DocuSign experienced downtime due to an unexpected change to Microsoft's Authorisations and Permissions management. The team panicked, but the manager leveraged relationships to escalate the problem and get the systems back up quickly. The manager learned that monitoring is key, not to trust anyone, and to maintain relationships. As a result, DocuSign implemented a new way to detect errors and updated contacts with large companies.

Plato

Shruti Venkatesh

Engineering Manager at Capsule

How to Create a Tailored Growth Plan For Your Teams

When joining a company with an unclear career ladder, the manager took action to ensure that their engineers had clarity on what constituted progress in their career. This included analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, setting clear goals, and identifying areas where their interests and the manager's goals could overlap. The outcome was that engineers had clarity on their goals and felt engaged and involved with the organization. The manager learned that it is important to be clear about goals at the start of a performance cycle, ask questions to team members, and build a specialized plan for engineers to help with retention.

Plato

Rohit Raghunathan

Engineering Manager at DoorDash

When to Hire Senior Engineers and Tech Leads

The author experienced first-hand the consequences of hiring too many junior engineers when starting an engineering function in New York. They learned that it is important to disregard the pressure to start delivering quickly and instead focus on building the team structure, bringing in tech leads first and then adding mid and junior engineers. They also learned that opportunities should be modeled to attract the right candidates and that both sides should be adaptable.

Plato

Aurélien Pelletier

CTO at ex PrestaShop

How to Establish and Manage Expectations with the Business

This article discusses how to manage the pressure of unrealistic requests from the business while maintaining Engineering's own pace and priorities. It suggests reframing requests to suit Engineering's interests, using visual project management tools to give the business visibility, being careful with time-commitments, having planning reviews with different stakeholders, and connecting tech debt with a concrete value that is brought to customers.

Plato

Suresh Marur

ex VP of Engineering at Smarsh Inc

The Parking Lot Method of Team Development

Managers need to constantly reinvent their teams in order to keep up with the changing industry. The Parking Lot Technique is a method to understand the team and make them a living, dynamic organism. It involves removing biases, visualizing the roles and responsibilities needed in the future, and placing people in positions where they have something to aspire to. Doing this frequently will bring clarity to the manager and help them make decisions free of bias. It also allows them to convert attrition into a moment of opportunity.

Plato

Deepak Paramanand

Product Lead at Hitachi Technologies

How Stand-Up Comedy Helped Me Better Understand People

At a TED conference in India in 2009, a TED staff member used stand-up comedy to lighten the mood. This inspired the speaker to use comedy to enhance interactions with people and understanding of other people. He started going to a bar telling jokes and researching the audience to write jokes for them. He then applied this experience to his workplace, researching the attendees before meetings and using jokes to convey messages that require self-reflection. He learned that it is important to focus on the audience and their needs, and to listen to their response to jokes.

Plato

Aravinda Gollapudi

Head of Platform

Paving the Way for the Women of Tomorrow

This is a story of a woman in the technology field who has experienced the lack of female representation and has taken it upon herself to do something about it. She has learned the importance of leaning in with a diversity initiative, and has taken steps to become an example for young women to follow. She has also learned the importance of mentoring and teaching skills to others, and is now focused on leaving a legacy behind. She is thankful for all the help she has received along the way.

Plato

Ben Retourné

VP of Product at BlaBlaCar

Managing Experienced People

Managing people of different seniority, experience, and competencies is a challenge for first-time managers. When managing junior people, it is important to provide direct guidance and protect them from ambiguity. When managing senior people, it is important to provide context and feedback, and to give them visibility and recognition for their individual efforts. It is also important to let people fail and learn from their failures, but with juniors, failures need to be highly controlled.

Plato

Who to follow

Kent Wills

10+ years leading high performing, cross functional groups

Sarah Duitsman

Empathetic engineering leader with a knack for process

Shannon Vettes

My >20yrs in product and tech have created enough trial-by-fire experiences to fill several books.

Cat Miller

CTO, data engineer, sometimes PM at high growth companies

Bala Muthiah

Startup Advisor | Founder | Non Profit Board Member | Speaker

David Keitel

Director, Infrastructure Engineering @ Flock Freight

Connect and Learn with the Best Eng Leaders

We will send you a weekly newsletter with new mentors, circles, peer groups, content, webinars,bounties and free events.

Latest Stories

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

Limor Bergman Gross

Executive Coach at LBG Consulting Service Ltd

Building Trust and Credibility in Remote Engineering Teams

In today's remote work environment, it is crucial to build trust and credibility within engineering teams. This can be achieved through strategies such as building relationships, promoting transparency, embracing vulnerability, maintaining consistency, and practicing effective communication. Building personal connections, being open and honest, sharing failures, keeping commitments, and fostering clear and transparent communication are all essential for creating a culture of trust and credibility within remote engineering teams.

Plato

Limor Bergman Gross

Executive Coach at LBG Consulting Service Ltd

Managing Team Tensions: Strategies for Engineering Leaders

This article explores effective strategies for engineering leaders to address and resolve conflicts among team members. Using a real-life scenario as a case study, the article highlights the tension between two senior staff engineers, Daniel and Sean, who have different approaches to a project. The goal is to find a way to utilize both of their strengths and align their approaches to ensure the success of the project. The article suggests understanding the situation, identifying the conflict, leveraging different perspectives, mediating the discussion, encouraging collaboration, involving distinguished engineers if necessary, leading by influence, and dealing with defensive reactions. By following these strategies, engineering leaders can manage team tensions and create a more productive work environment.

Plato

Limor Bergman Gross

Executive Coach at LBG Consulting Service Ltd

Navigating the Challenges of Transitioning to an Engineering Manager Role

Transitioning to an engineering manager role comes with its own set of challenges, but by being strategic, building relationships, and advocating for oneself, success can be achieved. It is important to proactively plan one's career and advocate for personal growth and development. Building relationships with key stakeholders and finding allies within the organization can greatly help in advocating for oneself and influencing change. Understanding the motivations of others and aligning interests can also aid in gaining support for ideas. If promotion opportunities are limited, focusing on expanding responsibilities and taking on more challenging tasks can showcase potential for future growth. Seeking out mentors within the organization can provide guidance and support throughout the career transition process. Overall, being proactive, building relationships, and advocating for oneself are key to navigating the challenges of transitioning to an engineering manager role.

Plato

Hakim Hanif

Sr Software Engineer at Amazon Web Services

Top 7 software bloggers to follow

This blog highlights the top 7 bloggers in the field of software engineering and product development. These bloggers provide valuable insights and ideas on software design, processes, and methodologies. The list includes Martin Fowler, known for his expertise in software patterns; Kent Beck, the creator of Extreme Programming and Test Driven Development; Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator and an expert on startups and entrepreneurship; Jeff Atwood, co-founder of Stack Overflow; Andy Hunt, founder of the Pragmatic Programmer series; Joel Spolsky, a blogger who offers both sensible and surprising perspectives; and Steve Yegge, known for his entertaining content. Following these bloggers can help software engineers improve their skills and gain knowledge from the best in the field.

Plato

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