested experience.

Outside of work, he’s a dad, a Scouting volunteer, and a car guy.

Want More Tactical Leadership Advice?

I post regularly on LinkedIn about delivery, engineering leadership, and real-world execution. Follow me for frameworks, checklists, and candid lessons from the field.

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Get in Touch

Have a question, want to collaborate, or interested in having me on your podcast? Reach out, I’d love to hear from you.

Prefer email? Reach me at michael@technicalleadersguide.com