Knowledge shared by our community

Going from no testing to full QA automation

As an engineering team grows, it is important to maintain a QA-to-engineering ratio to ensure that there is always a third party testing the code. Manual testing is a great way to start, but automation is key to catching bugs quickly. Regressions must be treated with high priority to maintain user trust.

Being an engaging speaker and presenter

As an engineering manager, it can be difficult to engage employees in topics that may be uninteresting to them. To overcome this, one can use a "method acting" approach to emotionally connect to the material, as well as "acting hacks" such as pregnant pauses, volume levels, humor, and eye contact. Additionally, being vulnerable with the audience can help to generate trust and focus.

Managing toxic employees and atmospheres

This article discusses the problem of hiring false positives and false negatives, and the actions taken to address two toxic employees. In the first case, swift and constructive feedback was given, and the employee was eventually let go. In the second case, the employee was talented but slow, and it was necessary to let them go in order to unblock other employees and the organization. The lesson learned is to listen to gut feelings and act swiftly when an environment feels toxic, even if it means taking on legal risk.

Resolving severe personality conflicts

Through personal therapy and psychology training, I have developed a set of techniques to help address personality conflicts between two individuals. By facilitating 1-on-1s with a third party present, the technique encourages each person to speak openly and be heard. This has been successful in transforming relationships, and has led to me being called the "Chief Therapy Officer" at my company. The lesson learned is that organizations can survive with dysfunctions, but those that can have employees listening to each other with empathy until they are truly heard are more likely to function without excessive bureaucracy.

Peacefully managing out low-performing employees

Firing people is a difficult and potentially legally risky task for managers. To ensure the process is done well, managers should have regular 1-on-1s with employees to discuss performance and create a Success Plan with clear goals. If an employee is not happy, managers should have an open conversation to identify what would make them happy, even if it's not in their current role. Quarterly performance reviews should also be held to record detailed information on performance.

Growing and mentoring managers of managers

This article discusses how to combat the perception that management is the only path of growth for engineers. It suggests proactively communicating that there are two separate tracks, both of which are equally respected and deserving of the same levels of compensation and seniority. Additionally, it suggests having mentorship and lead positions, management training options, and enabling autonomy and trust by not having "skip level" 1-on-1's. Finally, it suggests having managers of managers audit their teams and engage with those affected by the team's work.

Enabling a Pro-Diversity Culture

In order to create a pro-diversity culture, it is important for the executive team to be vocal and open about their stance. This requires individuals to bring their whole selves to work and be open about their unique backgrounds. Additionally, trainings should be embraced as a way to educate employees about unconscious bias and microaggressions. By practicing empathy and taking these issues seriously, organizations can create a diverse and safe environment for all employees.

Measuring & Communicating Team Success

In order to measure the success of the Product and Engineering organization, a "Monthly Report" was created to provide measurable data and qualitative content to the executive team and CEO. This report includes an executive summary, highlights and goals, capital expenses, performance & uptime, product development & quality, and visual charts and graphs. This report has been a great way to communicate progress and keep on top of what is going well or not well with the team.

Reducing significant inherited technical debt

When inheriting a new team and codebase, it is important to address the underlying cultural issues that lead to technical debt. This may require difficult conversations with senior members of the organization to change bad habits. Additionally, it is important to find a balance between innovation and technical debt, as it may be in the best financial interest of the company.

Ensuring a happy, productive culture and prevent burnout

This article explores tactics to ensure team members stay happy and productive in a startup environment. It focuses on giving autonomy to team members, educating them on increasing efficiency, and motivating through praise rather than fear. It also looks at the "5 Love Languages" to identify which forms of praise and appreciation resonate with individuals. The article emphasizes the importance of creating an empathetic environment in which people feel comfortable being vulnerable and open about their emotions.

Scaling a remote team from 4 to 40

This article outlines the steps taken by an engineer to scale and grow an engineering team abroad. The engineer focused on listening to the team's concerns, identifying issues in the codebase, and fostering a more personal connection with the team. Through mentoring and post-mortem sessions, the team grew happier and more autonomous. The article emphasizes the importance of connecting with the team on a personal level and working hard to gain their trust and respect.

Finding the right team structure and organization

As the company grew from 10 to 200, it became clear that the existing processes were no longer effective. To address this, the team implemented daily stand-ups, retrospectives, post-mortems, 1-on-1s, and affinity diagram brainstorming sessions. They also switched to Spotify's "Squads" system. It is important to have a persistent feedback mechanism and regular open dialog with the team to identify and implement better processes as the company scales.

How to increase your team’s diversity

This article discusses the difficulty of making a team diverse after it has already been established. It explains the steps taken to increase diversity, such as implementing a diversity slate system inspired by the Rooney Rule, and reaching out to minority groups through conferences and sponsorships. The article emphasizes the importance of being mindful of who is hired when first setting up a team, as it pays off in the long run. As a result of these efforts, 55% of the team's recruits are now women.

Successful Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a necessary but time-consuming task for managers. At Mobiquity, the process starts in February with gathering feedback from people who have worked with the employee being evaluated. This is followed by an in-person appraisal which takes an hour. The lesson learned is to ensure the review is based on job performance and not personal relationships.

Convincing Leadership to Perform Code Analysis

This article describes how the author was able to successfully implement static code analysis software at their company, Mobiquity, by demonstrating the value of the software with data. By showing the difference between a project with and without the software, the author was able to get buy-in from management and mandate code analysis company-wide. The lesson learned is that data is key when trying to make a change in an organization.

Introducing a New Project Management Methodology

A software development team at the University of Florida was having difficulty delivering features and software on time and within budget, so the Manager researched and implemented Agile Scrum methodology. They used paper for their first two projects, and then found software to match their process. After three months, they settled on Jira, which was flexible and had other products they needed. The Manager learned to do research before changing methodologies, and to be patient when implementing the new process.

Setting Up Clear Career Paths

In the Fall of 2017, a career ladder was designed to provide two distinct paths for both managers and technical employees that were equivalent in terms of respect, authority, and compensation. The process of writing the descriptions, getting feedback, and addressing individual feedback took some time, but the feedback was positive and the introduction of a career path took about three months to roll out.

Effective One-on-Ones

When a manager at Mortar Data had an employee ready to quit, they realized they needed to restructure their one-on-one meetings. They implemented the "Update, Vent, and Disaster" approach, which involves understanding how the other person is feeling with respect to their work and the company, and getting stories from them that they wouldn't ordinarily tell. They also made the meetings less formal, and gave the employee the space to talk about their feelings. This allowed the manager to better understand their employees and address any issues they were facing.

Overhauling An Interview Process

When the author began working at Segment.com as an Engineering Manager, they had to hire quickly but the engineers were not good at conducting interviews. The author partnered closely with recruiters, used Greenhouse software, and gathered data on the existing interview process. They removed irrelevant interviews, documented technical exercises, and gave applicants take-home tests. They also performed two major technical interviews onsite. The author learned that it is important to partner closely with recruiters and to look critically at the interview process.

Contributing Effectively As a Newly Hired Manager or Head of Engineering

When transitioning into a new management role at a company, it is important to build trust and rapport with peers and reports. One way to do this is to set up one-on-one meetings with as many people in the organization as possible. Additionally, when faced with challenges, it is important to use first principles to solve them, rather than relying on cookie-cutter solutions. This approach worked well for the author when transitioning into a new role at drive.ai, and resulted in the successful planning and execution of an offsite for the engineering team.

Going from no testing to full QA automation

As an engineering team grows, it is important to maintain a QA-to-engineering ratio to ensure that there is always a third party testing the code. Manual testing is a great way to start, but automation is key to catching bugs quickly. Regressions must be treated with high priority to maintain user trust.

Being an engaging speaker and presenter

As an engineering manager, it can be difficult to engage employees in topics that may be uninteresting to them. To overcome this, one can use a "method acting" approach to emotionally connect to the material, as well as "acting hacks" such as pregnant pauses, volume levels, humor, and eye contact. Additionally, being vulnerable with the audience can help to generate trust and focus.

Managing toxic employees and atmospheres

This article discusses the problem of hiring false positives and false negatives, and the actions taken to address two toxic employees. In the first case, swift and constructive feedback was given, and the employee was eventually let go. In the second case, the employee was talented but slow, and it was necessary to let them go in order to unblock other employees and the organization. The lesson learned is to listen to gut feelings and act swiftly when an environment feels toxic, even if it means taking on legal risk.

Resolving severe personality conflicts

Through personal therapy and psychology training, I have developed a set of techniques to help address personality conflicts between two individuals. By facilitating 1-on-1s with a third party present, the technique encourages each person to speak openly and be heard. This has been successful in transforming relationships, and has led to me being called the "Chief Therapy Officer" at my company. The lesson learned is that organizations can survive with dysfunctions, but those that can have employees listening to each other with empathy until they are truly heard are more likely to function without excessive bureaucracy.

Peacefully managing out low-performing employees

Firing people is a difficult and potentially legally risky task for managers. To ensure the process is done well, managers should have regular 1-on-1s with employees to discuss performance and create a Success Plan with clear goals. If an employee is not happy, managers should have an open conversation to identify what would make them happy, even if it's not in their current role. Quarterly performance reviews should also be held to record detailed information on performance.

Growing and mentoring managers of managers

This article discusses how to combat the perception that management is the only path of growth for engineers. It suggests proactively communicating that there are two separate tracks, both of which are equally respected and deserving of the same levels of compensation and seniority. Additionally, it suggests having mentorship and lead positions, management training options, and enabling autonomy and trust by not having "skip level" 1-on-1's. Finally, it suggests having managers of managers audit their teams and engage with those affected by the team's work.

Enabling a Pro-Diversity Culture

In order to create a pro-diversity culture, it is important for the executive team to be vocal and open about their stance. This requires individuals to bring their whole selves to work and be open about their unique backgrounds. Additionally, trainings should be embraced as a way to educate employees about unconscious bias and microaggressions. By practicing empathy and taking these issues seriously, organizations can create a diverse and safe environment for all employees.

Measuring & Communicating Team Success

In order to measure the success of the Product and Engineering organization, a "Monthly Report" was created to provide measurable data and qualitative content to the executive team and CEO. This report includes an executive summary, highlights and goals, capital expenses, performance & uptime, product development & quality, and visual charts and graphs. This report has been a great way to communicate progress and keep on top of what is going well or not well with the team.

Reducing significant inherited technical debt

When inheriting a new team and codebase, it is important to address the underlying cultural issues that lead to technical debt. This may require difficult conversations with senior members of the organization to change bad habits. Additionally, it is important to find a balance between innovation and technical debt, as it may be in the best financial interest of the company.

Ensuring a happy, productive culture and prevent burnout

This article explores tactics to ensure team members stay happy and productive in a startup environment. It focuses on giving autonomy to team members, educating them on increasing efficiency, and motivating through praise rather than fear. It also looks at the "5 Love Languages" to identify which forms of praise and appreciation resonate with individuals. The article emphasizes the importance of creating an empathetic environment in which people feel comfortable being vulnerable and open about their emotions.

Scaling a remote team from 4 to 40

This article outlines the steps taken by an engineer to scale and grow an engineering team abroad. The engineer focused on listening to the team's concerns, identifying issues in the codebase, and fostering a more personal connection with the team. Through mentoring and post-mortem sessions, the team grew happier and more autonomous. The article emphasizes the importance of connecting with the team on a personal level and working hard to gain their trust and respect.

Finding the right team structure and organization

As the company grew from 10 to 200, it became clear that the existing processes were no longer effective. To address this, the team implemented daily stand-ups, retrospectives, post-mortems, 1-on-1s, and affinity diagram brainstorming sessions. They also switched to Spotify's "Squads" system. It is important to have a persistent feedback mechanism and regular open dialog with the team to identify and implement better processes as the company scales.

How to increase your team’s diversity

This article discusses the difficulty of making a team diverse after it has already been established. It explains the steps taken to increase diversity, such as implementing a diversity slate system inspired by the Rooney Rule, and reaching out to minority groups through conferences and sponsorships. The article emphasizes the importance of being mindful of who is hired when first setting up a team, as it pays off in the long run. As a result of these efforts, 55% of the team's recruits are now women.

Successful Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a necessary but time-consuming task for managers. At Mobiquity, the process starts in February with gathering feedback from people who have worked with the employee being evaluated. This is followed by an in-person appraisal which takes an hour. The lesson learned is to ensure the review is based on job performance and not personal relationships.

Convincing Leadership to Perform Code Analysis

This article describes how the author was able to successfully implement static code analysis software at their company, Mobiquity, by demonstrating the value of the software with data. By showing the difference between a project with and without the software, the author was able to get buy-in from management and mandate code analysis company-wide. The lesson learned is that data is key when trying to make a change in an organization.

Introducing a New Project Management Methodology

A software development team at the University of Florida was having difficulty delivering features and software on time and within budget, so the Manager researched and implemented Agile Scrum methodology. They used paper for their first two projects, and then found software to match their process. After three months, they settled on Jira, which was flexible and had other products they needed. The Manager learned to do research before changing methodologies, and to be patient when implementing the new process.

Setting Up Clear Career Paths

In the Fall of 2017, a career ladder was designed to provide two distinct paths for both managers and technical employees that were equivalent in terms of respect, authority, and compensation. The process of writing the descriptions, getting feedback, and addressing individual feedback took some time, but the feedback was positive and the introduction of a career path took about three months to roll out.

Effective One-on-Ones

When a manager at Mortar Data had an employee ready to quit, they realized they needed to restructure their one-on-one meetings. They implemented the "Update, Vent, and Disaster" approach, which involves understanding how the other person is feeling with respect to their work and the company, and getting stories from them that they wouldn't ordinarily tell. They also made the meetings less formal, and gave the employee the space to talk about their feelings. This allowed the manager to better understand their employees and address any issues they were facing.

Overhauling An Interview Process

When the author began working at Segment.com as an Engineering Manager, they had to hire quickly but the engineers were not good at conducting interviews. The author partnered closely with recruiters, used Greenhouse software, and gathered data on the existing interview process. They removed irrelevant interviews, documented technical exercises, and gave applicants take-home tests. They also performed two major technical interviews onsite. The author learned that it is important to partner closely with recruiters and to look critically at the interview process.

Contributing Effectively As a Newly Hired Manager or Head of Engineering

When transitioning into a new management role at a company, it is important to build trust and rapport with peers and reports. One way to do this is to set up one-on-one meetings with as many people in the organization as possible. Additionally, when faced with challenges, it is important to use first principles to solve them, rather than relying on cookie-cutter solutions. This approach worked well for the author when transitioning into a new role at drive.ai, and resulted in the successful planning and execution of an offsite for the engineering team.

Going from no testing to full QA automation

As an engineering team grows, it is important to maintain a QA-to-engineering ratio to ensure that there is always a third party testing the code. Manual testing is a great way to start, but automation is key to catching bugs quickly. Regressions must be treated with high priority to maintain user trust.

Being an engaging speaker and presenter

As an engineering manager, it can be difficult to engage employees in topics that may be uninteresting to them. To overcome this, one can use a "method acting" approach to emotionally connect to the material, as well as "acting hacks" such as pregnant pauses, volume levels, humor, and eye contact. Additionally, being vulnerable with the audience can help to generate trust and focus.

Managing toxic employees and atmospheres

This article discusses the problem of hiring false positives and false negatives, and the actions taken to address two toxic employees. In the first case, swift and constructive feedback was given, and the employee was eventually let go. In the second case, the employee was talented but slow, and it was necessary to let them go in order to unblock other employees and the organization. The lesson learned is to listen to gut feelings and act swiftly when an environment feels toxic, even if it means taking on legal risk.

Resolving severe personality conflicts

Through personal therapy and psychology training, I have developed a set of techniques to help address personality conflicts between two individuals. By facilitating 1-on-1s with a third party present, the technique encourages each person to speak openly and be heard. This has been successful in transforming relationships, and has led to me being called the "Chief Therapy Officer" at my company. The lesson learned is that organizations can survive with dysfunctions, but those that can have employees listening to each other with empathy until they are truly heard are more likely to function without excessive bureaucracy.

Peacefully managing out low-performing employees

Firing people is a difficult and potentially legally risky task for managers. To ensure the process is done well, managers should have regular 1-on-1s with employees to discuss performance and create a Success Plan with clear goals. If an employee is not happy, managers should have an open conversation to identify what would make them happy, even if it's not in their current role. Quarterly performance reviews should also be held to record detailed information on performance.

Growing and mentoring managers of managers

This article discusses how to combat the perception that management is the only path of growth for engineers. It suggests proactively communicating that there are two separate tracks, both of which are equally respected and deserving of the same levels of compensation and seniority. Additionally, it suggests having mentorship and lead positions, management training options, and enabling autonomy and trust by not having "skip level" 1-on-1's. Finally, it suggests having managers of managers audit their teams and engage with those affected by the team's work.

Enabling a Pro-Diversity Culture

In order to create a pro-diversity culture, it is important for the executive team to be vocal and open about their stance. This requires individuals to bring their whole selves to work and be open about their unique backgrounds. Additionally, trainings should be embraced as a way to educate employees about unconscious bias and microaggressions. By practicing empathy and taking these issues seriously, organizations can create a diverse and safe environment for all employees.

Measuring & Communicating Team Success

In order to measure the success of the Product and Engineering organization, a "Monthly Report" was created to provide measurable data and qualitative content to the executive team and CEO. This report includes an executive summary, highlights and goals, capital expenses, performance & uptime, product development & quality, and visual charts and graphs. This report has been a great way to communicate progress and keep on top of what is going well or not well with the team.

Reducing significant inherited technical debt

When inheriting a new team and codebase, it is important to address the underlying cultural issues that lead to technical debt. This may require difficult conversations with senior members of the organization to change bad habits. Additionally, it is important to find a balance between innovation and technical debt, as it may be in the best financial interest of the company.

Ensuring a happy, productive culture and prevent burnout

This article explores tactics to ensure team members stay happy and productive in a startup environment. It focuses on giving autonomy to team members, educating them on increasing efficiency, and motivating through praise rather than fear. It also looks at the "5 Love Languages" to identify which forms of praise and appreciation resonate with individuals. The article emphasizes the importance of creating an empathetic environment in which people feel comfortable being vulnerable and open about their emotions.

Scaling a remote team from 4 to 40

This article outlines the steps taken by an engineer to scale and grow an engineering team abroad. The engineer focused on listening to the team's concerns, identifying issues in the codebase, and fostering a more personal connection with the team. Through mentoring and post-mortem sessions, the team grew happier and more autonomous. The article emphasizes the importance of connecting with the team on a personal level and working hard to gain their trust and respect.

Finding the right team structure and organization

As the company grew from 10 to 200, it became clear that the existing processes were no longer effective. To address this, the team implemented daily stand-ups, retrospectives, post-mortems, 1-on-1s, and affinity diagram brainstorming sessions. They also switched to Spotify's "Squads" system. It is important to have a persistent feedback mechanism and regular open dialog with the team to identify and implement better processes as the company scales.

How to increase your team’s diversity

This article discusses the difficulty of making a team diverse after it has already been established. It explains the steps taken to increase diversity, such as implementing a diversity slate system inspired by the Rooney Rule, and reaching out to minority groups through conferences and sponsorships. The article emphasizes the importance of being mindful of who is hired when first setting up a team, as it pays off in the long run. As a result of these efforts, 55% of the team's recruits are now women.

Successful Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a necessary but time-consuming task for managers. At Mobiquity, the process starts in February with gathering feedback from people who have worked with the employee being evaluated. This is followed by an in-person appraisal which takes an hour. The lesson learned is to ensure the review is based on job performance and not personal relationships.

Convincing Leadership to Perform Code Analysis

This article describes how the author was able to successfully implement static code analysis software at their company, Mobiquity, by demonstrating the value of the software with data. By showing the difference between a project with and without the software, the author was able to get buy-in from management and mandate code analysis company-wide. The lesson learned is that data is key when trying to make a change in an organization.

Introducing a New Project Management Methodology

A software development team at the University of Florida was having difficulty delivering features and software on time and within budget, so the Manager researched and implemented Agile Scrum methodology. They used paper for their first two projects, and then found software to match their process. After three months, they settled on Jira, which was flexible and had other products they needed. The Manager learned to do research before changing methodologies, and to be patient when implementing the new process.

Setting Up Clear Career Paths

In the Fall of 2017, a career ladder was designed to provide two distinct paths for both managers and technical employees that were equivalent in terms of respect, authority, and compensation. The process of writing the descriptions, getting feedback, and addressing individual feedback took some time, but the feedback was positive and the introduction of a career path took about three months to roll out.

Effective One-on-Ones

When a manager at Mortar Data had an employee ready to quit, they realized they needed to restructure their one-on-one meetings. They implemented the "Update, Vent, and Disaster" approach, which involves understanding how the other person is feeling with respect to their work and the company, and getting stories from them that they wouldn't ordinarily tell. They also made the meetings less formal, and gave the employee the space to talk about their feelings. This allowed the manager to better understand their employees and address any issues they were facing.

Overhauling An Interview Process

When the author began working at Segment.com as an Engineering Manager, they had to hire quickly but the engineers were not good at conducting interviews. The author partnered closely with recruiters, used Greenhouse software, and gathered data on the existing interview process. They removed irrelevant interviews, documented technical exercises, and gave applicants take-home tests. They also performed two major technical interviews onsite. The author learned that it is important to partner closely with recruiters and to look critically at the interview process.

Contributing Effectively As a Newly Hired Manager or Head of Engineering

When transitioning into a new management role at a company, it is important to build trust and rapport with peers and reports. One way to do this is to set up one-on-one meetings with as many people in the organization as possible. Additionally, when faced with challenges, it is important to use first principles to solve them, rather than relying on cookie-cutter solutions. This approach worked well for the author when transitioning into a new role at drive.ai, and resulted in the successful planning and execution of an offsite for the engineering team.

Going from no testing to full QA automation

As an engineering team grows, it is important to maintain a QA-to-engineering ratio to ensure that there is always a third party testing the code. Manual testing is a great way to start, but automation is key to catching bugs quickly. Regressions must be treated with high priority to maintain user trust.

Being an engaging speaker and presenter

As an engineering manager, it can be difficult to engage employees in topics that may be uninteresting to them. To overcome this, one can use a "method acting" approach to emotionally connect to the material, as well as "acting hacks" such as pregnant pauses, volume levels, humor, and eye contact. Additionally, being vulnerable with the audience can help to generate trust and focus.

Managing toxic employees and atmospheres

This article discusses the problem of hiring false positives and false negatives, and the actions taken to address two toxic employees. In the first case, swift and constructive feedback was given, and the employee was eventually let go. In the second case, the employee was talented but slow, and it was necessary to let them go in order to unblock other employees and the organization. The lesson learned is to listen to gut feelings and act swiftly when an environment feels toxic, even if it means taking on legal risk.

Resolving severe personality conflicts

Through personal therapy and psychology training, I have developed a set of techniques to help address personality conflicts between two individuals. By facilitating 1-on-1s with a third party present, the technique encourages each person to speak openly and be heard. This has been successful in transforming relationships, and has led to me being called the "Chief Therapy Officer" at my company. The lesson learned is that organizations can survive with dysfunctions, but those that can have employees listening to each other with empathy until they are truly heard are more likely to function without excessive bureaucracy.

Peacefully managing out low-performing employees

Firing people is a difficult and potentially legally risky task for managers. To ensure the process is done well, managers should have regular 1-on-1s with employees to discuss performance and create a Success Plan with clear goals. If an employee is not happy, managers should have an open conversation to identify what would make them happy, even if it's not in their current role. Quarterly performance reviews should also be held to record detailed information on performance.

Growing and mentoring managers of managers

This article discusses how to combat the perception that management is the only path of growth for engineers. It suggests proactively communicating that there are two separate tracks, both of which are equally respected and deserving of the same levels of compensation and seniority. Additionally, it suggests having mentorship and lead positions, management training options, and enabling autonomy and trust by not having "skip level" 1-on-1's. Finally, it suggests having managers of managers audit their teams and engage with those affected by the team's work.

Enabling a Pro-Diversity Culture

In order to create a pro-diversity culture, it is important for the executive team to be vocal and open about their stance. This requires individuals to bring their whole selves to work and be open about their unique backgrounds. Additionally, trainings should be embraced as a way to educate employees about unconscious bias and microaggressions. By practicing empathy and taking these issues seriously, organizations can create a diverse and safe environment for all employees.

Measuring & Communicating Team Success

In order to measure the success of the Product and Engineering organization, a "Monthly Report" was created to provide measurable data and qualitative content to the executive team and CEO. This report includes an executive summary, highlights and goals, capital expenses, performance & uptime, product development & quality, and visual charts and graphs. This report has been a great way to communicate progress and keep on top of what is going well or not well with the team.

Reducing significant inherited technical debt

When inheriting a new team and codebase, it is important to address the underlying cultural issues that lead to technical debt. This may require difficult conversations with senior members of the organization to change bad habits. Additionally, it is important to find a balance between innovation and technical debt, as it may be in the best financial interest of the company.

Ensuring a happy, productive culture and prevent burnout

This article explores tactics to ensure team members stay happy and productive in a startup environment. It focuses on giving autonomy to team members, educating them on increasing efficiency, and motivating through praise rather than fear. It also looks at the "5 Love Languages" to identify which forms of praise and appreciation resonate with individuals. The article emphasizes the importance of creating an empathetic environment in which people feel comfortable being vulnerable and open about their emotions.

Scaling a remote team from 4 to 40

This article outlines the steps taken by an engineer to scale and grow an engineering team abroad. The engineer focused on listening to the team's concerns, identifying issues in the codebase, and fostering a more personal connection with the team. Through mentoring and post-mortem sessions, the team grew happier and more autonomous. The article emphasizes the importance of connecting with the team on a personal level and working hard to gain their trust and respect.

Finding the right team structure and organization

As the company grew from 10 to 200, it became clear that the existing processes were no longer effective. To address this, the team implemented daily stand-ups, retrospectives, post-mortems, 1-on-1s, and affinity diagram brainstorming sessions. They also switched to Spotify's "Squads" system. It is important to have a persistent feedback mechanism and regular open dialog with the team to identify and implement better processes as the company scales.

How to increase your team’s diversity

This article discusses the difficulty of making a team diverse after it has already been established. It explains the steps taken to increase diversity, such as implementing a diversity slate system inspired by the Rooney Rule, and reaching out to minority groups through conferences and sponsorships. The article emphasizes the importance of being mindful of who is hired when first setting up a team, as it pays off in the long run. As a result of these efforts, 55% of the team's recruits are now women.

Successful Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a necessary but time-consuming task for managers. At Mobiquity, the process starts in February with gathering feedback from people who have worked with the employee being evaluated. This is followed by an in-person appraisal which takes an hour. The lesson learned is to ensure the review is based on job performance and not personal relationships.

Convincing Leadership to Perform Code Analysis

This article describes how the author was able to successfully implement static code analysis software at their company, Mobiquity, by demonstrating the value of the software with data. By showing the difference between a project with and without the software, the author was able to get buy-in from management and mandate code analysis company-wide. The lesson learned is that data is key when trying to make a change in an organization.

Introducing a New Project Management Methodology

A software development team at the University of Florida was having difficulty delivering features and software on time and within budget, so the Manager researched and implemented Agile Scrum methodology. They used paper for their first two projects, and then found software to match their process. After three months, they settled on Jira, which was flexible and had other products they needed. The Manager learned to do research before changing methodologies, and to be patient when implementing the new process.

Setting Up Clear Career Paths

In the Fall of 2017, a career ladder was designed to provide two distinct paths for both managers and technical employees that were equivalent in terms of respect, authority, and compensation. The process of writing the descriptions, getting feedback, and addressing individual feedback took some time, but the feedback was positive and the introduction of a career path took about three months to roll out.

Effective One-on-Ones

When a manager at Mortar Data had an employee ready to quit, they realized they needed to restructure their one-on-one meetings. They implemented the "Update, Vent, and Disaster" approach, which involves understanding how the other person is feeling with respect to their work and the company, and getting stories from them that they wouldn't ordinarily tell. They also made the meetings less formal, and gave the employee the space to talk about their feelings. This allowed the manager to better understand their employees and address any issues they were facing.

Overhauling An Interview Process

When the author began working at Segment.com as an Engineering Manager, they had to hire quickly but the engineers were not good at conducting interviews. The author partnered closely with recruiters, used Greenhouse software, and gathered data on the existing interview process. They removed irrelevant interviews, documented technical exercises, and gave applicants take-home tests. They also performed two major technical interviews onsite. The author learned that it is important to partner closely with recruiters and to look critically at the interview process.

Contributing Effectively As a Newly Hired Manager or Head of Engineering

When transitioning into a new management role at a company, it is important to build trust and rapport with peers and reports. One way to do this is to set up one-on-one meetings with as many people in the organization as possible. Additionally, when faced with challenges, it is important to use first principles to solve them, rather than relying on cookie-cutter solutions. This approach worked well for the author when transitioning into a new role at drive.ai, and resulted in the successful planning and execution of an offsite for the engineering team.

Going from no testing to full QA automation

As an engineering team grows, it is important to maintain a QA-to-engineering ratio to ensure that there is always a third party testing the code. Manual testing is a great way to start, but automation is key to catching bugs quickly. Regressions must be treated with high priority to maintain user trust.

Being an engaging speaker and presenter

As an engineering manager, it can be difficult to engage employees in topics that may be uninteresting to them. To overcome this, one can use a "method acting" approach to emotionally connect to the material, as well as "acting hacks" such as pregnant pauses, volume levels, humor, and eye contact. Additionally, being vulnerable with the audience can help to generate trust and focus.

Managing toxic employees and atmospheres

This article discusses the problem of hiring false positives and false negatives, and the actions taken to address two toxic employees. In the first case, swift and constructive feedback was given, and the employee was eventually let go. In the second case, the employee was talented but slow, and it was necessary to let them go in order to unblock other employees and the organization. The lesson learned is to listen to gut feelings and act swiftly when an environment feels toxic, even if it means taking on legal risk.

Resolving severe personality conflicts

Through personal therapy and psychology training, I have developed a set of techniques to help address personality conflicts between two individuals. By facilitating 1-on-1s with a third party present, the technique encourages each person to speak openly and be heard. This has been successful in transforming relationships, and has led to me being called the "Chief Therapy Officer" at my company. The lesson learned is that organizations can survive with dysfunctions, but those that can have employees listening to each other with empathy until they are truly heard are more likely to function without excessive bureaucracy.

Peacefully managing out low-performing employees

Firing people is a difficult and potentially legally risky task for managers. To ensure the process is done well, managers should have regular 1-on-1s with employees to discuss performance and create a Success Plan with clear goals. If an employee is not happy, managers should have an open conversation to identify what would make them happy, even if it's not in their current role. Quarterly performance reviews should also be held to record detailed information on performance.

Growing and mentoring managers of managers

This article discusses how to combat the perception that management is the only path of growth for engineers. It suggests proactively communicating that there are two separate tracks, both of which are equally respected and deserving of the same levels of compensation and seniority. Additionally, it suggests having mentorship and lead positions, management training options, and enabling autonomy and trust by not having "skip level" 1-on-1's. Finally, it suggests having managers of managers audit their teams and engage with those affected by the team's work.

Enabling a Pro-Diversity Culture

In order to create a pro-diversity culture, it is important for the executive team to be vocal and open about their stance. This requires individuals to bring their whole selves to work and be open about their unique backgrounds. Additionally, trainings should be embraced as a way to educate employees about unconscious bias and microaggressions. By practicing empathy and taking these issues seriously, organizations can create a diverse and safe environment for all employees.

Measuring & Communicating Team Success

In order to measure the success of the Product and Engineering organization, a "Monthly Report" was created to provide measurable data and qualitative content to the executive team and CEO. This report includes an executive summary, highlights and goals, capital expenses, performance & uptime, product development & quality, and visual charts and graphs. This report has been a great way to communicate progress and keep on top of what is going well or not well with the team.

Reducing significant inherited technical debt

When inheriting a new team and codebase, it is important to address the underlying cultural issues that lead to technical debt. This may require difficult conversations with senior members of the organization to change bad habits. Additionally, it is important to find a balance between innovation and technical debt, as it may be in the best financial interest of the company.

Ensuring a happy, productive culture and prevent burnout

This article explores tactics to ensure team members stay happy and productive in a startup environment. It focuses on giving autonomy to team members, educating them on increasing efficiency, and motivating through praise rather than fear. It also looks at the "5 Love Languages" to identify which forms of praise and appreciation resonate with individuals. The article emphasizes the importance of creating an empathetic environment in which people feel comfortable being vulnerable and open about their emotions.

Scaling a remote team from 4 to 40

This article outlines the steps taken by an engineer to scale and grow an engineering team abroad. The engineer focused on listening to the team's concerns, identifying issues in the codebase, and fostering a more personal connection with the team. Through mentoring and post-mortem sessions, the team grew happier and more autonomous. The article emphasizes the importance of connecting with the team on a personal level and working hard to gain their trust and respect.

Finding the right team structure and organization

As the company grew from 10 to 200, it became clear that the existing processes were no longer effective. To address this, the team implemented daily stand-ups, retrospectives, post-mortems, 1-on-1s, and affinity diagram brainstorming sessions. They also switched to Spotify's "Squads" system. It is important to have a persistent feedback mechanism and regular open dialog with the team to identify and implement better processes as the company scales.

How to increase your team’s diversity

This article discusses the difficulty of making a team diverse after it has already been established. It explains the steps taken to increase diversity, such as implementing a diversity slate system inspired by the Rooney Rule, and reaching out to minority groups through conferences and sponsorships. The article emphasizes the importance of being mindful of who is hired when first setting up a team, as it pays off in the long run. As a result of these efforts, 55% of the team's recruits are now women.

Successful Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a necessary but time-consuming task for managers. At Mobiquity, the process starts in February with gathering feedback from people who have worked with the employee being evaluated. This is followed by an in-person appraisal which takes an hour. The lesson learned is to ensure the review is based on job performance and not personal relationships.

Convincing Leadership to Perform Code Analysis

This article describes how the author was able to successfully implement static code analysis software at their company, Mobiquity, by demonstrating the value of the software with data. By showing the difference between a project with and without the software, the author was able to get buy-in from management and mandate code analysis company-wide. The lesson learned is that data is key when trying to make a change in an organization.

Introducing a New Project Management Methodology

A software development team at the University of Florida was having difficulty delivering features and software on time and within budget, so the Manager researched and implemented Agile Scrum methodology. They used paper for their first two projects, and then found software to match their process. After three months, they settled on Jira, which was flexible and had other products they needed. The Manager learned to do research before changing methodologies, and to be patient when implementing the new process.

Setting Up Clear Career Paths

In the Fall of 2017, a career ladder was designed to provide two distinct paths for both managers and technical employees that were equivalent in terms of respect, authority, and compensation. The process of writing the descriptions, getting feedback, and addressing individual feedback took some time, but the feedback was positive and the introduction of a career path took about three months to roll out.

Effective One-on-Ones

When a manager at Mortar Data had an employee ready to quit, they realized they needed to restructure their one-on-one meetings. They implemented the "Update, Vent, and Disaster" approach, which involves understanding how the other person is feeling with respect to their work and the company, and getting stories from them that they wouldn't ordinarily tell. They also made the meetings less formal, and gave the employee the space to talk about their feelings. This allowed the manager to better understand their employees and address any issues they were facing.

Overhauling An Interview Process

When the author began working at Segment.com as an Engineering Manager, they had to hire quickly but the engineers were not good at conducting interviews. The author partnered closely with recruiters, used Greenhouse software, and gathered data on the existing interview process. They removed irrelevant interviews, documented technical exercises, and gave applicants take-home tests. They also performed two major technical interviews onsite. The author learned that it is important to partner closely with recruiters and to look critically at the interview process.

Contributing Effectively As a Newly Hired Manager or Head of Engineering

When transitioning into a new management role at a company, it is important to build trust and rapport with peers and reports. One way to do this is to set up one-on-one meetings with as many people in the organization as possible. Additionally, when faced with challenges, it is important to use first principles to solve them, rather than relying on cookie-cutter solutions. This approach worked well for the author when transitioning into a new role at drive.ai, and resulted in the successful planning and execution of an offsite for the engineering team.

Going from no testing to full QA automation

As an engineering team grows, it is important to maintain a QA-to-engineering ratio to ensure that there is always a third party testing the code. Manual testing is a great way to start, but automation is key to catching bugs quickly. Regressions must be treated with high priority to maintain user trust.

Being an engaging speaker and presenter

As an engineering manager, it can be difficult to engage employees in topics that may be uninteresting to them. To overcome this, one can use a "method acting" approach to emotionally connect to the material, as well as "acting hacks" such as pregnant pauses, volume levels, humor, and eye contact. Additionally, being vulnerable with the audience can help to generate trust and focus.

Managing toxic employees and atmospheres

This article discusses the problem of hiring false positives and false negatives, and the actions taken to address two toxic employees. In the first case, swift and constructive feedback was given, and the employee was eventually let go. In the second case, the employee was talented but slow, and it was necessary to let them go in order to unblock other employees and the organization. The lesson learned is to listen to gut feelings and act swiftly when an environment feels toxic, even if it means taking on legal risk.

Resolving severe personality conflicts

Through personal therapy and psychology training, I have developed a set of techniques to help address personality conflicts between two individuals. By facilitating 1-on-1s with a third party present, the technique encourages each person to speak openly and be heard. This has been successful in transforming relationships, and has led to me being called the "Chief Therapy Officer" at my company. The lesson learned is that organizations can survive with dysfunctions, but those that can have employees listening to each other with empathy until they are truly heard are more likely to function without excessive bureaucracy.

Peacefully managing out low-performing employees

Firing people is a difficult and potentially legally risky task for managers. To ensure the process is done well, managers should have regular 1-on-1s with employees to discuss performance and create a Success Plan with clear goals. If an employee is not happy, managers should have an open conversation to identify what would make them happy, even if it's not in their current role. Quarterly performance reviews should also be held to record detailed information on performance.

Growing and mentoring managers of managers

This article discusses how to combat the perception that management is the only path of growth for engineers. It suggests proactively communicating that there are two separate tracks, both of which are equally respected and deserving of the same levels of compensation and seniority. Additionally, it suggests having mentorship and lead positions, management training options, and enabling autonomy and trust by not having "skip level" 1-on-1's. Finally, it suggests having managers of managers audit their teams and engage with those affected by the team's work.

Enabling a Pro-Diversity Culture

In order to create a pro-diversity culture, it is important for the executive team to be vocal and open about their stance. This requires individuals to bring their whole selves to work and be open about their unique backgrounds. Additionally, trainings should be embraced as a way to educate employees about unconscious bias and microaggressions. By practicing empathy and taking these issues seriously, organizations can create a diverse and safe environment for all employees.

Measuring & Communicating Team Success

In order to measure the success of the Product and Engineering organization, a "Monthly Report" was created to provide measurable data and qualitative content to the executive team and CEO. This report includes an executive summary, highlights and goals, capital expenses, performance & uptime, product development & quality, and visual charts and graphs. This report has been a great way to communicate progress and keep on top of what is going well or not well with the team.

Reducing significant inherited technical debt

When inheriting a new team and codebase, it is important to address the underlying cultural issues that lead to technical debt. This may require difficult conversations with senior members of the organization to change bad habits. Additionally, it is important to find a balance between innovation and technical debt, as it may be in the best financial interest of the company.

Ensuring a happy, productive culture and prevent burnout

This article explores tactics to ensure team members stay happy and productive in a startup environment. It focuses on giving autonomy to team members, educating them on increasing efficiency, and motivating through praise rather than fear. It also looks at the "5 Love Languages" to identify which forms of praise and appreciation resonate with individuals. The article emphasizes the importance of creating an empathetic environment in which people feel comfortable being vulnerable and open about their emotions.

Scaling a remote team from 4 to 40

This article outlines the steps taken by an engineer to scale and grow an engineering team abroad. The engineer focused on listening to the team's concerns, identifying issues in the codebase, and fostering a more personal connection with the team. Through mentoring and post-mortem sessions, the team grew happier and more autonomous. The article emphasizes the importance of connecting with the team on a personal level and working hard to gain their trust and respect.

Finding the right team structure and organization

As the company grew from 10 to 200, it became clear that the existing processes were no longer effective. To address this, the team implemented daily stand-ups, retrospectives, post-mortems, 1-on-1s, and affinity diagram brainstorming sessions. They also switched to Spotify's "Squads" system. It is important to have a persistent feedback mechanism and regular open dialog with the team to identify and implement better processes as the company scales.

How to increase your team’s diversity

This article discusses the difficulty of making a team diverse after it has already been established. It explains the steps taken to increase diversity, such as implementing a diversity slate system inspired by the Rooney Rule, and reaching out to minority groups through conferences and sponsorships. The article emphasizes the importance of being mindful of who is hired when first setting up a team, as it pays off in the long run. As a result of these efforts, 55% of the team's recruits are now women.

Successful Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a necessary but time-consuming task for managers. At Mobiquity, the process starts in February with gathering feedback from people who have worked with the employee being evaluated. This is followed by an in-person appraisal which takes an hour. The lesson learned is to ensure the review is based on job performance and not personal relationships.

Convincing Leadership to Perform Code Analysis

This article describes how the author was able to successfully implement static code analysis software at their company, Mobiquity, by demonstrating the value of the software with data. By showing the difference between a project with and without the software, the author was able to get buy-in from management and mandate code analysis company-wide. The lesson learned is that data is key when trying to make a change in an organization.

Introducing a New Project Management Methodology

A software development team at the University of Florida was having difficulty delivering features and software on time and within budget, so the Manager researched and implemented Agile Scrum methodology. They used paper for their first two projects, and then found software to match their process. After three months, they settled on Jira, which was flexible and had other products they needed. The Manager learned to do research before changing methodologies, and to be patient when implementing the new process.

Setting Up Clear Career Paths

In the Fall of 2017, a career ladder was designed to provide two distinct paths for both managers and technical employees that were equivalent in terms of respect, authority, and compensation. The process of writing the descriptions, getting feedback, and addressing individual feedback took some time, but the feedback was positive and the introduction of a career path took about three months to roll out.

Effective One-on-Ones

When a manager at Mortar Data had an employee ready to quit, they realized they needed to restructure their one-on-one meetings. They implemented the "Update, Vent, and Disaster" approach, which involves understanding how the other person is feeling with respect to their work and the company, and getting stories from them that they wouldn't ordinarily tell. They also made the meetings less formal, and gave the employee the space to talk about their feelings. This allowed the manager to better understand their employees and address any issues they were facing.

Overhauling An Interview Process

When the author began working at Segment.com as an Engineering Manager, they had to hire quickly but the engineers were not good at conducting interviews. The author partnered closely with recruiters, used Greenhouse software, and gathered data on the existing interview process. They removed irrelevant interviews, documented technical exercises, and gave applicants take-home tests. They also performed two major technical interviews onsite. The author learned that it is important to partner closely with recruiters and to look critically at the interview process.

Contributing Effectively As a Newly Hired Manager or Head of Engineering

When transitioning into a new management role at a company, it is important to build trust and rapport with peers and reports. One way to do this is to set up one-on-one meetings with as many people in the organization as possible. Additionally, when faced with challenges, it is important to use first principles to solve them, rather than relying on cookie-cutter solutions. This approach worked well for the author when transitioning into a new role at drive.ai, and resulted in the successful planning and execution of an offsite for the engineering team.