Technical Skills

The Importance of Effective Communication Skills in Technical Roles

Software engineers and developers often have a lack of balance between their technical and soft skills, such as communication and emotional management. It is important to recognize this as an area for improvement and allocate time to strengthen these skills, just as one would with software development. Leaders should also support their team members in taking charge of conversations. Ultimately, it is an ongoing learning journey to improve soft skills and communication techniques.

Assessing the Performance of Your Team

The French National Football Team won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, led by exceptional players such as Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé. The team was coached by Didier Deschamps, who was also a player on the 1998 championship team. This post discusses the importance of a coach in any team sport, and how an Engineering Manager is similar to a football coach. It also provides a list of metrics to measure the performance of individual team members, such as pull requests merged, bugs or support tickets touched, and open source contributions. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of assessing the “soft” skills of collaboration, motivation, and culture fit in a dynamic business context.

10 Engineering Leadership lessons I learned with Customer Success Managers

Customer Success Managers can teach Engineering Leaders valuable lessons on prioritizing user needs and experience over technical complexities. By emphasizing customer-centric approaches, Engineering Leaders can ensure that products align with user expectations, enhancing satisfaction and retention. Effective communication and collaboration between technical and non-technical teams are highlighted as important for a holistic understanding of user requirements and driving product innovation. The text provides 10 lessons learned from Customer Success Managers that can optimize software development processes and deliver solutions that resonate with end-users and drive long-term success. These lessons include the importance of empathy for customers, putting into action what is advocated, enhancing the leadership voice of the customer within engineering, the significance of persuasion, the balance between support and confrontation, managing expectations, asking great questions, being invested in customers, seeking obstacles and issues beyond the product's scope, and the benefits of proactivity. By integrating these insights and strategies, Engineering Leaders can drive product development and enhance customer satisfaction, leading to increased loyalty and long-term success.

(Re)Organizing Your Teams Using Domain-Driven Design

Leaders must organize their teams effectively to get the best team performance. Melvin Conway's Law states that the structure of a system will reflect the organization's communication structure. Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and Event Storming can be used to identify the major boundaries of scope and create an organizational structure that maps teams to the domain models they are responsible for. This reduces the amount and complexity of communication and coordination required between teams, improving development velocity.

Facebook vs. Google: 10 Contrasts for Engineering Careers

This article provides an overview of the differences between Google and Facebook as places for a software engineering career. It is based on the author's personal experience at both companies, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each. It is ultimately up to the individual to decide which company is the best fit for them, as either could lead to success or disappointment. The article also provides links to the careers pages of both companies.

Creating and fostering a safe environment

Fostering a safe and empowering work environment for developers is essential for encouraging experimentation, increasing productivity, and retaining top talent. Engineering leaders can create such an environment by encouraging open communication, fostering a learning culture, and providing autonomy. To measure the success of creating a safe environment, metrics such as productivity, value delivered, employee turnover rate, and employee engagement surveys can be used.