Technical Expertise

How to Break Down Team Silos

This article discusses the problem of lack of transparency in engineering operations and the actions taken to address it. To increase transparency, a mandatory guidance was introduced, which included a Request for Comments (RFC) process, regular meetings, and an innovation week. The lessons learned from this experience were that documentation of engineering work is key, engineering managers should focus on teamwork marketing, and engineering should not operate as a black box.

How to Execute a Focused and Thought Driven Plan for Career Success Among Young Engineers

This article discusses a method for improving one-on-one meetings between managers and engineers. It involves setting expectations for the meetings, giving the engineers "talking points" to focus on, and assessing the established guidelines. This method has been successfully implemented in Microsoft and Netflix, and has been positively received by both junior and senior engineers. It encourages engineers to reflect on their career and consider more challenging options for growth.

Taking Over Maintenance and Development of Existing Customer Applications From Other Vendors

A team was gathered to investigate and analyze 30 business support systems for a 3-year outsourcing contract. The team used a similar methodology for each system, gathering artifacts and setting up a source code repository and CI tooling. The team divided the systems into four groups and created templates for each group, with a schedule and workload estimate. The team also tuned the plans for specific applications to reflect their individual characteristics. The team learned to use the divide and conquer approach, make assumptions, and write them down.

To Be a Strong Leader, Hire People Smarter Than You

Steve Jobs' quote, "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do," encourages great managers to hire people better than themselves at their job. To manage this diverse group of highly-skilled people, managers should become great questioners, learn continually, and delegate responsibilities, not tasks. They should also set boundaries and know when to say no, and ensure that what their reports are doing connects back to the company and product needs.

Combating Misperceptions of Engineer Productivity through Communication and Education

A manager faced the challenge of untangling misperceptions of an engineer who was always working, but rarely seen. To combat this, the manager opened up a channel of communication and became the PR for the team, explaining the work they were doing and the problems they were solving. This taught non-engineers about the complex process of creating technology and showed the progress they were making. The manager learned that it is important to constantly publish information and take the time to educate non-engineers.

Should Product Managers be Technical?

This consulting engagement with a startup founder focused on product management practices. Through further discussion, it was revealed that the founder's real issue was a matter of innovation. By probing deeper into the problem, a more appealing solution was found, strengthening the business association. Being technical in the situation was beneficial in coming to a closure.