Leadership advice · Keeping teams current
How engineering leaders keep their teams current
Adopting new tools without chasing every shiny one, and keeping a team learning.
Interviews
Questions we asked
Asked on camera at our meetups. Where more than one leader answered, the answers are side by side. Transcripts are lightly edited for reading.
How do you ensure that your engineering team is up to date with the latest technologies and tools relevant to their work?
“A lot of people care about using new tools because they're always shiny, right? But it's not always the right time to use the latest tools.”
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It's a very loaded question. Engineers, I think, care a lot about their tools because we use them every day, right? So we nitpick about these things. And a lot of people care about using new tools because they're always shiny, right? But it's not always the right time to use the latest tools. Sometimes you need to think about where the company is: how often do we take in new things? What's our risk profile in terms of taking in new tools?
So we're very practical about it. For databases, for example, we're very careful about using new databases. And if we experiment, we always have a minimum blast radius. We don't just use it in production with our biggest systems. We choose a small thing that we're building and use it there. Once we know that it works and that it solves our problems, we get to use it everywhere.
The first step, in my opinion, and the most important one, is: should we use this? Is it going to solve some of our problems? That's a lengthy discussion in and of itself. I have a brain trust of engineers that I talk to. We don't fight over it. We debate. Because it's not always a Lego brick situation. It's not always a one-for-one replacement. Sometimes one tool will replace three different tools, but more like 2.8, and you have to find something else to fill the gap. It's always a trade-off. Before you start, you need to know how much risk you can tolerate, and allow experimentation somewhere in your organization.
Takes
Short takes
Clips edited down to the answer, labelled with what they're about.
Take · On keeping up with new technology
If you love solving problems and staying relevant on how to solve those problems, by exploring and mentoring your juniors, they also follow the same.
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Blogs: I follow popular engineering blogs, like Netflix's. And also curiosity. If you love solving problems and staying relevant on how to solve those problems, by exploring and mentoring your juniors, they also follow the same. Those are the practices I follow personally: on my own time, trying out new things, and solving the same kinds of problems we have at the company by applying what I read or watch on the internet. And then sharing it with them: "Hey, this might be a good idea to try, and maybe you can do it on your own too." That's how I stay updated with the latest trends in technology, especially in this new age.
Take · On keeping a team current with new technology
There are a lot of times where we take even just 30 minutes out of a random Tuesday and we just talk about the things that we've learned.
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Staying updated with all the upcoming technologies and frameworks, as an individual developer and as a team, is something we found a fun way to stay on top of. My team, actually multiple teams, we don't stop talking about the technologies we work with. There are a lot of times where we take even just 30 minutes out of a random Tuesday and we just talk about the things that we've learned, or the things we're working on that are new or unfamiliar to us or to others on the team. It's a not-so-properly-scheduled time where everyone shares learnings with each other, and why they work for the use cases the situation calls for.
It's just a simple "Hey, what did you learn? I learned this. This is great for doing this or that." And the best case is when a teammate comes back and says, "Remember that technology you told me about? We're using it now. I brought it up with my team, and it's been working great so far." That's how we stay on top of new and upcoming technologies.
Take · On the engineering side of Agile
Especially these days that everybody knows what Agile is, [we need] to better understand the engineering part of Agile.
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I think one of the things that I've been trying to advocate, especially these days that everybody knows what Agile is, is to better understand the engineering part of Agile. I'm trying to share a more holistic way of getting quality, predictability of delivery, and of course maintainability: being able to respond to change. And of course, it's always a multifaceted approach.
Take · On generalists and specialists
Right now, there's a boom of generalists, I would say. … But as technology develops and becomes deeper, you need more specialty in this field.
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Each technology is getting deeper, at least the stable ones that last, so being an expert in them is going to get harder and harder. We will need more specialized individuals. At some point in tech, we'll need very highly specialized training per technology. Right now, there's a boom of generalists, I would say. Yes, your current developer can do some gen AI, can do some infrastructure. But as technology develops and becomes deeper, you need more specialty in this field.
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