Today. My, a bit, the motivation for my talk today, you know, is um explaining you a bit like this path into technical leadership, which is um a path that actually I'm still building. Um But I, I think because probably I don't have the more typical career path.Uh for me, it's and also also more in women that we lack like role models for me is to a bit encouraged that this doesn't stop you that even if you think maybe not this, that I think the more pushback that we do is to ourselves. So if you really want to do this, uh do it and actually myself, no, when I was preparing this talk, I saw like, actually I was preparing this for a long time, but maybe in a bit unconscious way. Um So, yeah, that's a bit about me. Uh I have to say I really love to talk but it, it feels like I'm speaking to myself. It's a bit weird situation. Um Yeah, I will wait a bit more to a minute more to start the actual presentation. Yeah, I have also, I mean, I will not be looking much but I will. So I have two screens. So on one, I, I have you on the chat. If you want to make some questions, maybe answer at the end. And yeah, on the other screen I have presentations. Ok, so it's time. So maybe let's keep uh going. Uh so well. Um first of all, thanks everyone a lot for, for attending my tech today. I'm very happy today to be here having these opportunities.

I have attended all our talks. And for me, it's very uh refreshing not to see all these uh women in tech because sometimes I feel like being the one in the room, I attended a talk which was actually this title. So it's kind of refreshing. Um uh Yeah. And, and so before um I would like to share in in this uh talk now with my path uh into that, that I'm still building. And before uh explaining you maybe a bit more, I want to focus on an opportunity that I have during a temporary assignment. I would like a bit to explain you a bit of a bit more what I'm doing now and a bit about my past, not how I arrived there because I think that's, I think also quite uh important. OK. So let's go to a slide. So I'm uh working at Ocado Technology for those of you who don't uh know OKO technology. It's an online uh grocery retail uh business and one of the main product is the okao Smart platform, which is a unique end to end ecommerce fulfillment and logistics platform. And I actually work on the ecommerce uh part on the customer department. And that means not dealing with the data of the customer, personalizing the state of the customers. And um we use a microservices architecture. I joined uh Ocado Technology in September 2018. So it's uh almost three years in Barcelona. There are de centers uh in several places mainly around Europe. And uh as a software engineer, later promoted to senior software engineer.

And um as I was uh telling, you know, some months ago, I had this opportunity of, of doing this uh temporary role. This, this was, let's say long my time. No, because I, I really like a lot the challenges or challenges or more technological challenges. But I also like this more human part. Um There was long in my head but really not uh doing so. Yeah, this was like the final push I would say. Uh but before I, I explain you the details of that, I would like to give you a bit of uh insights about my career. No, as I was saying, for those of you that arrive here early on the talk. Not so my career path I would say is not the most uh typical. Uh But because of that, I think it's um more I, I want to value no, like uh there is no right or wrong path, everyone does its best. Um And as you can see, uh my career span uh between academia and industry and actually, no, my main motivator at the beginning of my career was uh this uh technological challenge. Uh I did uh you can imagine I did a thesis in algorithmics about sorting so very, very super technical problems and, and I really enjoy, I really enjoyed that.

But on the other hand, what I see is that also I was very keen since the beginning um to be involved in other kind of activities as well of organizing. No, we were conference or things and I was super keen on organizing this more human part. And with this, which skills are, are you, are you working on? No. So you, you need to energize people, put people together to a common arm. So these are definitely uh very important skills if you want to be a manager. Uh So this is some artist that came kind of natural to me that I want to explore. But this was like kind of my side. No, my, my, my main thing, no was the the technical stuff. Um Then another thing that that also, no, then I move a bit more to some more applied work. Um uh And another thing that I always also was very keen uh also is on this more of the co coaching or mentoring. No, for me, I always uh I have this kind of really like to help others or sharing. And for me, this was also like something I really was very keen on to be motivated. But again, this was not my main role of what I was paid for. No, this was something that as I wanted to do, I get some experience but was not like my main role. Uh uh Then also I think another kind of things uh uh which uh uh so this is very important also as well.

No, if you want to be a manager to, to, to take care of your employees of their well being of growth and another thing which is not something I explicitly did, but I think also grow very important skills. Um As I was moving now to these bioinformatics fields where I actually stayed for eight years, I work in a very diverse and teams. But at the end of the day, no, we had the same mission, we have to communicate. Um And we have to understand each other. I could not know as much biology as they know. They could not know as much uh computer science or algorithmic, but we need to do the same thing. Not. So, first of all, you need to accept that you cannot be the expert of everything, but you need to know uh the not possible to be communicated to the other and be aligned and, and, and, and do the same mission. No. And and overcome seeing the risk. And I think this is also super useful, the skill, you know, if you want to be a a technical leader, not to see what are the big pictures, what are the risks, what are the problems? And also this not the interaction with other stakeholders. And and then already, as you can see also already when I um started in O AO uh I also was very keen on, on many kind of initiatives. And finally, uh some months ago, I had this opportunity uh to do this uh temporary role.

I have to say that even though this was on my, on my head for, for a long time, um I was a bit hesitant uh on the other hand, uh because no, you know, it was like middle of pandemic. I had just uh it was just after a promotion process, we put a lot of effort. So what I felt a bit it was to relax and enjoy, but this was something really I wanted. No. And I remember talking with a good friend and colleague and he was really telling me, hey, Leo, this is, you have been telling me you want to do this, go for it, why you, you are now you are not going to apply. And yeah, I mean, he was right. No, I I uh and also, I mean, this was a temporary role. I had nothing. It was perfect way to try and maybe I don't like no. So, so yeah, I finally I applied, I achieved to get it and now I'm going to explain a bit what, what I actually did. So I was comparing uh temporary leave. Um I was managing a team of seven software engineers, what means manage. So it it means both taking care about their well being um and development, but also of course aligning align alignment. Now with the delivery and the products, actually, the accountable for this delivery was uh on me and the product manager together.

And at the same time, I was also uh reporting uh to the engineering manager. So what were the timelines? So this uh this assignment was more or less for a bit more than five months on the central months, I was, let's say on my own. So I was not really on my own in the sense that I had a lot of support from several people in the organization. But let's say there was not the regular team lead there. And I think it was also interesting that the regular team lead was some overlapping with me though I was the one acting uh because uh it was also very of mentoring. Uh And, and no, I'm seeing from first hand things that I could improve or or so. So that was also very interesting. And at the end of this assignment, also, when she, let's say more or less back, I had some time to dedicate not to some initiatives that were a bit uh um begin, but I didn't have time with the day to day to ways of improving ways of working to work more on my own and also together with uh with him.

So that's a bit about the timelines. Um What is, as I told you? No, I had several support uh from the organization, of course, um I have the support from the engineering manager as any other team leader also from my land manager because as this was a temporal thing, no, my my formally my land manager was the same and it was interesting to get his view because as he was a bit outside from the day to day or business, he could focus maybe more on, on mentoring then also.

Um So as I said, I had other support from other people from the organization. Um And also it was, I had the opportunity to do a couple of uh trainings, one about leadership um and one about management 3.0 for those of you who don't know in the management 33.0. Um The organization is seen as a city now where everyone is responsible for contributing to this management and the managers become more like governors. No, so it's more a self organizing, the structure kind of. Uh So yeah, this like was the learning support then achievement for me, the main achievement for me was like, um not that the team keep healthy for me. That is super uh top value. But at the same time, we deliver because at the end, I mean, I'm paid to no, like there are things to do and the things need to be done. So that was good. No. So we keep, we keep on that the people is happy and we are uh also doing the stuff that is needed. So that will be like the short summary of this life.

Um more in detail I know, but the the team has um no, there was I think uh strong collaboration with all the team trust, which is something that was already there. But that kept there was also good some time to a bit relax on this remote uh thing. We have some games together, online, games like dictionary online. Uh One thing I got good feedback on is on the improvement of this culture of sharing inside and outside the team because this is something I really believe in and I really try to push for that. Um Then on the more uh personal team members development, no, I had one new start which for me was super cool not to have some someone new who didn't have another people to, to reference that was very cool for me that went well. Also the un call ramp up. Also some of the people had the opportunity to, to really have to um for me autonomy is a very high value. And, um, there was uh good, like some people really, uh, during that time, had a really impact outside the team. And I was very proud and happy about that, uh, business wise, as I told you, not the keeping the delivery building trust and more on a personal, maybe more, um, personal initiative, I also push a lot onto awareness and improvements on the sl a process, uh, more on my personal development.

As I told you, I had uh uh all the em and uh my line manager and also like people on the team were also giving f ma I tried to act on that, especially on the timings, which I know is not my best, but I think I improved. Um And on the other hand, I was quite happy because this was something that was worrying me a bit at the beginning and I think actually did quite well, which is balancing all this, the autonomy and the delegation. And actually I think it worked quite well, which I am really happy um On the more lessons learned. Uh one thing which might be these things. No, when you say they seem simple but you don't think about them and they are really power forward is being explicit. Uh No, especially no, when, when, if you raise um a concern or, or you escalate, this is especially important to be explicit. And then also now when um at least here in local technology, we work a lot uh collaborate, not just inside the teams, but with other teams, it's very important uh to make a summary of these meetings um and the actions points. So there is a clear record and if there is someone out there can go again. So it's this was really important because when this was not done, there was then um sometimes some problems. No.

So yeah, basic ideas that seem obvious but important to remember because that really uh important in practice also about the data. No. Yeah, we all know this, use the power of data. OK? But also let's be careful with this data. Yeah, we have to use data, but we have to be sure of what this data means because if we are uh just using data and we don't know we're using it properly, it can be even worse. No. So it's important to use this data but not really what this data is showing us which information is giving us. Um And yeah, also importance of metrics to, to guide know the ways of work improvement because I was very for of myself, very keen on, on improving things. But if you don't have metrics on them, it's very hard to show what is the improvement that you are actually doing. So probably it's best investment to first set up a good metrics and then try to make improvements. And finally, no, don't don't be biased by, by these uh assumptions that that, that these lessons learned, um, main things to work on. Um, I would say on communication about uh, this, uh, timing in general. I think I'm quite good at this timing all. Like, like today, if I know in advance I prepare, well, have no issues. But my way of that it's more, no, I really like to talk and sometimes if I get too relaxed, maybe I can, maybe to, to go out of focus.

So I need a bit more to, to be conscious of that and have more this mindset. OK. It's always uh I prepare it and, and then I do it great. So, yeah, um keep on that. Uh Then of course, as I was new to the role that is uh I think the best way to learn definitely is uh practice, but theory is also important. So uh so I would say, yeah, I need to, to keep on learning more on reading uh books uh or attending training. And finally, but probably the most important for me as I'm a person who I'm quite self as is the acceptance of failure. Uh This is uh sometimes a bit hard to meet and yeah, so don't be harsh to myself and see more like an opportunity. And yeah, that's, that's what that is a bit. No, the um the learnings and yeah, I would really hope not to, to put this into practice actually, as I don't know if you remember when I show you the slide of the timings, this um assignment finished in March. So now we are in uh June. So it's a month. So yeah, after this assignment, this was temporary, I return to my team. Um I have to say it was a bit weird uh when I retired not to, to change back the role, even though everyone is amazing.

Um But on the other hand, it convinced me more that this is where I want to go. And so when um I had the opportunity um because yeah, my company is very moving. So there are always uh some opportunities. So I applied uh for a permanent role. And yeah, I'm very happy to tell you all that. I got it and I will be starting on first of July as a permanent role of team leader. And yeah, so I think that's the best way to finish my talk. Um a a bit, what I wanted to do with this talk is uh try to motivate you more. Uh If you want to go into this path, don't uh maybe not, not always, the shortest path is the best. Uh as you see, no, like if I probably didn't cut the most obvious path, but the things were there and I think the seeds were there. And yeah, I'm really looking forward to this chapter and I hope uh this maybe will motivate you or some because I realized when I look in the past that even though sometimes say, oh I was pushed back, no, the main push back, it was myself. So don't push back yourself, let others in case to push you back. And then more about the talk. Uh So I would say, yeah, uh about the, the the experience during this assignment. So I think it's very powerful.

No, the the data um and being explicit, they are simple things, but there are some lessons learned which I think uh they are quite strong and finally to end up this talk. So I will be happy if you want to connect with me on, on linkedin or on uh by email. If you want to write me about this talk about my story or you are interested into opportunities to work at Tocalo technology. I also will be very happy to explain how it is to work here. And yeah, thanks against everyone to share also, especially I see some of my colleagues uh join. I'm super happy. So yeah, every uh thanks everyone. I, if someone has some, some question or so, I will say a little bit more um otherwise uh yeah, have a wonderful, wonderful afternoon and enjoy the rest of the of the talks.