Engineering Productivity; Google's Best Practices; Beyond Deadlines; Engineering Metrics; Should EMs Code?
Issue #42 Bytes
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📺 Unlocking Engineering Productivity ft. Clint Calleja, Ex-Hotjar & Rens Methratta, CTO @ Prendio
Join Clint (Sr. Director of Engineering at Contentsquare) and Rens (CTO at Prendio) as they delve into the core of effective engineering management. This webinar unpacks the power of psychological safety, clear communication, and strategic AI integration. Discover how to balance immediate goals with long-term tech debt, and learn practical strategies to cultivate a thriving, collaborative team culture.
Ready to dive in 👇
Article of the Week ⭐
“Google's "Beyoncé Rule" ("If you liked it, you should have put a test on it") is catchy, but the real takeaway is a deep commitment to developer-driven automated testing. This isn't just about catching bugs but about enabling change.”
Applied "Software Engineering at Google"
Google’s engineering practices weren’t built overnight, and they aren’t meant to be copied wholesale. Addy Osmani works on the Google Chrome team and has more than a dozen software engineering books under his belt. He says real value comes from understanding the principles behind Google’s practices and adapting them to your own team’s needs.
Start small. Introduce the most impactful changes first—whether it’s improving testing, streamlining code reviews, or fostering better knowledge sharing.
Optimize for agility. Shorten the feedback loop between writing code, testing it, and getting it in front of real users.
Invest in a strong engineering culture. Encourage learning, knowledge sharing, and psychological safety as core team values.
Prioritize maintainability. Good documentation, disciplined dependency management, and incremental refactoring pay off in the long run.
There are trade-offs, he adds, that have to be made to balance cash flow and optionality in the future. Ensure the culture allows these trade-offs to be done transparently and in the open, rather than out of neglect or urgency.
One of the most critical—and often overlooked—factors in Google’s engineering success is its emphasis on psychological safety. Research from Project Aristotle found that the most effective teams aren’t just technically skilled; they are environments where people feel safe to ask questions, admit mistakes, and offer dissenting opinions without fear of repercussions. Google promotes a blameless culture, where mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn rather than moments to punish. Encouraging open dialogue, structured feedback, and leader vulnerability all contribute to an engineering culture where teams can collaborate effectively and innovate with confidence.
Practical considerations for smaller teams:
Create a safe space for team members to share ideas and concerns.
Regularly ask for feedback and be receptive to it.
Demonstrate vulnerability and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
Psychological safety significantly impacts success, proactively keep an eye on it.
The goal is to build a strong engineering culture that values quality, learning, and continuous improvement.
Other highlights 👇
Beyond Deadlines: How High-Performing Software Teams Transform Delivery Challenges into Business Impact
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Research shows that over 60% of enterprise software projects are delivered late, often taking twice as long as estimated. The common causes include:
Scope creep – Expanding requirements during development
Unrealistic estimates – Setting timelines based on hope rather than data
Technical roadblocks – Integration issues and unforeseen bugs
Human factors – Burnout, turnover, and skill gaps
External dependencies – Third-party delays impacting timelines
“But we can’t abandon deadlines!”— Vasco Duarte shares his courages experience from the front lines of the #noestimates arm of modern agile.
While these challenges persist, some deadlines are simply unavoidable—what Vasco calls the ‘Christmas Problem’. Hallmark events throughout the year that carry huge opportunity cost of missed, usually carrying some amount of engineering effort behind it to out-innovate competition.
If you cannot avoid the deadline, you must outsmart it!
The reasonable approach for such situation has been battle tested for over 20 years now. But the key discipline isn’t in knowing what to do, but rather in overcoming the resistance of doing anything else that produces waste:
Defining the minimum viable product. Then cut at least half of it. Work backwards from your release page or sales page. What needs to be on the front page so the users will buy?
Prioritise the cut-down MVP over all other waste. You want your critical headline features to be tested and ready way before the budget and time runs out.
Create a process of gathering feedback prior to the release. Critical features are done, now you need to clear up two issues:
1) Were you right about which features were critical? Get feedback!
2) What else can you add to increase value in the time you have left?
Continuous testing and integration past the main goals. Fix issues as they pop up or accept them as they are, don’t linger on “should we or should we not meetings”
[…] the real risk for software deliveries isn’t lateness—it’s spending months building the wrong thing. Our goal should be to shorten the time between an idea and real customer feedback.
Communicating Engineering Metrics to the Board
Your code's clean, your velocity's high, but the boardroom's still snoozing? Turns out, "MTTR" isn't a hit single. This blog from Typo will show you how to swap tech jargon for business bangers, turning those metrics into a chart-topping performance that even the CFO can't ignore.
Should Managers Still Code?
A manager’s greatest impact isn’t in shipping features—it’s in building a team that does. Great managers don’t need to ship their own code, but they do need to stay in the details.
The role of engineering managers has been under scrutiny in recent years. With leaner teams and higher expectations, many feel pressure to prove their value by staying technical. But does that mean they should be writing more software hands-on?
James Stanier argues that all managers should be in the code, but not necessarily writing it. The distinction matters.
Why Managers Need to Stay Technical
Great managers aren’t just people wranglers—they make better decisions when they understand the system. That doesn’t mean shipping features, but it does mean:
Navigating the codebase with confidence—Managers should be able to trace through a feature, understand its architecture, and identify potential issues.
Providing meaningful code reviews—Skimming PRs isn’t enough. Running branches locally, testing changes, and offering constructive feedback keeps quality high by providing non-speculative, actionable feedback. Even better if pairing.
Debugging and triaging production issues—When incidents happen, managers who understand the system help resolve issues faster. In this instance managers act as a highly-proficient technical SME who can make strategic decisions then delegate authority for others to show their technical prowess.
Guiding technical strategy—Design decisions shape the future of the product. Managers need the knowledge to challenge assumptions and steer discussions. A manager with both good product and engineering understanding can let their teams do mistakes while also having a clear sense of what kind of mistakes need intervention.
The Reality of Engineering Management Today
The industry has shifted. Post-pandemic layoffs and restructuring have led to fewer managers, larger teams per manager, and increased expectations to deliver. Some have framed this as a rejection of management altogether, but the reality is more nuanced.
The best engineering managers have always been deeply engaged in the technical details. What’s changed is the increased need to demonstrate stream-aligned delivery, not just assume it.
Find Yourself 🌻
That’s it for Today!
Whether you’re innovating on new projects, staying ahead of tech trends, or taking a strategic pause to recharge, may your day be as impactful and inspiring as your leadership.
See you next week(end), Ciao 👋
Credits 🙏
Curators - Diligently curated by our community members Denis & Kovid
Featured Authors -
, ,Sponsors - This newsletter is sponsored by Typo AI - Ship reliable software faster.
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