Product Vs Engineering; Neglecting Tech Debt?; Empathy is the new SUPERPOWER
Issue #18 Bytes
đą Dive into Learning-Rich Sundays with groCTO ⤾ď¸
đď¸James Charlesworth from Pendo | Product vs Engineering: Building Bridges, Not Walls
In our latest podcast episode with James Charlesworth, Director of Engineering from Pendo, hosted by Kovid Batra, we dive into some essential insights for tech leaders. We discuss how bridging the âProduct vs Engineeringâ gap with empathy can foster collaboration, the value of frequent 1-on-1s in building trust within teams, & practical tips for introverts in the tech industry. This conversation is packed with actionable advice to help you lead your teams more effectively.
Article of the Week â
Tech Debt: Oblivious, Calculated, and Natural
âThe longer you put off the fix, the harder the fix will be, so youâre gambling. The important takeaway, however, is that they all must be handled so that you donât end up buried under your debt.â â Allen Holub, 2024
Everybody, give a huge welcome to Allen Holub. Allenâs bread and butter is helping you create or improve highly functional Lean/Agile organizations. You probably saw him at a conference in the past few decades. He recently graced us with his new substack Agility! on his thoughts on modern engineering practices.
We bring to you a summary of his debut post on Technical Debt.
Allen captures Technical Debt into three categories, expanding from Ward Cunninghamâs original metaphor:
Oblivious Debt: The sloppy kind. Introduced by negligence, incompetence and bad risk management. This one is always avoidable.
Calculated Debt: The deliberate kind. For poker players and strategic technologist, calculated debt is a trade-off paid to receive a beneficial outcome sooner. This one can be negligent or unintended, especially when the outcome isnât what you planned for during the trade-off.
Natural Debt: The kind that comes with the job. Think of it like baseline cost of the best performing solution after using it for a while and gaining new insights. This one is never avoidable.
Use Debt to Shorten Feedback Loops
Taking on calculated debt is a natural part of the development process. Complexity requires knowledge, knowledge requires feedback. Debt is the best accelerator tool available to architects and leaders when used to create shorter feedback loops, more reliable data or confirm suspicions about unmanaged or unmitigated risk.
HoweverâŚ
Avoid Negligent Debt
⌠debt always has to be paid off.
Oblivious Debt slows down progress and can lead to a system that requires a complete overhaul.
Calculated Debt should be managed as part of the development process, with ease depending on the system's architecture.
Natural Debt requires judgment on whether and when to address it, as delaying fixes can make them harder later on.
No matter the kind. Oblivious Debt is best avoided. Natural debt you deal with processes and discipline. But calculated debt is something you take on willingly and deliberately with resulting processes and architecture. This is where most often things go wrong and can delay an already-late or complex project even further.
The important takeaway, however, is that they all must be handled so that you donât end up buried under your debt.
đ˘ Live DORA Webinar! Talk to DevOps experts
Typo is back with its 2nd edition of âThe Hows & Whats of DORAâ webinar featuring DevOps expert, Bryan Finster, and Typo advocate, Richard Pangborn. The webinar, scheduled for August 28, 2024, will provide practical tips for mastering DORA metrics and enhancing Dev performance.
Join 100+ engineers & tech leaders for a 45-min learning-packed interactive session!
Other highlights đ
Empathy is a superpower in the engineering industry
Gregor delights us with another mindset piece. This one goes out to the doubters and perfectionists who seek to perfect their craft at the expense of their ability to navigate negotiation, empathy and communication.
Engineers by our left-brained nature will gravitate towards evading political and relationship games within organisations. Gregor is providing advice from his own experience that these things are not so daunting after all.
Empathy is a SUPERPOWER
Engineering is one of the most collaborative fields out there.
We are always building something for someone to use.
Writing code, documentation, tasks, tests, messages, emails, etc.
For better or worse, there is very little you can accomplish on your own in software engineering. Weâve come a long way since the advent of football-field sized hardware but the complexities remain.
Empathy breeds the best qualities in an engineer as it allows you not only to accelerate your own work by seeking out help, but also to scale the scope and impact of the peers that you show to care about.
But itâs not limited just to technical ICâs. An empathic manager is a great manager. Being able to show up for your team without judgement or anxiety is what will set you apart from others in your journey.
How to develop empathy
Gregor suggests a combination of exercises and challenges to build the muscle of empathy:
Active listening: try to feel what they feel and observe their reactions
Reciprocate: Be someone that you would love to work with
Be open and understanding: Understand people in general â different cultures, different kinds of motivators, behaviours, etc.
Change your mindset on empathy with the following books: Social Intelligence, The Art of Empathy, How to Win Friends & Influence People, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
And luckily in 2024 remote coaching and mentoring is abundantly available from any corner of the world!
Ask for Advice, Not Permission
Andrew Bosworth explores a common anti-pattern teams: asking for permission instead of seeking advice.
The problem with permission is that you are implicitly asking someone else to take some responsibility for your decision.
We all have our biases and this one in particular results in bountiful ping-ponging between teams. Sync meeting upon sync meeting everyone involved is asking the other to:
take over responsibility for the outcomes
do some diligence to be more responsible
take over workload rather than participate in success
Such environments are a petri dish for low psychological safety cultures which are notorious for such haggling and bartering on planning meetings.
Convert it to Advice
Andrew has a practical solution.
âHey, I was thinking about doing X, what advice would you give me on that?â
Advice leaves the ball in your court while keeping the doors open for any support that may come your way. That is of course if the original issue was impactful enough for you to take responsibility for it. If you wonâtâthen maybe it wasnât so important after all?
â Hot Brewing News: Starbucks' Green Dilemma
While Starbucks is pushing a green agenda, recent actions by the companyâs CEO have sparked controversy. The jet-setting lifestyle of the CEO has raised eyebrows, leading to questions about the authenticity of the company's environmental commitments. As the world focuses on sustainability, such contradictions could undermine public trust in corporate green initiatives.
Thatâs it for Today!
Whether youâre 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.
Hope you signed up for your 1:1 Mentorship session!
See you next week(end), Ciao đ
Credits đ
Curators - Diligently curated by our community members Denis & Kovid
Writers of the week -
, Andrew Bosworth,Sponsors - This newsletter is sponsored by Typo AI - Ship reliable software faster.
1) Subscribe â If you arenât already, consider becoming a groCTO subscriber.
2) Share â Spread the word amongst fellow Engineering Leaders and CTOs! Your referral empowers & builds our groCTO community.
Love your take on Starbucks global issue! I think it is quite a need to talk about this.