Why I Don't Do "Technical" Talks Anymore

Recently I have been asked to do “more technical” talks. I’m going to be honest, that hits right into one of my insecurities, namely that I am not technical enough and need to prove myself and my abilities.
I started public speaking in 2015 with purely technical talks about building very simple machine learning tools with JavaScript. I had four different talks, all variations of the same, just with different tools. I still remember one of my speaker friends asking me “Are you afraid of becoming a one-trick pony?”. I was a bit. Machine learning was only a hobby, but what else could I even speak about? I had nothing else going that was interesting enough.

When I pivoted from software development to DevOps consulting, I worked on many transformation projects. With time I started to notice a pattern: Either we were called in to educate developers on using a new tool, or we were hired to adjust and modify the tool so developers could use it properly. Most of the time it was a mix of both. We spent weeks and months hacking together workarounds and custom workflows, instead of taking a step back and asking: Are we even tackling the right problem here? Or are we making things worse?

And the reason for this? Technical managers getting inspired at events, being sold a solution to a very narrow problem. Granted, the solution is beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated. But that’s like watching a romcom and expecting everything to play out exactly the same in real life. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: The best stories, while drawing from fundamental truths, are also lies. And good talks are about good storytelling. In stories, all characters act exactly as they need to for the hero to get to where they need to be in the end. And who is the hero in this story? It’s the technical manager, not the developers. Many transformation stories I heard or read were about the hero manager, who makes bold decisions and everyone else (read: the underlings) either fall into line or become antagonists.

A transformation that requires the organisation to put up or shut up, is not a transformation at all, it’s a purge.

But that’s not how I see it. The job of a transformation manager is not to transform a business, it’s to transform this business. A digital transformation that requires big parts of the organisation to put up or shut up, is not a transformation at all, it’s a purge. It does a disservice to the business as a whole and the people on the ground.

And that brings me back to my central hypothesis: Technical talks that are completely devoid of organisational reality often do more harm than good, especially if they’re persuasive. The phrase “a solution in search of a problem” is often used as a joke but reveals a fundamental flaw in how we approach technology. As most senior engineers understand, when someone asks for insights or an answer to a technical question, the first and most important question is always “what problem are you trying to solve?”. Nearly all technical problems are fundamentally human problems; we’re just using tech to solve them. Understanding the higher-level context of a technical problem rather than going deep into the weeds of the technical implementation is the difference between a technical manager and a senior IC.

Technical problems are fundamentally human problems; we’re just using tech to solve them.

Over the years, my talks have moved from “what this technology can do” past “how to make this technology work for your org” to “how to understand what your org really needs”.

Nowadays when I’m asked to do a “more technical” talk, I offer a different perspective: The most valuable learning is not in how to work with a tool, but rather how to make the tool work for you. Does that mean my talks aren’t technical? I would argue no, because these talks are based on my technical work.

I still feel insecure sometimes, but I understand better now that my strength is understanding both technology and humans, and there’s no shame in that. And just like 10 years ago, I feel like I’m speaking about the most interesting thing I have going for me.