Learning is a lifelong journey—successful leaders know this and live by it. They remain open to new knowledge, feedback, and ideas, which keeps their skills fresh and constantly makes them even better leaders.
In this episode of Scaling Tech, we are excited to welcome back Allison McMillan, a Fractional VP of Engineering, leadership consultant, team coach, and facilitator, to discuss this vital topic that resonates across all industries. With over 25 years of experience in design and facilitation for a wide range of gatherings—from meetings and strategy planning sessions to off-sites and conferences—Allison brings a wealth of knowledge. She has held leadership roles at QuotaPath, DEV, and GitHub and has worn many hats across various sectors as a community builder, managing director, and software engineer.
Allison and Arin address some key questions and dilemmas every leader faces, such as: How do you approach learning about a new topic? What strategies do you use to share that knowledge with your team? And how do you know when you’ve learned enough about a topic and it’s time to start implementing it?
Check out this episode of the Scaling Tech podcast for valuable tips about learning and skills development for leaders.
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Key Insights with links to jump ahead are below
About Guest:
Name: Allison McMillan
What she does: She’s a Fractional VP of Engineering & Leadership Consultant.
Company: Tavlin Consulting
Where to find Allison: LinkedIn
Key Insights
⚡Learning styles can change over time. Life is full of significant transitions, and individuals’ learning styles can shift during these times. It’s essential to recognize and respect this need for adjustment. As Allison says, “This is a little-known fact that I always, as a woman in tech with kids, I always like to sort of pop into any time that I’m talking about learning because it’s important for women to know, and it’s important for managers to know when folks are coming back from maternity leave. It could be that methods that worked in the past are not what work, and it might take that person a couple of weeks, a month or two to figure out what their new learning style is.”
⚡AI is an excellent tool for breaking down complex topics. In our daily tasks, the sheer volume of information can often feel overwhelming. This is where AI can be of great help, as it can simplify complex concepts and make them easier to manage. Allison shares how she uses it, “One of my favorite ways to use AI is when I am thinking about a concept, and I’m trying to sort of brush up on something; I will ask it to explain something to me like I’m five and then to explain it to me like I’m ten, and then to explain that to me like I’m 20, and then to explain it to me like I’m a seasoned and experienced professional. And honestly, that is the fastest way that I even just get sort of that initial primer because it’s interesting to see those sorts of developmental; what’s the simplest explanation, and then how does it get built on and built on and built on?”
⚡Applied knowledge is power. The ability to apply knowledge effectively and swiftly is crucial for success. Allison says, “I think that applying quickly is super important in the role. Now, you don’t want to just sort of blindly start applying, but it’s not that dissimilar to what is the smallest thing that we can ship that would have an impact for a client, and how quickly can we ship that MVP? It’s not that dissimilar for learning. What is the question being asked? And how quickly can I get to an answer that at least gets us a step forward in the process, a step forward towards the goal, or the reason why the question is being answered? And how can I very quickly recognize how much time I will need in order to be able to fully answer the question?”
Episode Highlights
A growth mindset is essential for tech leaders.
In any leadership role, especially in the tech industry, a growth mindset is key to success. This mindset empowers leaders to stay agile, take on ambitious challenges, and continuously develop both their own and their team’s potential. Allison explains,
“For me, and this is both for myself and actually anyone that I hire when people say, ‘What are the key things that you hire for?’ Somebody that has a growth mindset. I think especially in engineering and software development and tech in general, there are a few things that are happening. First, tools are changing all the time. You constantly have to keep up. You have to know what’s happening in the industry. And you have to know how to best utilize yourself and your time and your abilities and your team’s time and abilities so there’s just a lot to keep up with all the time. And then, as an engineering leader, we are constantly put in new challenges and new situations and ‘Hey, is it possible to do this?’ And the answer is always, ‘I’m sure it is. Let me see and figure out what that actually looks like.’ Because everything is possible. The question is, how is it possible? What does it look like? What does it cost? Those sorts of aspects.”
Good leaders are savvy and resourceful.
The world is changing faster than we would like it to, bringing on new challenges and demands. To keep up with this rapid pace, especially in the tech industry, leaders should be adaptable and leverage their best resources. Allison explains,
“My favorite way to learn as a leader is to dig in and start doing things again. Again, it’s growth mindset of like, ‘Okay, how do I figure out how to learn this thing?’ I think these days, it’s a mix of using AI to ask some of the questions that I want to or need to ask. I’ve also done a bit of sort of network mapping so that I know, again, I’ve been fortunate not just in the last year but throughout my career to work with really awesome people who are incredibly smart, much smarter than I am, and doing awesome things and so when a question comes up, that’s also sometimes, especially if it’s something that I’m way less familiar about, that I feel like is much further outside of my wheelhouse or comprehension I will sit down and think, who do I know who knows a lot about this topic?”
How to use AI in software engineering?
AI has emerged as an invaluable tool across many fields, including software engineering. However, its reliability may be limited in some tasks, so it’s essential to understand how to use it properly. Allison says, “I trust it less with code-related things like working on my own website. Sometimes, I’ll ask, ‘Can you put this into a flexible column, responsive column layout, or whatever?’ And then I’ll read through the code, and I’ll be like, ‘I don’t think that’s quite right. Can you try again?’ So I don’t trust it as much with code, but it is really good for trying to figure out what this function does or with why people choose whatever language. So, it is really good. As engineers, we get really good at googling things. And AI is like a better Google because you have to figure out the right thing to ask for but then once you ask for that thing, you can ask follow-up questions.”