Abstract
Successful Staff+ engineers build alignment across organizational and technical boundaries, including domains where they aren't the deepest expert. Whether you're building AI platforms, modernizing infrastructure, or developing new products, this talk explores practical techniques for leading these kinds of initiatives through influence rather than authority. Using the development of a full-stack platform built around OpenXR as a case study, we'll explore techniques for leading technical initiatives spanning multiple organizations, disciplines, and layers of a software stack, even when no one person is the expert in every part.
Actionable Takeaways:
- Develop technical fluency in adjacent disciplines without being the primary expert.
- Distinguish solution disagreements from problem-definition disagreements.
- Create the conditions for domain experts to make decisions that improve the whole system.
Speaker
Kaye Mason
Senior Staff Software Engineer @Meta, Previously @Google and @EA, 20+ Years in Real-Time Rendering, Spatial Computing, and Developer Platforms
Kaye Mason is a veteran graphics engineer, recovering game dev, and insatiable science nerd who works at the intersection of graphics, AI, and HCI. With over two decades of experience in real-time rendering, spatial computing, and developer platforms, she’s passionate about empowering artists and crafting great user experiences. Kaye shipped a dozen titles at EA--from Return of the King to The Sims 4 -- before moving to Google, where she worked on Google Earth Mobile, Daydream, and led Stadia’s graphics platform team. Along the way, she served as the spec editor for the first release of the OpenXR standard and now helps shape the future of XR at Meta.
