The Accidental Manager: Building and Leading High-Performance Database Teams

Leading a team of database professionals is fundamentally different from managing software developers. The stakes are higher (one mistake can mean data loss), the pressure is constant (24/7 on-call rotation), and the "Gatekeeper" mentality is hard to break.

In this session, we explore the transition from Technical Expert to Engineering Leader. Whether you are a Senior DBA stepping into a Team Lead role or a Manager trying to understand your data team better, this session provides a blueprint for success.

We will move beyond generic management advice and tackle the specific challenges of Data Engineering leadership:

The "Bus Factor": How to eliminate knowledge silos and single points of failure in your team.

Hiring Unicorns: Strategies for finding and retaining niche database talent in a competitive market.

Psychological Safety: Building a "Blameless Post-Mortem" culture so your team isn't afraid to report incidents.

Balancing Act: How to manage the conflict between "Keeping the Lights On" (Operational toil) and Innovation.

Leave this session with practical frameworks to transform a group of stressed individual contributors into a cohesive, high-performing unit.

1- Transitioning Roles: Master the mental shift required to move from an Individual Contributor (Technical Expert) to a People Leader. 2- Silo Busting: Learn techniques to cross-train your team and remove "Hero Culture" (single points of failure). 3- Hiring & Retention: Discover specific strategies for interviewing and retaining top-tier database talent in a competitive market. 4- Culture of Safety: Implement "Blameless Post-Mortems" to encourage transparency and reduce the stress of on-call rotations. 5- Managing Toil: Learn frameworks to balance the grind of daily operations (KTLO) with strategic, innovative project work.