How 10 Engineering Leaders Build High-Performance Teams [ebook] - Code Climate Blog

How 10 Engineering Leaders Build High-Performance Teams

This post is part of our historical archive. It represents the beliefs, actions, products, and services of Code Climate as of its publication date. Today, Code Climate focuses on providing enterprise leaders the software development data, context layer, and playbooks needed to build the AI-native software organization their enterprise needs. Head to codeclimate.com to learn more.

Hillary Nussbaum
Dec 15, 2020

“Don’t see management as a promotion, see it as a shift in role, and acknowledge that it will be a bit uncomfortable for you, and give yourself space to be okay with that.” – Smruti Patel, Engineering Manager at Stripe

Many engineering leaders move into management unprepared for precisely that reason — it requires a shift in mindset and a new set of skills. To ease that transition for new and aspiring managers, and to help seasoned managers level up, Code Climate and Codecademy for Business interviewed engineering leaders about the key components of leadership success. We spoke to VPs and Managers at companies like Netflix, Intuit, GitHub, and Stripe to find out about their most successful management strategies and the skills that they deem to be essential.

Their best advice is compiled in our ebook, How 10 Engineering Leaders Build High-Performance Teams.

Highlights include:

“Having leaders on your team that are not managers is actually very useful because for you as a manager, that means you don’t have to do everything…leadership by influence or suggestion is actually a lot more powerful.” – Mathias Meyer, Engineering Leadership Coach, www.paperplanes.de
“I start my management relationships with the foundation of trust, respect, and accountability. A powerful way to show trust and respect for your team is by welcoming everyone’s opinions, ideas and feedback.” – Alexandra Paredes, VP of Engineering at Code Climate
“Don’t pretend like you have all the answers. Do that figuring out in front of the team because it’ll make them trust you more, not less.” – Nitika Daga, Engineering Manager at Stitch Fix

Download it now for wisdom from:

Tara Ellis, Manager, UI Engineering at Netflix
Brooks Swinnerton, Senior Engineering Manager at GitHub
Gergely Nemeth, Group Engineering Manager at Intuit
Lena Reinhard, Vice President of Product Engineering at CircleCI
Mathias Meyer, Engineering Leadership Coach, www.paperplanes.de
Anchal Dube, Senior Engineering Manager at Zocdoc
Andrew Heine, Engineering Manager at Figma
Smruti Patel, Engineering Manager at Stripe
Nitika Daga, Engineering Manager at Stitch Fix
Alexandra Paredes, VP of Engineering at Code Climate

Why a Strategy Matters

At the heart of every successful software engineering team is a drive for three things:

A culture of continuous improvement
The ability to move from idea to impact quickly, frequently, and with confidence
A software organization delivering meaningful value

These goals sound simple enough, but in reality, achieving them requires more than just wishing for better performance. It takes data, action, and, most importantly, a cultural shift.

Step 1: Define Your Purpose

The first step in any successful engineering insights strategy is defining why you're doing this. If you're rolling out metrics or an insights platform, you need to ensure alignment on the purpose across the board. If you can’t answer this clearly, you risk chasing a vague, unhelpful path. Understand your purpose helps avoid unnecessary distractions and lets you focus on solving the real issue.

Step 2: Understand Your People

Consider who will be involved in this journey. Who will be using the developer productivity tool? Are they hands-on developers or executives? Organizational changes must also be accounted for to ensure the platform remains relevant.

Step 3: Define Your Process

Don’t just focus on having data; understand what to expect people to do with it and how to track if those actions lead to improvement. The goal should be to identify the problem you're trying to solve and formulate an action plan accordingly.

Step 4: Program and Rollout Strategy

Design a value loop within a team before rolling out the platform broadly. It’s important to test the waters with a smaller team before a full-scale launch.

Step 5: Choose Your Platform Wisely

Your platform should align with your strategy. Ensure that you have clarity on your purpose, people, and process before evaluating platforms to make the best choice for your organization's needs.

Looking Ahead

Building a successful engineering insights strategy involves more than simply installing a tool. It’s about fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making and aligning all teams toward achieving business outcomes. The effective combination of these elements can transform insights platforms into powerful drivers for change and improvement.