Tag: engineering
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What kind of harness are you building?
Reading Time: 5 minutesWith agentic coding disrupting how we build software, many are trying to push the narrative that everyone is turning into engineering managers. The rationale is that everyone works with multiple coding agents at once and orchestrates them on multiple projects. While I see how easy it is to make the leap, I…
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What Makes a Great Software Engineer?
Reading Time: 2 minutesAs a people manager, I’ve had the privilege of working with some truly exceptional software engineers. Based on my experience, here’s a non-exhaustive list of the key traits that make them stand out. 🔍 They care deeply They dig into problems, understand their impact on the organization and users, and take the…
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Presumed technical debt: how to recognise it and avoid it
Reading Time: 7 minutesThe programming community unanimously considers technical debt an aspect of our work to keep under control and reduce. Personally, I’ve been vocal about the perils of technical debt in one of my early blog posts about the organizational issues it can cause. While I still stand by the majority of what I…
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The best teams I’ve worked with
Reading Time: 6 minutesDiscover the keys to building successful teams: autonomy, customer focus, accountability, psychological safety, and continuous improvement. Explore how empowered teams drive projects to success, require minimal management, and adapt often. Learn how effective leadership fosters a culture of transparency and continuous improvement, empowering teams to deliver exceptional results. Unlock the potential of…
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Is software quality attainable in Agile contexts?
Reading Time: 8 minutesWhat does quality software mean in Agile? Does it make sense to invest in upfront design and architecture to guarantee higher quality? In this post I try to dissect what Quality means in Agile.
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The Mythical DevOps Engineer
Reading Time: 8 minutesI’m always a little suspicious of job specs looking for the so-called DevOps Engineer role. They often mention a vast variety of duties and responsibilities. Are they hiring for a single role or a whole team? Roles having DevOps in their title hardly share the same meaning. They often have something in…