Practices

There is a lot of information about engineering productivity out there. No one says it’s easy, but it can be downright difficult to turn the practices you hear about into plans you can put into action. What follows is an example of how we can create an actionable plan to increase our productivity.

I tried to push a plan for bootstrapping an automated integration test system for our Android and iOS applications. The plan was based on similar strategies I’d used, or seen used, at other companies. It didn’t fit well with the current situation and workflows. I failed to take those differences into account and the initiative failed.

We recently held our Summer Hackday at Tumblr and the results were impressive. I started to think about the mentality of a Hackday and how it differs from a more traditional product feature workflow.

I’ve been thinking a lot about why it seems so hard to effect change in organizations. The change I’m referring to could be related to product strategy, processes, or improving engineering / operational excellence.

A big part of leading people and teams is making decisions. You can’t move forward without making decisions. As the lead, or manager, it’s part of your job. Don’t pass it down to someone on your team. They’re looking to you.