After investing in the acquisition of five cable operator companies in France, the COO was tasked with reorganizing the companies. To do this, he created a compact management team and merged the information systems. After 6 months, the results were good and the team was able to build an operational way to maintain the business of five companies into one single system. The lesson learned was that even when undergoing a big change, it is important to monitor customer quality and relationships.

Plato

Jeff Foster

Head of Product Engineering at Redgate

What We Learned From Running Open Spaces

In order to create a culture of learning and development in a fast-paced tech environment, an open space session was introduced. This session is driven by the participants and is governed by four principles and one rule. Over time, a variety of topics have been discussed, from technical to leadership and emotional intelligence. It is important to regularly schedule open spaces and remind engineers of their importance. Open spaces are not silver bullets, but they do increase engagement, productivity, and innovation.

Plato

Alvaro Moya

VP of Engineering at Wefox

Hiring 100 Percent Online With a 100 Percent Success Rate

This article outlines the steps taken to improve a company's hiring process. The author suggests empathizing with potential candidates, using new tools to increase efficiency, revisiting technical challenges, explaining the vision and goals, and providing feedback at each stage. The article also emphasizes the importance of providing feedback, learning from customer experience, sharing long-term vision and mid-term goals, and having a standardized process.

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Brian Hough

CTO at Beam Dental

Agile or Not Agile: That Is the Question

This article discusses the challenges of working in the traditional healthcare sector, particularly in insurance, due to the lack of continual feedback and slow development cycles. To address this, the company adopted the Shape Up framework, which allowed for longer cycles, more resilience to the lack of data, and the ability to ship asynchronously to the code. The company also modified Agile to serve their needs and learned how to separate shipping from delivering features to customers. This allowed them to move onto the next thing while their program management and marketing teams worked on the actual deployment of the feature.

Plato

Rohan Kulkarni

Director of Engineering at Expedia Group

Standing up for an Employee in Trouble

A conflict arose between two teams when one team wanted to contribute code to an application owned by the other team. One of the junior engineers made some optimization suggestions which were not taken well by the other team, leading to bullying. The manager of the first team intervened by getting the full story and speaking to the manager of the other team. The engineers apologized for their inappropriate language and the incident was used as an example of how not to behave. The manager learned the importance of conflict resolution and protecting their team.

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Michael Smith

VP of Innovation at Omnipresent

Understand the History of Agile, or Be Doomed To Repeat It

Agile processes, specifically Scrum, are often seen as the only way to do software, but this view is too restrictive and prescriptive. Agile is the best default answer we have, but it is not perfect and should be treated as an imperfect tool. It is important to understand the historical context of Agile and to be familiar with multiple Agile techniques, as Agile is not a culmination but the most recent iteration in a long line of process improvements.

Plato

Tommy MacWilliam

CEO at Serenade

When Promotion Comes Too Quickly

A company rapidly growing needed more managers and the Head of Engineering approached the narrator, surprising them with the promotion. Managing people more senior to them caused some to be upset and argue the narrator was underqualified. With the help of their manager, the narrator learned to ignore the complaints and focus on building credibility with their team. They identified easy wins and were responsive to requests, eventually gaining their trust. The narrator learned to ignore distractions and view mistakes as a learning opportunity.

Plato

Julien

VP of Engineering at GitGuardian

Guiding With Trust while being a (new) CTO

When the CTO of Synthesio joined in 2018, the employees were concerned about how his appointment would affect their daily operations. To build trust and rapport, he read The Manager’s Path and engaged with the employees to learn about their problems. He also used voting and consensus to ensure everyone was involved in the strategy-making process. Through this approach, he was able to instill a sense of ownership and motivate the employees.

Plato

Who to follow

Shubhro Roy

Leader in Enterprise Search & Data Discovery, Mentoring & Conference Speaker.

Marc LeBrun

I provide vision and hands-on leadership building high-performing teams that deliver innovative technology.

Michal Licko

Board advisor, Fractional CTO, Coach, Mentor | ex-Director of engineering

Gaston Algaze

Building amazing digital experiences through next-level nearshoring!

Balki Kodarapu

VP of Engineering | Focused on scaling engineering teams to maximize revenue and profits | Pursuing remote opportunities

Yessen Amirzhanov

Director TPM at Coinbase | Ex-Lyft, AMZN, MSFT, Plaid, Bridgewater

Connect and Learn with the Best Eng Leaders

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Latest Stories

Jose Ciccio

Senior Engineering Manager at Ladder Health

Navigating the Challenges of Technical Debt in Engineering Projects

Technical debt is a common challenge in engineering projects that needs to be effectively addressed for long-term success. It refers to the accumulated cost of shortcuts, compromises, and suboptimal solutions made during development. Time pressures, complex technical design, poor alignment to standards, lack of skill, suboptimal code, delayed refactoring, and insufficient testing are common causes of tech debt. Strategies for identifying, prioritizing, and addressing tech debt include continuous communication and prioritization, embracing simplicity, establishing and enforcing standards, continuous learning and professional development, regular code reviews and static analysis, prioritizing refactoring, and implementing a robust testing strategy. It is important to prioritize tech debt based on impact and urgency and address it with a systematic approach that balances short-term fixes with long-term solutions. Planning, documentation, collaboration, and communication are key in managing tech debt effectively. With the right strategies, tech debt can be effectively managed to ensure the long-term success of projects.

Plato

Laurent Parenteau

Software Engineering Coach & Mentor at

Overcoming Challenges in the Early Stages of Consulting

In the early stages of consulting, engineering leaders face challenges such as building a reputation, finding clients, and establishing a brand. To overcome these challenges, networking is crucial for building a reputation and connecting with potential clients. Providing value through free workshops or recorded videos can help attract clients, and participating in conferences can establish a strong brand. Offering workshops can also be a strategy to overcome challenges, as it provides value to clients and establishes the consultant as an expert. Overall, navigating the consulting landscape requires adaptability and continuous refinement of strategies.

Plato

Daniel Woolfson

Senior Engineering Manager at The Engineer Experience

Creating Realistic and Achievable Career Development Plans

In this article, the importance of collaboration, balancing realistic expectations, and the role of leadership in creating realistic and achievable career development plans for engineers is discussed. It emphasizes the need for engineers to have clear career goals and how involving team members in the process can ensure that the plans are realistic and achievable. It also highlights the importance of setting realistic timelines and providing guidance and support from leaders. By addressing concerns and building trust, engineers can create concrete plans for achieving their career goals and set themselves up for success in their career development journey.

Plato

Daniel Woolfson

Senior Engineering Manager at The Engineer Experience

Achieving "Peak Collaboration" in outcome oriented Engineering Teams

This article discusses the challenges of achieving "Peak Collaboration" in outcome-oriented engineering teams. The conversation between two engineers highlights the struggle of balancing collaboration and individual/team outcomes in a results-driven culture. The importance of collaboration is acknowledged, with an emphasis on breaking down silos and sharing knowledge and resources. The engineers also discuss the need to find a balance between collaboration and the company's focus on 100% utilization. Different leadership styles and the impact of the company's functional structure on collaboration are explored. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of finding a balance and considering the potential for a middle interface layer between a group think approach and an outcome-based culture.

Plato

Daniel Woolfson

Senior Engineering Manager at The Engineer Experience

Effective Strategies for Managing Remote Engineering Teams

Managing remote engineering teams is crucial in today's evolving work landscape. This article provides insights into best practices and proven strategies for overseeing dispersed engineering teams. It emphasizes the importance of clear communication channels, leveraging project management tools, promoting a collaborative culture, providing adequate support and resources, emphasizing results-oriented performance, and regularly assessing and adapting strategies. By implementing these tactics, managers can navigate the challenges of remote team management and drive success in the remote work environment.

Plato

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