Knowledge Silos OUT. Knowledge Multipliers IN — How To Become a Real 10x Engineer
Who are the Knowledge Silos?
A topic I wanted to write on for a while is the idea of `Knowledge Silos` [KS].
A knowledge silo is a highly skilled person or team in your organization that has information or skills that aren’t shared across the organization. This lack of sharing might be the result of many different things, for example:
- Some experienced engineers (KS) don’t want anyone else to mess with their precious code. They choose to take the easy way out whenever you ask them for help with a problem. They just solve it on their own and present you with a complete solution that is pretty sparse on details. But hey! What do you have to complain about? You have what you asked for — a solution.
- Some KS just don’t have the time, they’re really busy! They know how the system works. Explaining it will take too long, and you know… you might not even get it, you’re pretty new to the company/language/framework/system/tech. Why waste both of yours time?
- The worst type of KS are the ones who don’t share their knowledge and skills knowingly and intentionally. For them, it’s their insurance, and job security.
To them, If they are the only person who knows that one system like the back of their hand, it means they are not replaceable.
They are wrong, everyone is replaceable.
Why are Knowledge Silos so bad?
Having knowledge silos in your organization creates bottlenecks during development and troubleshooting. It makes cross-team/department collaboration more difficult and creates a huge knowledge void when that KS leaves your organization.
That does not mean they are not replaceable. It just means everyone else will have to play catchup to close that gap, and they eventually will.
Unfortunately, every company has Knowledge Silos. What is even more unfortunate is that they are often the best and brightest individual contributors, the ones you would think of as 10x engineers.
They are the people who have been in the company for a while. The people who built up the foundational infrastructure everyone uses now. They are the people who have been in the most critical design meetings, they know why things are as they are.
I would argue that KS are not really 10x engineers, they are at most, 2x engineers. No doubt, they do their job well, but they are also preventing other engineers from doing better by withholding knowledge. Whether they do it intentionally or not hardly matters.
They are a bottleneck, a single point of failure.
On the other side of that same experienced and talented coin, you have the true 10x engineers.
Knowledge Multipliers
‘Knowledge Multipliers’ [KM] are those engineers who can be great individual contributors [IC] and perform well when the time calls for it. Perhaps they are not as “amazing” at working solo as KS are, but their strengths lie elsewhere.
Instead of hoarding knowledge, KMs share it.
When you ask them for help, you will not only get a solution, you will get a walkthrough. You will get an insight into their thought process for solving the problem. So that next time you encounter a similar problem, you’ll be able to tackle it on your own.
What they do best is empower the people around them.
You might think that by doing so they make themselves easily replaceable.
Sure! There will be little to no knowledge void if they leave/are replaced. But why would you replace someone so valuable?!
They might not be the best ICs, but by empowering others, they improve the productivity in your organization tenfold. KMs are 10x engineers by the virtue of their work empowering others and not by their solo performance.
Why am I writing about this?
When writing a post like this, the best I can do is try and convey the knowledge I gained during my career.
I have experienced the aftermath of a KS leaving an organization, the issues that surface, the systems that break, and the “hidden knowledge” that was guarded by this KS being slowly rediscovered by other people.
On the other hand, I had the pleasure to work with great KMs and I gained tremendous knowledge and experience while working alongside them. You can think of a KM as that one teacher in school/uni that you will never forget because they were just, oh so amazing at their job and inspired everyone in their class to do better.
Of course, like most things in life, this is not a binary, it’s a spectrum.
I’m writing this post with the hopes it gets people to actively think about the concepts of KS and KM. I hope that by doing so, they will do their best to end up on the Knowledge Multiplier side of the spectrum.
How can you become a Knowledge Multiplier?
I can’t confidently say I am a Knowledge Multiplier, I do my best but I’m not perfect by any means.
From my experience, the best tip I have on becoming a Knowledge Multiplier is:
Strive to be independent and empower others to be more independent.
Let’s look at each part separately:
- “strive to be independent”
The What
Being Independent doesn’t mean you’re the living embodiment of an anti-social software engineer. The “I don’t need anyone, I only work alone!” type.
What it means is that you can work alone, and you can troubleshoot problems without relying on others. Asking for help will most likely speed up the process, it is important to know when to do it. But sometimes, no one is available to help. You want to be able to work alone when needed.
The How
Be curious, ask questions, and don’t accept unexplained solutions as answers (when possible).
Dig deeper and try to understand how and why things work the way they do. Knowledge is power. Understanding leads to independence.
Another thing you can do, even though it might seem contradictory to the principle of independence, is networking. Networking is not only a thing reserved for conferences.
You can and should get to know people outside of your immediate circle of work colleagues.
Knowing people across your organization will help you avoid bottlenecks and help you find the right person to reach out to for help when the time comes.
- “help others be more independent”
The What
You know it, I know it. It’s nice to feel needed.
But it’s important to remember that there are different types of “needed”.
We all heard the saying:
“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
You do not want to end up being just a “fish provider”.
If the only thing you do is solve other people’s problems, they will keep coming back with the same problems day after day.
Oh sure, you’ll be needed, but don’t you have your problems and tasks to deal with?
The How
Be the “person who teaches others to fish”. When helping others with issues they encounter, explain your thought process. When possible you should even walk them through the solution.
Not everyone is comfortable asking for these “extra” things. You should be willing to provide them unprompted.
That way you will empower others. They will gain knowledge and you will be rewarded with new and exciting problems when they ask for help. No more daily fish giveaways.
Another thing I found to be useful when trying to empower others is just being available.
I’m not talking about working overtime to solve other people’s problems. I’m talking about being responsive and willing to help.
Of course, you can’t be there all the time and be ready to help whenever someone needs you, you have your things to deal with. However, what you can do is let them know you’re there, even if you can’t help them at that exact moment.
You saw your slack notification asking for help, but you’re busy and want to avoid distractions?
Well, you already saw that notification so you’re already distracted. You might as well let them know you’ll get back to them at a later time.
And If you’re wondering “How’s me being available empowering others?”
The answer is pretty simple. People are more willing to try and tackle something unfamiliar on their own if they know there’s someone to help them if they get stuck, a safety net of sorts.
Disclaimers
- This post is solely based on observations I made during my career from Junior to Principal Engineer.
- The statements I made in the post are in no way absolute truths and there are a ton of gray areas and variables to consider.
- This is a farewell post in a way. I’m writing this during my last week out of 5.5 years at Similarweb. After some self-reflection, I decided to try and formalize a few of the things I learned during these fantastic years I spent working with incredible people.
Let me know your thoughts about Knowledge Silos and Knowledge Multipliers!
What other techniques do you utilize to empower others and multiply knowledge in your teams and organizations?
