Roles & Titles

How to Unlock the Potential of Your Average Engineer

A manager had an engineer on their team who was not reaching their full potential. After some investigation, it was found that the engineer had a distorted understanding of proactivity and needed more confidence. Through one-on-ones and including them in product sync meetings, the engineer was able to gain more confidence and become a key contributor on the team. The manager learned that different companies have different mechanisms to steer up the performance discussion and that they should provide their engineers with both complexity and comfort in order to empower them to grow. They should also give feedback in real-time and be careful how they deliver it as average-performing engineers tend to underestimate their performance.

Simultaneously Transitioning Two Offices from Waterfall to Agile

A consultant was brought in to roll out Agile to a 50 person engineering team across two offices. The consultant worked with the VP of Engineering and Product to develop pods aligned to business objectives, and then brought in a consultant to each office for 2 days of Scrum Master training. The consultant then provided coaching and guidance for each team for two months, and worked with the executive leadership team to set expectations around adoption and velocity. The lessons learned were that it is important to start with one team/pod that has practiced Agile before, and to roll out Agile to teams one at a time, allowing each team to adopt to Agile at their own pace. It is also important for all team members to have training and it's best if the team can do the training together.

Implementing a Clear Promotion Process in a Growing Company

This article discusses the challenges a company faced when trying to promote employees in a systematic way across all leadership. To address this, the company created an engineering ladder and a promotion readiness document to provide clarity on expectations for everyone. This system opened up honest conversations between individuals and their managers, and it was so successful that other departments adopted similar approaches. As a result, people felt more inspired to challenge themselves and go after certain things.

Expert Antidote to Repair a Toxic Culture

A mentor was helping a fresh graduate transition from college to professional life. The mentor took notes on the issues the mentee was facing and identified the core problem as a lack of a mentor or coach to guide her. The mentor then provided advice on how to align expectations with her manager, invest in learning, and provide effective feedback. In the end, the mentee was able to gain credibility and set herself up for professional success. The mentor learned the importance of listening and paying attention to detail, educating mentees on providing effective feedback, and helping them maintain professional boundaries.

Improving at One-on-ones

After being promoted to team lead, an introvert struggled to lead one-on-one meetings. Initially, the conversations were always technical, but after reflecting on a disagreement with the team, the lead decided to be more direct and focus on personal topics. This allowed them to gain insight into the team's health and address issues before they became bigger problems.

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.