Reinforcing Activities For Your Engineering Strategy
Eng Strategy pt 3
Pt. 1 - https://strategicspokes.substack.com/p/whats-your-engineering-strategy-pt
Pt. 2 - https://strategicspokes.substack.com/p/establishing-an-engineering-vision
If your team has implemented parts one and two, you operate above 99% of engineering organizations. Great work. As a refresher, here are the processes you should have in place by now.
This article will focus on reinforcing activities to nurture and monitor your strategy. Many of you will find that you have already performed these activities. Even in those cases, use this article to reflect on how you're extracting value from the activities.
Retrospectives
Architectural Forums
Tech Talks
Skip Levels
1. Retrospectives
Retrospectives are an excellent opportunity for the team to provide feedback at a regular cadence. During these sessions, team members can discuss what went well, what didn't, and what could be improved. These discussions can be particularly useful in helping teams identify areas where they may need to catch up to the intended engineering vision. It's essential to lean on team leads, such as engineering managers and product managers, to ensure this feedback loop makes it to the leadership team. This way, the team can make necessary adjustments and continue to operate at the highest level.
Elevating Retro Topics
Establishing a process where each team can share any topics related to your engineering strategy is crucial. This can be done via Slack or weekly leadership team meetings. As an engineering leader, you must identify when no signal has been elevated from these retrospectives throughout 4-5 iterations and check in with that team's leads. No news is NOT good news. Checking in will ensure your team continuously progresses toward your engineering vision.
2. Architectural Forums
Engineers need a safe space to discuss design considerations and collaborate with their peers. By stepping back from their day-to-day tasks, engineers gain a fresh perspective and consider alternative solutions. It's also an opportunity for engineers to learn from each other and share best practices.
Setting up a forum
To set up an architectural forum, schedule an optional monthly meeting for all relevant team members to come together and discuss design considerations. Encourage team members to submit topics ahead of time to ensure the meeting stays on track. Keep the tone of the meeting casual and collaborative to encourage everyone to participate and share their thoughts and ideas. Do your best to assign a notetaker and take notes.
3. Engineering Tech Talks / Brown Bag Series
For several reasons, it is crucial for engineers to self-organize a tech talk or brown bag series. First, it provides a platform for engineers to showcase their expertise and knowledge, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Additionally, it can promote cross-functional collaboration and communication, leading to innovative solutions that can benefit the organization.
Moreover, it can help build a sense of community and belonging within the engineering team, essential for team morale and productivity.
Setting up tech talks
To set up a tech talk series, identify a cadence for the talks. I suggest either weekly or bi-weekly. Once you have decided on the frequency, assign someone to oversee the process and ensure that the upcoming weeks are allocated with a topic and speaker. Keeping the schedule consistent is essential to avoid any lulls in scheduled talks.
You can use various methods to source speakers, such as asking for volunteers, inviting external speakers, or assigning topics to individuals or teams. Encourage speakers to prepare their talks beforehand and provide them with any necessary resources or support.
It's also a good idea to record the talks and make them available to those who couldn't attend. You can post the recordings on a shared drive or internal portal.
Finally, be open to feedback and suggestions for improving the series. Encourage attendees to share their thoughts and ideas for future topics or improvements to the format. Remember, a successful tech talk series can foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement, benefiting the individual engineers and the organization.
4. Skip Levels
When using skip levels to check your engineering strategy, asking open-ended questions that encourage discussion and feedback is essential. Here are a few questions you can use to solicit both understanding and concerns about the engineering strategy:
1. Do you feel your current team's work aligns with our strategy?
2. When was the last time you referenced our engineering strategy?
3. What's something you've been wondering about lately with where we're headed?
Asking these questions can help you gather valuable insights and feedback to refine and improve your engineering strategy.
Putting it all together
Engineering strategy can't stand alone. Implement crucial processes like retrospectives, architectural forums, engineering tech talks, and skip levels. These activities will help monitor and nurture your engineering strategy, identify areas for improvement, promote cross-functional collaboration, and foster a culture of continuous learning. So, implement these processes, make necessary adjustments, and achieve your engineering vision.