Knowledge shared by our community

Implementing a New Product From the Scratch

This article discusses the challenges faced by a company when they won a tender to provide a software solution. The company had to create a fully functional software stack for a medium telecommunication operator with minimal requirements and analysis. To overcome this challenge, the company used their knowledge of major business processes, identified usual issues, and proposed an initial architecture. They also implemented the Scrum process, held a workshop, and found a product owner to fill up their backlog. The article also outlines the lessons learned from this experience, such as preparing a solid foundation, documenting project decisions, and being open to changes.

Decommissioning of the Central Processing System and Migration to an In-House Claim Management Solution

A company needed to migrate from an external vendor product to an in-house solution, but the priority of the new system was never higher than other initiatives. To ensure the scope and deadline were met, a single team was dedicated to the initiative and a plan was created and discussed with the business. The plan was reviewed bi-weekly to avoid scope creeping and a strict deadline was set. Lessons learned included having a plan, assigning tasks to a team, and setting a strict deadline.

Struggles of a Junior Software Engineer and How to Deal With Them

As a junior software engineer, it can be difficult to get senior engineers to trust your ideas. To foster trust, it is important to build an MVP, work on new features as a passion project, and collaborate with senior engineers. Additionally, it is important to remember to do things right, not just fast, and to present a vision and roadmap when presenting ideas to superiors.

Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination

Senior engineers often struggle to get things done due to frequent interruptions. To be more productive, they should use the Pomodoro technique to block off 25 minutes of focused time for a task, and take short breaks in between. Additionally, they should try to be more curious about the context and push themselves to widen their knowledge base. Lastly, they should allocate at least 2 hours of focus time per day to be productive.

How to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

When transitioning from an IC to a leadership role, the author experienced an internal struggle due to feeling disconnected from their team. After researching online, the author found that many people experienced the same issue, known as imposter syndrome. With the help of their manager, the author was able to talk to their team and gain the confidence needed to engage in their new role. This showed the author that they were still a major part of the team, just with different responsibilities.

Losing a Feature as a Leader

In a company, a team was tasked with developing a feature, but it was unsuccessful after a year of work. To ensure the team could move forward, the leader communicated their struggles and understanding of the leadership's perspective. It was realized that lack of communication and alignment between teams was the main reason for the failure. To ensure success in the future, the leader emphasized the importance of communication and staying motivated despite failure.

Motivating a Team to Work on Less Exciting Tasks

When a tech lead expressed disinterest in a feature they were assigned, the team leader took a win-win approach to the situation. Through conversation, they were able to come to a compromise that allowed the tech lead to work on both features in parallel with more resources and access to knowledge. This enabled the team to achieve a successful outcome while also allowing the tech lead to feel more motivated and engaged.

Leading a Team With a Different Area of Expertise

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning from a UI engineer to managing a full-stack team of engineers with more domain expertise in Java than the manager. To overcome this challenge, the manager relied on fundamental software principles, concepts, and universally applicable ideas, as well as improved delegation and communication skills. Transparency was the key to success, as it allowed the manager to own the fact that many team members were more senior Java engineers than themselves, creating a productive environment.

How to Ensure a Successful Paternity Leave

This article discusses the challenges of managing a team during a long leave of absence, such as paternity leave. It outlines the steps that should be taken to ensure a successful transition, such as creating a centralized document detailing responsibilities and delegating tasks to senior engineers. It also highlights the difficulty of coming back to the office after an absence, as it can be difficult to provide feedback on the work completed while away. Finally, it notes that it takes two to four weeks for a team to absorb an individual back into the group after an absence.

How To Successfully Transition From a Manager of ICs to a Manager of Managers

Transitioning from managing individual contributors (ICs) to managing managers is a difficult process. To be successful, it is important to create a scalable process to check in on organizational health, coach individuals who want to grow, and set up systems to understand the pulse of the organization. Additionally, it is important to set well-defined goals, enact a coaching mindset, act situational based on each manager, and stay technical. These tips will help managers be successful in their new roles.

Collaborating to Inspire Change Between Teams

The company I work at focuses on building enterprise products, and the product organization is more outward-facing. However, product interaction with the engineering department was limited due to a focus on business. To promote successful collaboration, I escalated the problem to my leadership team and proposed hiring an agile coach. With the help of a product stakeholder, we began an experiment and hired junior product managers to mentor seniors. It was essential to work with empathy and persevere to ensure successful collaboration.

The Difficulty in Making Career-Defining Decisions

When faced with a difficult decision about leaving a well-established company for a startup, this individual created a framework for themselves to help make the decision. They considered their five-year goals, the possibility of promotion, day-to-day tasks, teams in collaboration, and the scope of work. Ultimately, the decision was made by focusing on their five-year goal of increasing their broader knowledge and scope. They recommend that when making large career decisions, individuals should think less about the technical aspect and more about their strengths and weaknesses, and prioritize certain values and goals.

The Natural Progression From an IC Role to Manager

After receiving his Ph.D., the author started working in an industrial setting as a software engineer and gradually progressed to a tech lead, tech lead manager, and people manager. He found that taking the steps in between an IC role and managerial position was critical in his development, as it taught him to demonstrate his technical skills as a leader and collaborate with other leaders. He recommends reading "The Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhuo for helpful insights and tips for a successful transition.

Increasing the Sustainability of a Product

The team had a product that was receiving too much traffic, causing downtimes and affecting services downstream. The initial plan was to have a staff engineer lead the product, but it wasn't making much progress. The speaker stepped in and set up a daily sync to increase urgency, and held a meeting with the team to brainstorm solutions. After prioritizing the solutions, they created a plan and worked towards it. At the end of four weeks, the product could sustain ten times more traffic than before. The speaker learned that junior engineers can step up to the challenge if given the opportunity, and that framing the problem and product from a customer perspective can increase motivation and productivity.

Upskilling a Junior in 90 Days

In order to help a junior engineer transition from technical program management to coding and shipping features, a plan was created that included assigning a mentor, creating a reverse shadow system, and assigning tasks with well-defined scopes and timelines. Additionally, the engineer was exposed to different parts of the codebase and monthly check-ins were held. It was important to be aware of the team's bandwidth when taking on the responsibility of the junior.

Preparing Your Team for the Remote Workplace

This article outlines the challenges faced by a newly formed cross-functional team working remotely during the pandemic. The team identified misalignment issues and created a document to outline their problems and solutions. They also rethought their onboarding process, created a mentor program, and tracked their progress with a team-health metric. The team was able to successfully complete 90% of their projects after implementing these changes. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the challenges of remote working, checking in with all functions of each department, and tracking a team-health metric.

How to Strengthen Your Team Pitch

When transitioning into a management role, the challenge of hiring a niche group of candidates with specific backgrounds and experience was difficult. To overcome this, the hiring process was improved by partnering with recruiters, standardizing the interview process, and selling the company based on the mission and exciting projects. Through shadowing and reverse shadowing, the skills needed to successfully hire a team were improved.

Improving Team Execution in a Remote Environment

When transitioning to a remote workplace, my team faced challenges with execution and planning. We created a framework for quarterly planning, taking into account vacation, engineering quality, and on-call weeks. We also split tasks into P1 and P2 categories, with junior engineers having a third of their tasks as P2 goals. We replaced our project status spreadsheet with Asana, and held four standups each week for feedback. Lessons learned include the need for a system that provides context in one place, and taking into account extra tasks when planning.

Identifying the “Right” Problem to Solve

When working at a content site, the team inherited several projects with unreliable data transfers and UI changes. To address these issues, they created a new product that allowed for real-time UI changes, a more motivated team, and secure data transfers. The team learned the importance of thinking outside the box and standardizing data for better analysis.

Why Performance Reviews should not be yearly

Managers should provide regular feedback to their employees throughout the year, rather than waiting for the annual review. This feedback should be both positive reinforcement and negative review when necessary. This mindset shift will help employees grow and feel supported, and will prevent them from feeling blindsided by the annual review. Regular feedback also makes the formal assessment easier, as the manager will already have an understanding of the employee's performance.

Implementing a New Product From the Scratch

This article discusses the challenges faced by a company when they won a tender to provide a software solution. The company had to create a fully functional software stack for a medium telecommunication operator with minimal requirements and analysis. To overcome this challenge, the company used their knowledge of major business processes, identified usual issues, and proposed an initial architecture. They also implemented the Scrum process, held a workshop, and found a product owner to fill up their backlog. The article also outlines the lessons learned from this experience, such as preparing a solid foundation, documenting project decisions, and being open to changes.

Decommissioning of the Central Processing System and Migration to an In-House Claim Management Solution

A company needed to migrate from an external vendor product to an in-house solution, but the priority of the new system was never higher than other initiatives. To ensure the scope and deadline were met, a single team was dedicated to the initiative and a plan was created and discussed with the business. The plan was reviewed bi-weekly to avoid scope creeping and a strict deadline was set. Lessons learned included having a plan, assigning tasks to a team, and setting a strict deadline.

Struggles of a Junior Software Engineer and How to Deal With Them

As a junior software engineer, it can be difficult to get senior engineers to trust your ideas. To foster trust, it is important to build an MVP, work on new features as a passion project, and collaborate with senior engineers. Additionally, it is important to remember to do things right, not just fast, and to present a vision and roadmap when presenting ideas to superiors.

Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination

Senior engineers often struggle to get things done due to frequent interruptions. To be more productive, they should use the Pomodoro technique to block off 25 minutes of focused time for a task, and take short breaks in between. Additionally, they should try to be more curious about the context and push themselves to widen their knowledge base. Lastly, they should allocate at least 2 hours of focus time per day to be productive.

How to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

When transitioning from an IC to a leadership role, the author experienced an internal struggle due to feeling disconnected from their team. After researching online, the author found that many people experienced the same issue, known as imposter syndrome. With the help of their manager, the author was able to talk to their team and gain the confidence needed to engage in their new role. This showed the author that they were still a major part of the team, just with different responsibilities.

Losing a Feature as a Leader

In a company, a team was tasked with developing a feature, but it was unsuccessful after a year of work. To ensure the team could move forward, the leader communicated their struggles and understanding of the leadership's perspective. It was realized that lack of communication and alignment between teams was the main reason for the failure. To ensure success in the future, the leader emphasized the importance of communication and staying motivated despite failure.

Motivating a Team to Work on Less Exciting Tasks

When a tech lead expressed disinterest in a feature they were assigned, the team leader took a win-win approach to the situation. Through conversation, they were able to come to a compromise that allowed the tech lead to work on both features in parallel with more resources and access to knowledge. This enabled the team to achieve a successful outcome while also allowing the tech lead to feel more motivated and engaged.

Leading a Team With a Different Area of Expertise

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning from a UI engineer to managing a full-stack team of engineers with more domain expertise in Java than the manager. To overcome this challenge, the manager relied on fundamental software principles, concepts, and universally applicable ideas, as well as improved delegation and communication skills. Transparency was the key to success, as it allowed the manager to own the fact that many team members were more senior Java engineers than themselves, creating a productive environment.

How to Ensure a Successful Paternity Leave

This article discusses the challenges of managing a team during a long leave of absence, such as paternity leave. It outlines the steps that should be taken to ensure a successful transition, such as creating a centralized document detailing responsibilities and delegating tasks to senior engineers. It also highlights the difficulty of coming back to the office after an absence, as it can be difficult to provide feedback on the work completed while away. Finally, it notes that it takes two to four weeks for a team to absorb an individual back into the group after an absence.

How To Successfully Transition From a Manager of ICs to a Manager of Managers

Transitioning from managing individual contributors (ICs) to managing managers is a difficult process. To be successful, it is important to create a scalable process to check in on organizational health, coach individuals who want to grow, and set up systems to understand the pulse of the organization. Additionally, it is important to set well-defined goals, enact a coaching mindset, act situational based on each manager, and stay technical. These tips will help managers be successful in their new roles.

Collaborating to Inspire Change Between Teams

The company I work at focuses on building enterprise products, and the product organization is more outward-facing. However, product interaction with the engineering department was limited due to a focus on business. To promote successful collaboration, I escalated the problem to my leadership team and proposed hiring an agile coach. With the help of a product stakeholder, we began an experiment and hired junior product managers to mentor seniors. It was essential to work with empathy and persevere to ensure successful collaboration.

The Difficulty in Making Career-Defining Decisions

When faced with a difficult decision about leaving a well-established company for a startup, this individual created a framework for themselves to help make the decision. They considered their five-year goals, the possibility of promotion, day-to-day tasks, teams in collaboration, and the scope of work. Ultimately, the decision was made by focusing on their five-year goal of increasing their broader knowledge and scope. They recommend that when making large career decisions, individuals should think less about the technical aspect and more about their strengths and weaknesses, and prioritize certain values and goals.

The Natural Progression From an IC Role to Manager

After receiving his Ph.D., the author started working in an industrial setting as a software engineer and gradually progressed to a tech lead, tech lead manager, and people manager. He found that taking the steps in between an IC role and managerial position was critical in his development, as it taught him to demonstrate his technical skills as a leader and collaborate with other leaders. He recommends reading "The Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhuo for helpful insights and tips for a successful transition.

Increasing the Sustainability of a Product

The team had a product that was receiving too much traffic, causing downtimes and affecting services downstream. The initial plan was to have a staff engineer lead the product, but it wasn't making much progress. The speaker stepped in and set up a daily sync to increase urgency, and held a meeting with the team to brainstorm solutions. After prioritizing the solutions, they created a plan and worked towards it. At the end of four weeks, the product could sustain ten times more traffic than before. The speaker learned that junior engineers can step up to the challenge if given the opportunity, and that framing the problem and product from a customer perspective can increase motivation and productivity.

Upskilling a Junior in 90 Days

In order to help a junior engineer transition from technical program management to coding and shipping features, a plan was created that included assigning a mentor, creating a reverse shadow system, and assigning tasks with well-defined scopes and timelines. Additionally, the engineer was exposed to different parts of the codebase and monthly check-ins were held. It was important to be aware of the team's bandwidth when taking on the responsibility of the junior.

Preparing Your Team for the Remote Workplace

This article outlines the challenges faced by a newly formed cross-functional team working remotely during the pandemic. The team identified misalignment issues and created a document to outline their problems and solutions. They also rethought their onboarding process, created a mentor program, and tracked their progress with a team-health metric. The team was able to successfully complete 90% of their projects after implementing these changes. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the challenges of remote working, checking in with all functions of each department, and tracking a team-health metric.

How to Strengthen Your Team Pitch

When transitioning into a management role, the challenge of hiring a niche group of candidates with specific backgrounds and experience was difficult. To overcome this, the hiring process was improved by partnering with recruiters, standardizing the interview process, and selling the company based on the mission and exciting projects. Through shadowing and reverse shadowing, the skills needed to successfully hire a team were improved.

Improving Team Execution in a Remote Environment

When transitioning to a remote workplace, my team faced challenges with execution and planning. We created a framework for quarterly planning, taking into account vacation, engineering quality, and on-call weeks. We also split tasks into P1 and P2 categories, with junior engineers having a third of their tasks as P2 goals. We replaced our project status spreadsheet with Asana, and held four standups each week for feedback. Lessons learned include the need for a system that provides context in one place, and taking into account extra tasks when planning.

Identifying the “Right” Problem to Solve

When working at a content site, the team inherited several projects with unreliable data transfers and UI changes. To address these issues, they created a new product that allowed for real-time UI changes, a more motivated team, and secure data transfers. The team learned the importance of thinking outside the box and standardizing data for better analysis.

Why Performance Reviews should not be yearly

Managers should provide regular feedback to their employees throughout the year, rather than waiting for the annual review. This feedback should be both positive reinforcement and negative review when necessary. This mindset shift will help employees grow and feel supported, and will prevent them from feeling blindsided by the annual review. Regular feedback also makes the formal assessment easier, as the manager will already have an understanding of the employee's performance.

Implementing a New Product From the Scratch

This article discusses the challenges faced by a company when they won a tender to provide a software solution. The company had to create a fully functional software stack for a medium telecommunication operator with minimal requirements and analysis. To overcome this challenge, the company used their knowledge of major business processes, identified usual issues, and proposed an initial architecture. They also implemented the Scrum process, held a workshop, and found a product owner to fill up their backlog. The article also outlines the lessons learned from this experience, such as preparing a solid foundation, documenting project decisions, and being open to changes.

Decommissioning of the Central Processing System and Migration to an In-House Claim Management Solution

A company needed to migrate from an external vendor product to an in-house solution, but the priority of the new system was never higher than other initiatives. To ensure the scope and deadline were met, a single team was dedicated to the initiative and a plan was created and discussed with the business. The plan was reviewed bi-weekly to avoid scope creeping and a strict deadline was set. Lessons learned included having a plan, assigning tasks to a team, and setting a strict deadline.

Struggles of a Junior Software Engineer and How to Deal With Them

As a junior software engineer, it can be difficult to get senior engineers to trust your ideas. To foster trust, it is important to build an MVP, work on new features as a passion project, and collaborate with senior engineers. Additionally, it is important to remember to do things right, not just fast, and to present a vision and roadmap when presenting ideas to superiors.

Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination

Senior engineers often struggle to get things done due to frequent interruptions. To be more productive, they should use the Pomodoro technique to block off 25 minutes of focused time for a task, and take short breaks in between. Additionally, they should try to be more curious about the context and push themselves to widen their knowledge base. Lastly, they should allocate at least 2 hours of focus time per day to be productive.

How to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

When transitioning from an IC to a leadership role, the author experienced an internal struggle due to feeling disconnected from their team. After researching online, the author found that many people experienced the same issue, known as imposter syndrome. With the help of their manager, the author was able to talk to their team and gain the confidence needed to engage in their new role. This showed the author that they were still a major part of the team, just with different responsibilities.

Losing a Feature as a Leader

In a company, a team was tasked with developing a feature, but it was unsuccessful after a year of work. To ensure the team could move forward, the leader communicated their struggles and understanding of the leadership's perspective. It was realized that lack of communication and alignment between teams was the main reason for the failure. To ensure success in the future, the leader emphasized the importance of communication and staying motivated despite failure.

Motivating a Team to Work on Less Exciting Tasks

When a tech lead expressed disinterest in a feature they were assigned, the team leader took a win-win approach to the situation. Through conversation, they were able to come to a compromise that allowed the tech lead to work on both features in parallel with more resources and access to knowledge. This enabled the team to achieve a successful outcome while also allowing the tech lead to feel more motivated and engaged.

Leading a Team With a Different Area of Expertise

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning from a UI engineer to managing a full-stack team of engineers with more domain expertise in Java than the manager. To overcome this challenge, the manager relied on fundamental software principles, concepts, and universally applicable ideas, as well as improved delegation and communication skills. Transparency was the key to success, as it allowed the manager to own the fact that many team members were more senior Java engineers than themselves, creating a productive environment.

How to Ensure a Successful Paternity Leave

This article discusses the challenges of managing a team during a long leave of absence, such as paternity leave. It outlines the steps that should be taken to ensure a successful transition, such as creating a centralized document detailing responsibilities and delegating tasks to senior engineers. It also highlights the difficulty of coming back to the office after an absence, as it can be difficult to provide feedback on the work completed while away. Finally, it notes that it takes two to four weeks for a team to absorb an individual back into the group after an absence.

How To Successfully Transition From a Manager of ICs to a Manager of Managers

Transitioning from managing individual contributors (ICs) to managing managers is a difficult process. To be successful, it is important to create a scalable process to check in on organizational health, coach individuals who want to grow, and set up systems to understand the pulse of the organization. Additionally, it is important to set well-defined goals, enact a coaching mindset, act situational based on each manager, and stay technical. These tips will help managers be successful in their new roles.

Collaborating to Inspire Change Between Teams

The company I work at focuses on building enterprise products, and the product organization is more outward-facing. However, product interaction with the engineering department was limited due to a focus on business. To promote successful collaboration, I escalated the problem to my leadership team and proposed hiring an agile coach. With the help of a product stakeholder, we began an experiment and hired junior product managers to mentor seniors. It was essential to work with empathy and persevere to ensure successful collaboration.

The Difficulty in Making Career-Defining Decisions

When faced with a difficult decision about leaving a well-established company for a startup, this individual created a framework for themselves to help make the decision. They considered their five-year goals, the possibility of promotion, day-to-day tasks, teams in collaboration, and the scope of work. Ultimately, the decision was made by focusing on their five-year goal of increasing their broader knowledge and scope. They recommend that when making large career decisions, individuals should think less about the technical aspect and more about their strengths and weaknesses, and prioritize certain values and goals.

The Natural Progression From an IC Role to Manager

After receiving his Ph.D., the author started working in an industrial setting as a software engineer and gradually progressed to a tech lead, tech lead manager, and people manager. He found that taking the steps in between an IC role and managerial position was critical in his development, as it taught him to demonstrate his technical skills as a leader and collaborate with other leaders. He recommends reading "The Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhuo for helpful insights and tips for a successful transition.

Increasing the Sustainability of a Product

The team had a product that was receiving too much traffic, causing downtimes and affecting services downstream. The initial plan was to have a staff engineer lead the product, but it wasn't making much progress. The speaker stepped in and set up a daily sync to increase urgency, and held a meeting with the team to brainstorm solutions. After prioritizing the solutions, they created a plan and worked towards it. At the end of four weeks, the product could sustain ten times more traffic than before. The speaker learned that junior engineers can step up to the challenge if given the opportunity, and that framing the problem and product from a customer perspective can increase motivation and productivity.

Upskilling a Junior in 90 Days

In order to help a junior engineer transition from technical program management to coding and shipping features, a plan was created that included assigning a mentor, creating a reverse shadow system, and assigning tasks with well-defined scopes and timelines. Additionally, the engineer was exposed to different parts of the codebase and monthly check-ins were held. It was important to be aware of the team's bandwidth when taking on the responsibility of the junior.

Preparing Your Team for the Remote Workplace

This article outlines the challenges faced by a newly formed cross-functional team working remotely during the pandemic. The team identified misalignment issues and created a document to outline their problems and solutions. They also rethought their onboarding process, created a mentor program, and tracked their progress with a team-health metric. The team was able to successfully complete 90% of their projects after implementing these changes. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the challenges of remote working, checking in with all functions of each department, and tracking a team-health metric.

How to Strengthen Your Team Pitch

When transitioning into a management role, the challenge of hiring a niche group of candidates with specific backgrounds and experience was difficult. To overcome this, the hiring process was improved by partnering with recruiters, standardizing the interview process, and selling the company based on the mission and exciting projects. Through shadowing and reverse shadowing, the skills needed to successfully hire a team were improved.

Improving Team Execution in a Remote Environment

When transitioning to a remote workplace, my team faced challenges with execution and planning. We created a framework for quarterly planning, taking into account vacation, engineering quality, and on-call weeks. We also split tasks into P1 and P2 categories, with junior engineers having a third of their tasks as P2 goals. We replaced our project status spreadsheet with Asana, and held four standups each week for feedback. Lessons learned include the need for a system that provides context in one place, and taking into account extra tasks when planning.

Identifying the “Right” Problem to Solve

When working at a content site, the team inherited several projects with unreliable data transfers and UI changes. To address these issues, they created a new product that allowed for real-time UI changes, a more motivated team, and secure data transfers. The team learned the importance of thinking outside the box and standardizing data for better analysis.

Why Performance Reviews should not be yearly

Managers should provide regular feedback to their employees throughout the year, rather than waiting for the annual review. This feedback should be both positive reinforcement and negative review when necessary. This mindset shift will help employees grow and feel supported, and will prevent them from feeling blindsided by the annual review. Regular feedback also makes the formal assessment easier, as the manager will already have an understanding of the employee's performance.

Implementing a New Product From the Scratch

This article discusses the challenges faced by a company when they won a tender to provide a software solution. The company had to create a fully functional software stack for a medium telecommunication operator with minimal requirements and analysis. To overcome this challenge, the company used their knowledge of major business processes, identified usual issues, and proposed an initial architecture. They also implemented the Scrum process, held a workshop, and found a product owner to fill up their backlog. The article also outlines the lessons learned from this experience, such as preparing a solid foundation, documenting project decisions, and being open to changes.

Decommissioning of the Central Processing System and Migration to an In-House Claim Management Solution

A company needed to migrate from an external vendor product to an in-house solution, but the priority of the new system was never higher than other initiatives. To ensure the scope and deadline were met, a single team was dedicated to the initiative and a plan was created and discussed with the business. The plan was reviewed bi-weekly to avoid scope creeping and a strict deadline was set. Lessons learned included having a plan, assigning tasks to a team, and setting a strict deadline.

Struggles of a Junior Software Engineer and How to Deal With Them

As a junior software engineer, it can be difficult to get senior engineers to trust your ideas. To foster trust, it is important to build an MVP, work on new features as a passion project, and collaborate with senior engineers. Additionally, it is important to remember to do things right, not just fast, and to present a vision and roadmap when presenting ideas to superiors.

Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination

Senior engineers often struggle to get things done due to frequent interruptions. To be more productive, they should use the Pomodoro technique to block off 25 minutes of focused time for a task, and take short breaks in between. Additionally, they should try to be more curious about the context and push themselves to widen their knowledge base. Lastly, they should allocate at least 2 hours of focus time per day to be productive.

How to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

When transitioning from an IC to a leadership role, the author experienced an internal struggle due to feeling disconnected from their team. After researching online, the author found that many people experienced the same issue, known as imposter syndrome. With the help of their manager, the author was able to talk to their team and gain the confidence needed to engage in their new role. This showed the author that they were still a major part of the team, just with different responsibilities.

Losing a Feature as a Leader

In a company, a team was tasked with developing a feature, but it was unsuccessful after a year of work. To ensure the team could move forward, the leader communicated their struggles and understanding of the leadership's perspective. It was realized that lack of communication and alignment between teams was the main reason for the failure. To ensure success in the future, the leader emphasized the importance of communication and staying motivated despite failure.

Motivating a Team to Work on Less Exciting Tasks

When a tech lead expressed disinterest in a feature they were assigned, the team leader took a win-win approach to the situation. Through conversation, they were able to come to a compromise that allowed the tech lead to work on both features in parallel with more resources and access to knowledge. This enabled the team to achieve a successful outcome while also allowing the tech lead to feel more motivated and engaged.

Leading a Team With a Different Area of Expertise

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning from a UI engineer to managing a full-stack team of engineers with more domain expertise in Java than the manager. To overcome this challenge, the manager relied on fundamental software principles, concepts, and universally applicable ideas, as well as improved delegation and communication skills. Transparency was the key to success, as it allowed the manager to own the fact that many team members were more senior Java engineers than themselves, creating a productive environment.

How to Ensure a Successful Paternity Leave

This article discusses the challenges of managing a team during a long leave of absence, such as paternity leave. It outlines the steps that should be taken to ensure a successful transition, such as creating a centralized document detailing responsibilities and delegating tasks to senior engineers. It also highlights the difficulty of coming back to the office after an absence, as it can be difficult to provide feedback on the work completed while away. Finally, it notes that it takes two to four weeks for a team to absorb an individual back into the group after an absence.

How To Successfully Transition From a Manager of ICs to a Manager of Managers

Transitioning from managing individual contributors (ICs) to managing managers is a difficult process. To be successful, it is important to create a scalable process to check in on organizational health, coach individuals who want to grow, and set up systems to understand the pulse of the organization. Additionally, it is important to set well-defined goals, enact a coaching mindset, act situational based on each manager, and stay technical. These tips will help managers be successful in their new roles.

Collaborating to Inspire Change Between Teams

The company I work at focuses on building enterprise products, and the product organization is more outward-facing. However, product interaction with the engineering department was limited due to a focus on business. To promote successful collaboration, I escalated the problem to my leadership team and proposed hiring an agile coach. With the help of a product stakeholder, we began an experiment and hired junior product managers to mentor seniors. It was essential to work with empathy and persevere to ensure successful collaboration.

The Difficulty in Making Career-Defining Decisions

When faced with a difficult decision about leaving a well-established company for a startup, this individual created a framework for themselves to help make the decision. They considered their five-year goals, the possibility of promotion, day-to-day tasks, teams in collaboration, and the scope of work. Ultimately, the decision was made by focusing on their five-year goal of increasing their broader knowledge and scope. They recommend that when making large career decisions, individuals should think less about the technical aspect and more about their strengths and weaknesses, and prioritize certain values and goals.

The Natural Progression From an IC Role to Manager

After receiving his Ph.D., the author started working in an industrial setting as a software engineer and gradually progressed to a tech lead, tech lead manager, and people manager. He found that taking the steps in between an IC role and managerial position was critical in his development, as it taught him to demonstrate his technical skills as a leader and collaborate with other leaders. He recommends reading "The Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhuo for helpful insights and tips for a successful transition.

Increasing the Sustainability of a Product

The team had a product that was receiving too much traffic, causing downtimes and affecting services downstream. The initial plan was to have a staff engineer lead the product, but it wasn't making much progress. The speaker stepped in and set up a daily sync to increase urgency, and held a meeting with the team to brainstorm solutions. After prioritizing the solutions, they created a plan and worked towards it. At the end of four weeks, the product could sustain ten times more traffic than before. The speaker learned that junior engineers can step up to the challenge if given the opportunity, and that framing the problem and product from a customer perspective can increase motivation and productivity.

Upskilling a Junior in 90 Days

In order to help a junior engineer transition from technical program management to coding and shipping features, a plan was created that included assigning a mentor, creating a reverse shadow system, and assigning tasks with well-defined scopes and timelines. Additionally, the engineer was exposed to different parts of the codebase and monthly check-ins were held. It was important to be aware of the team's bandwidth when taking on the responsibility of the junior.

Preparing Your Team for the Remote Workplace

This article outlines the challenges faced by a newly formed cross-functional team working remotely during the pandemic. The team identified misalignment issues and created a document to outline their problems and solutions. They also rethought their onboarding process, created a mentor program, and tracked their progress with a team-health metric. The team was able to successfully complete 90% of their projects after implementing these changes. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the challenges of remote working, checking in with all functions of each department, and tracking a team-health metric.

How to Strengthen Your Team Pitch

When transitioning into a management role, the challenge of hiring a niche group of candidates with specific backgrounds and experience was difficult. To overcome this, the hiring process was improved by partnering with recruiters, standardizing the interview process, and selling the company based on the mission and exciting projects. Through shadowing and reverse shadowing, the skills needed to successfully hire a team were improved.

Improving Team Execution in a Remote Environment

When transitioning to a remote workplace, my team faced challenges with execution and planning. We created a framework for quarterly planning, taking into account vacation, engineering quality, and on-call weeks. We also split tasks into P1 and P2 categories, with junior engineers having a third of their tasks as P2 goals. We replaced our project status spreadsheet with Asana, and held four standups each week for feedback. Lessons learned include the need for a system that provides context in one place, and taking into account extra tasks when planning.

Identifying the “Right” Problem to Solve

When working at a content site, the team inherited several projects with unreliable data transfers and UI changes. To address these issues, they created a new product that allowed for real-time UI changes, a more motivated team, and secure data transfers. The team learned the importance of thinking outside the box and standardizing data for better analysis.

Why Performance Reviews should not be yearly

Managers should provide regular feedback to their employees throughout the year, rather than waiting for the annual review. This feedback should be both positive reinforcement and negative review when necessary. This mindset shift will help employees grow and feel supported, and will prevent them from feeling blindsided by the annual review. Regular feedback also makes the formal assessment easier, as the manager will already have an understanding of the employee's performance.

Implementing a New Product From the Scratch

This article discusses the challenges faced by a company when they won a tender to provide a software solution. The company had to create a fully functional software stack for a medium telecommunication operator with minimal requirements and analysis. To overcome this challenge, the company used their knowledge of major business processes, identified usual issues, and proposed an initial architecture. They also implemented the Scrum process, held a workshop, and found a product owner to fill up their backlog. The article also outlines the lessons learned from this experience, such as preparing a solid foundation, documenting project decisions, and being open to changes.

Decommissioning of the Central Processing System and Migration to an In-House Claim Management Solution

A company needed to migrate from an external vendor product to an in-house solution, but the priority of the new system was never higher than other initiatives. To ensure the scope and deadline were met, a single team was dedicated to the initiative and a plan was created and discussed with the business. The plan was reviewed bi-weekly to avoid scope creeping and a strict deadline was set. Lessons learned included having a plan, assigning tasks to a team, and setting a strict deadline.

Struggles of a Junior Software Engineer and How to Deal With Them

As a junior software engineer, it can be difficult to get senior engineers to trust your ideas. To foster trust, it is important to build an MVP, work on new features as a passion project, and collaborate with senior engineers. Additionally, it is important to remember to do things right, not just fast, and to present a vision and roadmap when presenting ideas to superiors.

Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination

Senior engineers often struggle to get things done due to frequent interruptions. To be more productive, they should use the Pomodoro technique to block off 25 minutes of focused time for a task, and take short breaks in between. Additionally, they should try to be more curious about the context and push themselves to widen their knowledge base. Lastly, they should allocate at least 2 hours of focus time per day to be productive.

How to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

When transitioning from an IC to a leadership role, the author experienced an internal struggle due to feeling disconnected from their team. After researching online, the author found that many people experienced the same issue, known as imposter syndrome. With the help of their manager, the author was able to talk to their team and gain the confidence needed to engage in their new role. This showed the author that they were still a major part of the team, just with different responsibilities.

Losing a Feature as a Leader

In a company, a team was tasked with developing a feature, but it was unsuccessful after a year of work. To ensure the team could move forward, the leader communicated their struggles and understanding of the leadership's perspective. It was realized that lack of communication and alignment between teams was the main reason for the failure. To ensure success in the future, the leader emphasized the importance of communication and staying motivated despite failure.

Motivating a Team to Work on Less Exciting Tasks

When a tech lead expressed disinterest in a feature they were assigned, the team leader took a win-win approach to the situation. Through conversation, they were able to come to a compromise that allowed the tech lead to work on both features in parallel with more resources and access to knowledge. This enabled the team to achieve a successful outcome while also allowing the tech lead to feel more motivated and engaged.

Leading a Team With a Different Area of Expertise

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning from a UI engineer to managing a full-stack team of engineers with more domain expertise in Java than the manager. To overcome this challenge, the manager relied on fundamental software principles, concepts, and universally applicable ideas, as well as improved delegation and communication skills. Transparency was the key to success, as it allowed the manager to own the fact that many team members were more senior Java engineers than themselves, creating a productive environment.

How to Ensure a Successful Paternity Leave

This article discusses the challenges of managing a team during a long leave of absence, such as paternity leave. It outlines the steps that should be taken to ensure a successful transition, such as creating a centralized document detailing responsibilities and delegating tasks to senior engineers. It also highlights the difficulty of coming back to the office after an absence, as it can be difficult to provide feedback on the work completed while away. Finally, it notes that it takes two to four weeks for a team to absorb an individual back into the group after an absence.

How To Successfully Transition From a Manager of ICs to a Manager of Managers

Transitioning from managing individual contributors (ICs) to managing managers is a difficult process. To be successful, it is important to create a scalable process to check in on organizational health, coach individuals who want to grow, and set up systems to understand the pulse of the organization. Additionally, it is important to set well-defined goals, enact a coaching mindset, act situational based on each manager, and stay technical. These tips will help managers be successful in their new roles.

Collaborating to Inspire Change Between Teams

The company I work at focuses on building enterprise products, and the product organization is more outward-facing. However, product interaction with the engineering department was limited due to a focus on business. To promote successful collaboration, I escalated the problem to my leadership team and proposed hiring an agile coach. With the help of a product stakeholder, we began an experiment and hired junior product managers to mentor seniors. It was essential to work with empathy and persevere to ensure successful collaboration.

The Difficulty in Making Career-Defining Decisions

When faced with a difficult decision about leaving a well-established company for a startup, this individual created a framework for themselves to help make the decision. They considered their five-year goals, the possibility of promotion, day-to-day tasks, teams in collaboration, and the scope of work. Ultimately, the decision was made by focusing on their five-year goal of increasing their broader knowledge and scope. They recommend that when making large career decisions, individuals should think less about the technical aspect and more about their strengths and weaknesses, and prioritize certain values and goals.

The Natural Progression From an IC Role to Manager

After receiving his Ph.D., the author started working in an industrial setting as a software engineer and gradually progressed to a tech lead, tech lead manager, and people manager. He found that taking the steps in between an IC role and managerial position was critical in his development, as it taught him to demonstrate his technical skills as a leader and collaborate with other leaders. He recommends reading "The Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhuo for helpful insights and tips for a successful transition.

Increasing the Sustainability of a Product

The team had a product that was receiving too much traffic, causing downtimes and affecting services downstream. The initial plan was to have a staff engineer lead the product, but it wasn't making much progress. The speaker stepped in and set up a daily sync to increase urgency, and held a meeting with the team to brainstorm solutions. After prioritizing the solutions, they created a plan and worked towards it. At the end of four weeks, the product could sustain ten times more traffic than before. The speaker learned that junior engineers can step up to the challenge if given the opportunity, and that framing the problem and product from a customer perspective can increase motivation and productivity.

Upskilling a Junior in 90 Days

In order to help a junior engineer transition from technical program management to coding and shipping features, a plan was created that included assigning a mentor, creating a reverse shadow system, and assigning tasks with well-defined scopes and timelines. Additionally, the engineer was exposed to different parts of the codebase and monthly check-ins were held. It was important to be aware of the team's bandwidth when taking on the responsibility of the junior.

Preparing Your Team for the Remote Workplace

This article outlines the challenges faced by a newly formed cross-functional team working remotely during the pandemic. The team identified misalignment issues and created a document to outline their problems and solutions. They also rethought their onboarding process, created a mentor program, and tracked their progress with a team-health metric. The team was able to successfully complete 90% of their projects after implementing these changes. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the challenges of remote working, checking in with all functions of each department, and tracking a team-health metric.

How to Strengthen Your Team Pitch

When transitioning into a management role, the challenge of hiring a niche group of candidates with specific backgrounds and experience was difficult. To overcome this, the hiring process was improved by partnering with recruiters, standardizing the interview process, and selling the company based on the mission and exciting projects. Through shadowing and reverse shadowing, the skills needed to successfully hire a team were improved.

Improving Team Execution in a Remote Environment

When transitioning to a remote workplace, my team faced challenges with execution and planning. We created a framework for quarterly planning, taking into account vacation, engineering quality, and on-call weeks. We also split tasks into P1 and P2 categories, with junior engineers having a third of their tasks as P2 goals. We replaced our project status spreadsheet with Asana, and held four standups each week for feedback. Lessons learned include the need for a system that provides context in one place, and taking into account extra tasks when planning.

Identifying the “Right” Problem to Solve

When working at a content site, the team inherited several projects with unreliable data transfers and UI changes. To address these issues, they created a new product that allowed for real-time UI changes, a more motivated team, and secure data transfers. The team learned the importance of thinking outside the box and standardizing data for better analysis.

Why Performance Reviews should not be yearly

Managers should provide regular feedback to their employees throughout the year, rather than waiting for the annual review. This feedback should be both positive reinforcement and negative review when necessary. This mindset shift will help employees grow and feel supported, and will prevent them from feeling blindsided by the annual review. Regular feedback also makes the formal assessment easier, as the manager will already have an understanding of the employee's performance.

Implementing a New Product From the Scratch

This article discusses the challenges faced by a company when they won a tender to provide a software solution. The company had to create a fully functional software stack for a medium telecommunication operator with minimal requirements and analysis. To overcome this challenge, the company used their knowledge of major business processes, identified usual issues, and proposed an initial architecture. They also implemented the Scrum process, held a workshop, and found a product owner to fill up their backlog. The article also outlines the lessons learned from this experience, such as preparing a solid foundation, documenting project decisions, and being open to changes.

Decommissioning of the Central Processing System and Migration to an In-House Claim Management Solution

A company needed to migrate from an external vendor product to an in-house solution, but the priority of the new system was never higher than other initiatives. To ensure the scope and deadline were met, a single team was dedicated to the initiative and a plan was created and discussed with the business. The plan was reviewed bi-weekly to avoid scope creeping and a strict deadline was set. Lessons learned included having a plan, assigning tasks to a team, and setting a strict deadline.

Struggles of a Junior Software Engineer and How to Deal With Them

As a junior software engineer, it can be difficult to get senior engineers to trust your ideas. To foster trust, it is important to build an MVP, work on new features as a passion project, and collaborate with senior engineers. Additionally, it is important to remember to do things right, not just fast, and to present a vision and roadmap when presenting ideas to superiors.

Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination

Senior engineers often struggle to get things done due to frequent interruptions. To be more productive, they should use the Pomodoro technique to block off 25 minutes of focused time for a task, and take short breaks in between. Additionally, they should try to be more curious about the context and push themselves to widen their knowledge base. Lastly, they should allocate at least 2 hours of focus time per day to be productive.

How to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

When transitioning from an IC to a leadership role, the author experienced an internal struggle due to feeling disconnected from their team. After researching online, the author found that many people experienced the same issue, known as imposter syndrome. With the help of their manager, the author was able to talk to their team and gain the confidence needed to engage in their new role. This showed the author that they were still a major part of the team, just with different responsibilities.

Losing a Feature as a Leader

In a company, a team was tasked with developing a feature, but it was unsuccessful after a year of work. To ensure the team could move forward, the leader communicated their struggles and understanding of the leadership's perspective. It was realized that lack of communication and alignment between teams was the main reason for the failure. To ensure success in the future, the leader emphasized the importance of communication and staying motivated despite failure.

Motivating a Team to Work on Less Exciting Tasks

When a tech lead expressed disinterest in a feature they were assigned, the team leader took a win-win approach to the situation. Through conversation, they were able to come to a compromise that allowed the tech lead to work on both features in parallel with more resources and access to knowledge. This enabled the team to achieve a successful outcome while also allowing the tech lead to feel more motivated and engaged.

Leading a Team With a Different Area of Expertise

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning from a UI engineer to managing a full-stack team of engineers with more domain expertise in Java than the manager. To overcome this challenge, the manager relied on fundamental software principles, concepts, and universally applicable ideas, as well as improved delegation and communication skills. Transparency was the key to success, as it allowed the manager to own the fact that many team members were more senior Java engineers than themselves, creating a productive environment.

How to Ensure a Successful Paternity Leave

This article discusses the challenges of managing a team during a long leave of absence, such as paternity leave. It outlines the steps that should be taken to ensure a successful transition, such as creating a centralized document detailing responsibilities and delegating tasks to senior engineers. It also highlights the difficulty of coming back to the office after an absence, as it can be difficult to provide feedback on the work completed while away. Finally, it notes that it takes two to four weeks for a team to absorb an individual back into the group after an absence.

How To Successfully Transition From a Manager of ICs to a Manager of Managers

Transitioning from managing individual contributors (ICs) to managing managers is a difficult process. To be successful, it is important to create a scalable process to check in on organizational health, coach individuals who want to grow, and set up systems to understand the pulse of the organization. Additionally, it is important to set well-defined goals, enact a coaching mindset, act situational based on each manager, and stay technical. These tips will help managers be successful in their new roles.

Collaborating to Inspire Change Between Teams

The company I work at focuses on building enterprise products, and the product organization is more outward-facing. However, product interaction with the engineering department was limited due to a focus on business. To promote successful collaboration, I escalated the problem to my leadership team and proposed hiring an agile coach. With the help of a product stakeholder, we began an experiment and hired junior product managers to mentor seniors. It was essential to work with empathy and persevere to ensure successful collaboration.

The Difficulty in Making Career-Defining Decisions

When faced with a difficult decision about leaving a well-established company for a startup, this individual created a framework for themselves to help make the decision. They considered their five-year goals, the possibility of promotion, day-to-day tasks, teams in collaboration, and the scope of work. Ultimately, the decision was made by focusing on their five-year goal of increasing their broader knowledge and scope. They recommend that when making large career decisions, individuals should think less about the technical aspect and more about their strengths and weaknesses, and prioritize certain values and goals.

The Natural Progression From an IC Role to Manager

After receiving his Ph.D., the author started working in an industrial setting as a software engineer and gradually progressed to a tech lead, tech lead manager, and people manager. He found that taking the steps in between an IC role and managerial position was critical in his development, as it taught him to demonstrate his technical skills as a leader and collaborate with other leaders. He recommends reading "The Making of a Manager" by Julie Zhuo for helpful insights and tips for a successful transition.

Increasing the Sustainability of a Product

The team had a product that was receiving too much traffic, causing downtimes and affecting services downstream. The initial plan was to have a staff engineer lead the product, but it wasn't making much progress. The speaker stepped in and set up a daily sync to increase urgency, and held a meeting with the team to brainstorm solutions. After prioritizing the solutions, they created a plan and worked towards it. At the end of four weeks, the product could sustain ten times more traffic than before. The speaker learned that junior engineers can step up to the challenge if given the opportunity, and that framing the problem and product from a customer perspective can increase motivation and productivity.

Upskilling a Junior in 90 Days

In order to help a junior engineer transition from technical program management to coding and shipping features, a plan was created that included assigning a mentor, creating a reverse shadow system, and assigning tasks with well-defined scopes and timelines. Additionally, the engineer was exposed to different parts of the codebase and monthly check-ins were held. It was important to be aware of the team's bandwidth when taking on the responsibility of the junior.

Preparing Your Team for the Remote Workplace

This article outlines the challenges faced by a newly formed cross-functional team working remotely during the pandemic. The team identified misalignment issues and created a document to outline their problems and solutions. They also rethought their onboarding process, created a mentor program, and tracked their progress with a team-health metric. The team was able to successfully complete 90% of their projects after implementing these changes. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the challenges of remote working, checking in with all functions of each department, and tracking a team-health metric.

How to Strengthen Your Team Pitch

When transitioning into a management role, the challenge of hiring a niche group of candidates with specific backgrounds and experience was difficult. To overcome this, the hiring process was improved by partnering with recruiters, standardizing the interview process, and selling the company based on the mission and exciting projects. Through shadowing and reverse shadowing, the skills needed to successfully hire a team were improved.

Improving Team Execution in a Remote Environment

When transitioning to a remote workplace, my team faced challenges with execution and planning. We created a framework for quarterly planning, taking into account vacation, engineering quality, and on-call weeks. We also split tasks into P1 and P2 categories, with junior engineers having a third of their tasks as P2 goals. We replaced our project status spreadsheet with Asana, and held four standups each week for feedback. Lessons learned include the need for a system that provides context in one place, and taking into account extra tasks when planning.

Identifying the “Right” Problem to Solve

When working at a content site, the team inherited several projects with unreliable data transfers and UI changes. To address these issues, they created a new product that allowed for real-time UI changes, a more motivated team, and secure data transfers. The team learned the importance of thinking outside the box and standardizing data for better analysis.

Why Performance Reviews should not be yearly

Managers should provide regular feedback to their employees throughout the year, rather than waiting for the annual review. This feedback should be both positive reinforcement and negative review when necessary. This mindset shift will help employees grow and feel supported, and will prevent them from feeling blindsided by the annual review. Regular feedback also makes the formal assessment easier, as the manager will already have an understanding of the employee's performance.