The Staff Engineer's Path

Uncovering this map means taking a long view and evaluating the purpose of your work. Is each project a goal in itself, or is it just a milestone along the path to the actual goal? Sometimes you’ll discover that there isn’t a destination at all or that there are several incompatible ones. When nobody has declared what the treasure is, or everyone disagrees on how to get to it, a staff engineer can have a huge impact by creating a vision or strategy, making decisions, or otherwise drawing a brand-new treasure map for the organization.