Who
To
Target

Middle Manager (outside your org structure)

• Departments you want to work in
• Using tools you want to work on
• Meet Through:
  • Internal Mentorship Program
  • Similar Interests Group
  • Happy Hour

Find Out From Them:

• Higher-level info about the roadmap
• If their team is hiring
• Tea (as ammunition)

Common Manager Pitfalls

• Managers are Territorial (for a reason)
• Could Think You're Trying To Date
• Sometimes a longer-term yield
• Engineering Managers are often just a senior developer with a fancy hat 🎩

Skip Level

your grand-boss

• Has Limited "slots"
• You must be an objective source of intel
• Must understand skip-level's goals
• Will not protect you from direct action from your manager (but may reassign you if things are Bad)
• Focus on opportunity finding
• Establish Similarities to break a blockade

Find out from them:

• What teams have an opening
• What teams are "about to have" an opening
• Cool new projects being planned requiring you to learn a shiny new thing
• How to get promoted

Common Skip-Level Pitfalls

• Can read your intentions like a book, don't pretend
• Is focused on execution (like ELT)
• Is necessarily more detached than you realize (don't show weakness)
• Is searching for Intelligence and Critical Thinking, won't usually be swayed by a Narrative
• Don't assume they're stupid or won't understand something, just that they have prioritized something else for a reason
• Don't assume you know what their job is unless you've held that job before

Executive Leadership Team (ELT)

• Has very limited slots
• Does not care about the same things you do (imagine they're an alien)
• Cannot obtain reliable intel on their own
• This Relationship will Fast-Track you
• This Relationship Will Paint A Target On Your Back

Find Out From Them

• Which Managers Might Get Fired
• Cool New Projects
• Whether or not something is Actually Important
• What your manager's OKRs are
• What your department's OKRs are
• Tell them about serious company problems 

Common ELT Pitfalls

• Again, is an alien intelligence
• Don't assume you know what their job is unless you've held it before
• You are as valuable as the information you have or can get for them or the work you do and no more
• This is a business relationship, They'll see you as a Seedling unless you can prove otherwise and are selective about seedlings
• They're very overwhelmed, they'll forget about your problem unless you make it a fire or a big obvious ROI
• Do not come to them to resolve trivial issues or fights between you and another team member (makes you seem immature)
• They highly value knowing how big of a problem something is going to be (but come with data)
• Problems *are* promotion opportunities

Developer Evangelists

• A helpful, highly networked friend to have
• Usually fun tbh
• Will help you get involved with conferences, etc
• Wants to teach and present
• Has limited time & social energy (don't flake on a 1:1 time)

Find Out From Them

• How to be internally visible at your company
• What Marketing Things the CEO Has Their Ego In
• How to best spend your vacation I mean L&D budget
• Who in the industry is hiring

Common Pitfalls

• Not Really Your Friend (an ally)
• Cannot Keep A Secret (will sell it)
• Highly sought-after friend
• If they come after you for friendship, they want something, usually free work not related to your OKRs