Pasifika Need Tech Leaders Who Are Technical.

Why the Vibes-Based Approach Will Be Our Undoing.

Talofa reader,

Pasifika Have a "Technical Leadership" Issue.

Over the past few years, I've come face to face with a pretty obvious yet significant issue: the severe lack of Pasifika technical leadership in the technology sector.

And not just for making up the numbers so the business looks good and ticks the box, but for the community side of this equation that more often needs, essentially, an "ally" with technical skills to help navigate and mitigate the realities of all things technology.

Pasifika Technical Leadership?

What do I mean by Pasifika technical leadership?

Pretty much what it says on the tin:

A Technical person, who happens to be Pasifika, in a Leadership position or capability.

The discourse over the last few years has been one of the following two:

1. Getting more "Pasifika into technology," a purely numbers game for bums on tech seats, OR

2. Getting Pasifika a"Seat at the table," a long-tail strategy with organisations going after leadership power.

While these two things are important, I'm cognisant of a couple of things I've already seen happen.

Firstly, with the bum-rush of getting as many Pasifika hoisted over the fence into tech as possible, I've seen the casualties of the folks who could've been successful in transitioning had they been given the necessary support to succeed.

I'm seeing a new "factory floor" for Pasifika to get trapped in the tech industry, taking up the lower-skilled, lower-paid jobs that are cheaper to use Pasifika for than paying for LLM's on cloud.

Secondly, from the few Pasifika organisations I've seen make a play for being the spokespeople for Pasifika issues at the technology table, I'm loath to say I find some of the things I know about these organisations… unsettling?

Bar a small few, I don't have a lot of trust in the motivations of some of the forerunners in this space to be advocates for true technical leadership that will benefit Pasifika (more so than the organisation's brand power).

But we can't make everyone happy all the time, and something is better than nothing, I guess?

Anyway, back to the essay at hand.

The Need for Executive-Level Expertise

The technical leadership I'm talking about is akin to the executive level CTO, where technical expertise meets business acumen, or at the very least, organisational/corporate experience.

Add to that a deep understanding of Pasifika culture, goals, and objectives, and we're most of the way there.

What does it look like when this "layer," this high-level "interfacing function," is missing?

I have the unfortunate¹ pleasure of being the person at the coal face of this phenomenon because I get approached to help out in these situations.

Real-Life Example: Local Government Group's Struggle

This is one real-world example, but in fairness, a lot of them are like this:

A Pasifika group will set about trying to build a platform or an app for community use.

They approach a tech solution provider, i.e., a vendor, they work with them and come out with something they believe is pretty standard.

The problem is the community group doesn't really have a point of reference.

When I've been brought in, sat in a few meetings, and checked out the project plans, I soon realise the vendor lacks any real knowledge of the Pasifika community's real needs, hasn't asked the right questions, and unsurprisingly is delivering an over-engineered and overpriced solution.

The result is a platform too complicated and costly for the community to operate.

I came in near the end of Phase 1, and the community group was still going to go ahead with Phase 2, at twice the budget of Phase 1, because they had resigned themselves to the fact this was just "how it goes."

Right?

No. Wrong.

The Importance of Technical and Project Understanding…

The thing that annoys me about this story is that the vendor, by many tech solution project standards, had done a piss-poor job of really understanding the customer's challenges and designing a suitable solution. A big part of the process is "gathering requirements."

So that's on the vendor, but the community group would have been none the wiser because how would they know?

I see and hear of at least a couple of these scenarios every year, and I'm not even listening out for them, so imagine how prevalent this is across the Pasifika community given everything's being pushed into technology.

Which is why I identify and kind of bang on about the need for this specific expertise—this level and function to integrate between two worlds: Pasifika and Technology.

Technical Leadership is not Sales and Management…

So I say, what we need are genuine technical leaders, not salespeople, not people leaders, or marketing personnel (no shade to these folks).

In my experience, those with deep technical knowledge and understanding prove to be more effective leaders at this intersection because there's something (IMHO) undeniable about having a deep understanding of technology to direct and colour your perspective of the challenges in front of you.

And this view isn't even Pasifika specific; it's one I believe in for any tech organisation.

Yes, Marketing, Sales, all of those functions can be 10x with some technical understanding.

It's why I've seen Account Managers here at AWS trying to get their Solution Architect Associate studies on; they've seen the Solution Architects (SA) at work in front of the customer and can see the difference in delivery from the SA and trust coming from the customer.

The Consequences of Inadequate Leadership

Again this seems like a no-brainer, but let’s be explicit about things:

If we lack this technical leadership, this will only lead to exploitation.

Whether that's from ignorance or malice by a vendor, either way, it spells more disadvantage for an already marginalised group.

The Long-Term Solution: Focusing on Engineering Expertise

If you’re starting to see a pattern here, it’s because I’m really trying to hone in on this concept of “technical expertise” being a key value in the “technology” industry²

There's no short and easy pathway to the solution I see, which is a focus on developing senior to principal level engineering and architectural expertise within the Pasifika community.

This, to me, is (again) a no-brainer, and I guess I'm writing this whole piece about it because there are people in my community who either don't know or believe it's something else, and I think that's a distraction and, quite frankly, a risk to the best long-term outcome.

Technical Leadership isn't just vibes—yes, vibes are important, all the intangibles are important, culture, mental health, all health really... where I feel I need to draw a line in the sand, is when it's an "either-or" and not a hard AND.

Vibes AND solid technical skills and expertise.

I can't stress enough how much I believe this approach will provide the necessary technical guidance for Pasifika initiatives and projects in our community.

We should be focused on this and creating environments, officially or unofficially, that nurture and support engineering, leadership skills, and understanding within the community.

Pfft, What Do I Know?

As someone who has navigated the tech industry successfully and has applied my own technical leadership to various Pasifika-led technology projects, I truly believe this is the way forward—at least for this part of the puzzle.

I don't proclaim to know how the rest of the "Pasifika progress" challenges go, but for technology, I think I can say this much.

My own contributions to this utopia of engineering-positive Pasifika environments are through various channels: I have this newsletter you are currently reading, a charity that runs tech workshops and code clubs for Pasifika students in schools, a Pasifika Tech Network social group, and a YouTube Live Stream for technical knowledge sharing with a Pasifika face on it.

What Can People Do to Help?

So, what's the call to action here?

If you find value in these ideas, talk about them with others. Recommend the newsletter or YouTube stream, and bring these topics into your everyday conversations. Your support in raising awareness is crucial.

Thanks for reading, see you in the next one.

ia manuia,

Ron.

1. Unfortunate in that it’s a situation that happens, not that I have to get involved. Getting involved is helping, so I’m fortunate to have the skills to help.

2. As opposed to something else, is my point.