For the first time in over a decade, I have a new job.
Founders who are lucky enough to find success will also inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of The Peter Principle: elevated into a role that’s beyond their abilities. Few have awareness that they’re in over their heads. Fewer still feel safe admitting it to themselves, much less to their colleagues. And I can count on one hand (really, two fingers) the number of founders I’ve met who successfully transitioned out of leadership without having to exit the company they founded.
So it is with heartfelt gratitude for the support of my co-founder Todd and our management team that I can announce: I’m no longer serving in an operational leadership capacity at Test Double.
So, what am I doing instead?
I’m going back to the sorts of things I was doing around the time we started Test Double: striving to build high-quality software with an exacting attention to detail, listening for insights that might resonate with like-minded programmers, and sharing what I learn in the hope of inspiring others to approach their own practice in new and fruitful ways.
If you’ve ever read my writing, seen me perform a conference talk, or used one of my open source tools, then you have an idea of what to look forward to. I’ll be supporting Cathy in Test Double’s efforts to break through the noise of an industry that reflexively favors quick fixes over hard truths. Hard truths that—when embraced by skilled, trusting teams—can be relied on to build great software that stands the test of time.
Speaking of time, I can’t imagine a better time to start this work than right now.
Surviving six rounds of layoffs in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis forged my approach to building software in profound ways. That experience has been on my mind as many programmers are now witnessing the first economic slowdown of their careers. And whether you’ve been directly impacted by recent layoffs, hiring freezes, or budget cuts, one thing is certain: it’s been an awfully long time since we’ve been under this much scrutiny as software developers.
There are plenty of actors and structural forces that deserve blame for the current downturn, but that analysis is now mercifully above my pay grade. Instead, I propose shifting our focus to something that will have a more productive impact: deepening our expertise as practitioners. Why? Because after a decade of rewarding big talk, standing out in the current market will demand great work.
I’ve spent my entire career honing techniques to maximize the return on investment businesses see from software. During the last downturn, I was fortunate to have colleagues and mentors who equipped me with what I needed to navigate that environment. They imparted a bedrock foundation of principles, heuristics, and skills designed to produce software that delivers more value than it costs to create and maintain. And in my new role, I have nothing more important than to share everything I’ve learned with you.
If you’re interested in joining me on this journey, consider signing up for our newsletter and subscribing to our YouTube channel.
[00:00] It's a new year, everyone.
[00:01] And you know what that means.
[00:03] Resolutions we'll struggle to keep until it's time to try again next year.
[00:07] Stressing over whether we've received all our tax forms yet and whether
[00:11] it's okay to start filing our return.
[00:13] And new job titles that technically went into effect on January 1st,
[00:17] but took a month or two to get around to telling anyone about.
[00:20] This video is about the third of those new year traditions.
[00:24] if you don't know me, my name is Justin Searls, and along with my friend, Todd
[00:28] Kaufman, we started a software consultancy called Test Double way back in 2011.
[00:34] For the first nine of those years, my title to the extent
[00:37] that I had one was co-founder.
[00:40] But to be honest, we never really had much time to talk about it.
[00:43] When a company is young, there's essentially infinite work to do.
[00:46] And the survival of the business depends on someone doing it.
[00:50] Founders have to wear a lot of hats as they figure out business functions
[00:53] that are well outside their expertise.
[00:56] They also have to juggle a lot of balls and keep any from dropping mostly because
[00:59] there's no one else around to do it.
[01:01] But eventually test double got bigger and we were gradually able to fill out our
[01:06] management team with competent people to lead each functional area of the business.
[01:12] This created a problem.
[01:13] My title was co-founder, but unlike other titles, like head of recruiting
[01:18] or director of marketing, co-founder doesn't tell anyone what the role does.
[01:24] So naturally once we had the right leaders in the right roles,
[01:27] people started asking questions.
[01:29] Questions like, what does Justin actually do here?
[01:32] And,
[01:34] does Justin need to be involved in this decision?
[01:36] Or my personal favorite: who's Justin?
[01:40] surprisingly these questions didn't subside when I got my first title.
[01:45] So way back in April of 2020, we looked around, and since there
[01:50] wasn't very much going on that month,
[01:53] we deployed a small army of lawyers and accountants to convert Test
[01:57] Double from a two-member LLC.
[01:59] Into a 100% employee owned company.
[02:02] The upshot is that every year, Test Double employees automatically
[02:06] receive an equitable distribution of shares of company stock.
[02:09] Just for working here.
[02:11] But while filling out what I'm sure were reams of paperwork, Todd was
[02:15] required to give each of us real titles.
[02:17] So he put himself down as CEO and made me CTO.
[02:22] And this raised all new questions, like what does a CTO do at a consulting firm?
[02:27] At a company that makes no products?
[02:29] With nobody reporting to them?
[02:31] Deep down.
[02:32] I always knew I didn't have a title problem.
[02:35] I had a role problem and other people were able to pick up on it
[02:40] Because all this time, I've been harboring a deep and painful secret.
[02:45] I am not a leader.
[02:48] Now many people are surprised when I say this.
[02:51] They know me for doing leader-ey things
[02:53] like speaking on a stage as a representative of the company.
[02:57] Confidently taking point in sales calls.
[03:00] Participating in a leadership team to determine strategy and policy.
[03:04] But trust me, I am not cut out for leading a growing company.
[03:08] I'm incredibly emotionally reactive to unexpected challenges.
[03:12] And I often say things that I'll later regret.
[03:15] High stakes social interactions like sales calls and policy decisions
[03:19] trigger my fight or flight response.
[03:21] And I lose sleep worrying about what everyone else thinks of me.
[03:25] In fact, while you watch this, I'm actually sitting on the
[03:28] floor in a dark empty room, staring at our YouTube dashboard,
[03:32] waiting to see if you'll validate my existence by liking this video and
[03:36] subscribing to our nascent channel.
[03:39] It took a while for everyone else to see why, but me in a leadership
[03:43] role just doesn't result in my work, getting the best version of me
[03:48] in truth.
[03:49] I've always been a bit of a lone Wolf.
[03:52] I find something hard to work on.
[03:54] I play some depressing instrumental music,
[03:56] and then I think really hard.
[03:59] So hard, it hurts.
[04:00] And then, gradually, I start building things block by block.
[04:06] And then I inevitably knock everything down and start over again.
[04:09] Before, eventually I finally excitedly share something
[04:13] that I'm proud of with others.
[04:15] In fact, this video was the result of a year long project, and we feel like
[04:20] we finally have all our ducks in a row.
[04:22] And we're ready to announce that we've designed a role that intentionally
[04:26] balances what I need to do my best work and what Test Double needs at
[04:30] this stage in its life as a business.
[04:33] And we've decided to call my new role, a Meta Programmer.
[04:38] Now, now, before you get too excited here.
[04:41] This has nothing to do with that Meta.
[04:43] And I'm relieved to say that they're going to let me keep my legs.
[04:47] We're talking about the other kind of Meta where you focus on the idea of a thing.
[04:51] In addition to the thing itself.
[04:53] Like writing a book about writing books.
[04:56] Or making a video about making videos
[04:58] or thinking about thinking.
[05:01] We designed this role to recreate the environment that led to some of the
[05:05] highest impact moments of my career
[05:08] to practice the craft of thoughtful software development with an
[05:11] exacting attention to detail on my tools and my workflow.
[05:15] To work in the open sharing my successes and failures in a way that resonates
[05:19] with other like-minded programmers who are striving to write great code
[05:23] And to speak up whenever industry trends pull people away from the
[05:26] values and principles that lead to high quality sustainable software.
[05:31] The TLDR is I'll be spending less time having nothing useful to say in meetings
[05:36] and more time making useful software and sharing what I'm learning in the process.
[05:41] But that's enough about me.
[05:43] It's finally time to talk about you.
[05:46] In this moment, I'm reminded of my favorite apocryphal ancient Chinese curse.
[05:51] May you live in interesting times.
[05:53] And for software developers.
[05:55] These are undoubtedly interesting times.
[05:58] In the past 15 years, we've seen the collapse of the traditional
[06:02] enterprise software market in
[06:03] favor of SAAS products,
[06:05] hosted in the cloud.
[06:06] Open-source tools and platforms catching up to close source incumbents,
[06:09] and then rendering them obsolete.
[06:11] And the seemingly infinite spigot of free money funding unprofitable technology
[06:16] businesses has suddenly been shut off.
[06:19] For these reasons and others, there's never been a better time to get serious
[06:23] about leveling up as a programmer.
[06:26] The last 20 years of free flowing venture capital had the unfortunate consequence
[06:30] of severing the link between how much people were paid to write software and
[06:34] how much money that software generated for the business that was footing the bill.
[06:38] But now that the VC bubble has burst more and more businesses
[06:42] are going to want to see a clear return on their software investment.
[06:46] And that's going to require all of us who make software for a living to
[06:50] clear a much higher bar than we've been accustomed to in the past decade.
[06:54] But here's the good news:
[06:56] If you're the kind of person who, like me, wants to build systems
[07:00] that have a clearly understood purpose, that people will value.
[07:03] Are designed to fit their user's needs like a glove.
[07:07] That are easy to verify, deploy, scale, and operate.
[07:11] With so few bugs that nobody needs to be on pager duty.
[07:14] And are built by small collaborative teams where everyone feels
[07:18] ownership over everything.
[07:20] Then, congratulations, because those are the same attributes that predict a
[07:25] strong return on investment in software.
[07:27] And it's what the market is demanding for the first time in a generation.
[07:31] So that's the journey that we're about to embark on.
[07:35] I've spent my entire career as a consultant,
[07:37] searching for ways to build delightful ambitious software that does more
[07:42] while pursuing a ruthless vision of simplicity that costs less.
[07:46] In my new role, I've got no reason to hold back.
[07:49] I'm going to share with you everything that I've learned along the way.
[07:52] How to translate what's being asked for into what's truly
[07:55] needed to solve a problem.
[07:57] Why it's worth sweating the small stuff while at the same time,
[08:00] figuring out when it's safe or even necessary to cut corners.
[08:04] How to maintain a handful of reliable, focused tools that do what's
[08:08] needed and not a single thing more.
[08:11] And no matter how excited everyone is about the latest, shiny trend
[08:14] that promises to make software easy, why we can stand firm in the
[08:18] conviction that no silver bullet will magically solve complex problems.
[08:23] These are principles and perspectives that have proven invaluable in my
[08:26] own career and which I'm willing to bet will help you in yours.
[08:30] So if all that sounds good to you stay tuned you could help fill the void
[08:34] in my soul by liking this video and subscribing to our youtube channel
[08:38] Or, if you're interested in seeing the blog posts and open source tools
[08:42] that our other Test Double Agents are working on consider signing up for our
[08:45] newsletter at testdouble.com/newsletter.
[08:49] But most importantly thank you for embarking on this journey with me,
[08:53] I couldn't be more excited about the things that we're
[08:54] about to start building together
