Eric Lubow

People Always Have an Opinion When They See a Wireframe Getting good feedback is one of the hardest parts of product work. You send a doc. You ask for thoughts and it’s usually met with silence or “Looks good to me.” You follow up for more and maybe one pe...

AI hasn't changed the need for visuals. It's just removed the excuse for not having them.

Wrote about getting better feedback by showing the thing instead of describing it and a few other feedback tactics. #productmanagement #design

eric.lubow.org/2026/people-...

Implementing an RFC Process That Engineers Don't Hate The hardest part of an RFC process isn’t designing the template. It’s making sure people actually use it without feeling like they’re filing TPS reports. I’ve written before about When to Write an RFC...

Most RFC processes don't fail because of bureaucracy. They fail because of silence.

Engineer shares a doc, no one engages, motivation dies.

Wrote up how to run an RFC process that works -- including the part no one talks about: leaders keeping momentum alive

eric.lubow.org/2026/impleme...

Delegation isn't just about assigning tasks; it's about empowering teams, balancing authority, & fostering growth. By setting clear expectations & building trust, we can avoid micromanagement & create a psychological safety culture. Get the training on #delegation

eric.lubow.org/manager-trai...

When to Write an RFC (and When Not To) Growing engineering organizations face a communication problem that more meetings won’t solve. When you’re small, decisions happen naturally. Everyone knows what everyone else is working on. You can s...

RFCs sound bureaucratic. Done right, they're the opposite. They replace meetings, not add to them.

I wrote about when to formalize your decision-making process, when an #RFC is overkill, and how to avoid the bureaucracy trap.

eric.lubow.org/2026/when-to...

Shadow IT Isn't a Threat, It's a Signal Someone on your team is using an AI tool you didn’t approve. Your solutions engineers built a custom data ingestion pipeline without telling anyone. A pre-sales engineer spun up a demo feature that cu...

The new wave of AI tools didn't just lower the bar for shadow IT, it got rid of it. Anyone with a browser can now access powerful tools without involving IT. You can treat that as a threat or as a signal. Visibility is better than non-existent control.

eric.lubow.org/2026/shadow-...

Using Hackathons to Drive Real AI Adoption Unless you’re an AI vendor, you don’t need an AI strategy. You need an AI adoption strategy. This distinction matters. “AI strategy” implies a comprehensive vision for how AI transforms your business—...

Most CTOs don't need an AI strategy. They need an AI adoption strategy.

Training creates awareness, not motivation. Hackathons let people solve their own problems. And when they build something they care about, they don't need convincing.

eric.lubow.org/2026/using-h...

Dive into the art of feedback and culture building in the latest People Manager Training! Discover how balancing positive and negative reinforcement can transform your work environment. #leadership #management #training

eric.lubow.org/manager-trai...

When Capabilities Become Competencies: Recognizing Strategic Emergence Most strategic planning focuses on protecting what you already know is valuable about your business. You’ve identified your core competencies, you’re investing in them, you’re keeping the knowledge in...

Your most important competency might not have started as one. It emerged from doing the work and scaling, over time.

New post on recognizing when a capability has quietly become a crown jewel.

eric.lubow.org/2025/when-ca...

Competency Drift and Accidental Strategic Hollowing Most outsourcing decisions are easy to justify. Reduce costs, ship faster, let the team focus on what matters. Individually, they’re often the right call. The problem is that the impact of these decis...

New post: Competency Drift--how companies slowly outsource their differentiation through a series of individually reasonable decisions.

The warning signs, the pattern, and the one question worth asking before it's irreversible.

eric.lubow.org/2025/compete...

Core Competencies vs. Core Capabilities: A Framework for Strategic Decision-Making I’ve watched companies outsource their competitive advantage because “the vendor was cheaper.” I’ve seen engineering teams spend months building authentication systems from scratch because “we’re a te...

Two mistakes I see constantly:

1. #Outsourcing what makes you competitive b/c a vendor was cheaper
2. Building commodity tools b/c "we're a #tech company, we build things"

Both stem from confusing core competencies with core capabilities. Here's a framework:
eric.lubow.org/2025/core-co...

Context, Not Control Your job as a senior leader isn’t always to make decisions — it’s knowing when to make them and when to ensure others do. People talk about ’empowerment’ all the time, but empowerment without context ...

Your job as a senior leader isn't to make every decision--it's knowing when to make them vs. when to ensure others do.

Context not control.

New post on how to actually empower and scale #engineering #leadership and decision making: eric.lubow.org/2025/context...

Documentarian and #bjj black belt Stevie Antoniou describes the challenge of making the heartbreaking documentary for HundarUtenHem (Dogs Without Homes). Watch the entire 18 minute documentary: btb.fan/13-dogdoc
You can also donate: btb.fan/13-dogdonate
Or watch the whole episode: btb.fan/13