Feedback & Reviews

Adopting DevOps: How To Make It Happen

A large bank hired a consultant to assess their DevOps strategy, which had been in progress for two years. After interviewing teams and creating a model of what was missing, the consultant became a trusted advisor to the executive team in charge of the transformation. The consultant set up metrics for measuring progress, created frameworks and architecture for the management of tools, and helped with the mindset change within the teams. As a result of the consultant's work, the bank was able to reduce their lead time for a change from 3 months to 2 weeks, and quickly respond to changes, such as pushing out a new loan processing platform for the COVID-19 pandemic. The consultant's lessons learned included building out high-performance teams, successful transformation requires the right people, and understanding how to deliver value.

Managing and Running Large Engineering Teams Successfully

This article discusses how to manage a large engineering team, including the importance of metrics, creating a narrative, learning and development, and engineering career frames. It emphasizes the need to use numbers and metrics to assess team health, as well as the need to create a narrative to motivate the team and provide learning and development opportunities. It also suggests the use of a promotion panel to replace the yearly promotional cycle.

Streamlining Product Processes After a Reorganization

As program manager, the author faced the challenge of unifying a newly acquired team of 150 people who had no experience with program management. The author's strategy included unifying the toolset, getting leadership buy-in, informing the teams, and executing the plan. The author was successful in achieving the goal, and the teams began to collaborate and share knowledge. The author learned that it takes time for people to get used to new things, and it can be challenging to change people's opinions.

Bring It All Together: How to Implement Processes in a Nutshell

When a company is small, it is important to establish specific frameworks and strategies to add method to the madness. To do this, squads were created with a product manager, engineering manager, data analyst, and designer. The charter was then established to define expectations and goals. A regular cadence was set up for sprint planning, grooming, demo sessions, and daily standups. Tools were used for knowledge management and a product roadmap was created to provide a clear picture of features. The outcome was positive as teams now understand the value of interdependency and collaboration. Everyone should be involved in the change management process.

Finding the Right Moment of Opportunity to Advance Yourself

After working as an individual contributor for many years, the author decided to pursue a career in management. They took the initiative to manage a junior team in their office for a three month period, and received positive feedback. Through this experience, they learned the importance of taking ownership of their career, being a solution provider, staying informed, and having conversations with their managers.

Fostering Emotional Safety as a Leader

This article discusses the importance of communication and support in times of distress for team members. It emphasizes the need for leaders to focus on how they make people feel, rather than what they say, and to create a culture where it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them. It also encourages leaders to remind their team that their careers are not defined by one small thing, but by an accumulation of small things.