Feedback & Reviews

Unless You Prioritize Product Features, Your Product Will Remain Dormant

This article discusses a project that was stuck between a beta and a pilot version. To make the product Generally Available (GA), the team had to prioritize features and break down the project into manageable parts. With a four-month timeline, they were able to reduce the 16-month-long GA timeline to only four months while preserving the most valuable features to customers. The author also learned two main challenges while negotiating with the PM and talking to team members; the only way to move forward was to make compromises. The author applied the most effective tactic of asking "Tell me more" instead of "What do you mean" to his team members.

Implementing and Reviewing Roadmaps: Strategies for Transparency and Alignment

As Chief Technology Officer, it is essential to create structures and processes that help align engineering teams with their goals. This includes investing in the hiring process, creating roadmaps for success, and fostering diversity within teams. Additionally, it is important to review and refine processes to ensure they are relevant to the current moment in time, and to build a network to help stakeholders understand the roadmap.

Adopting DevOps: How To Make It Happen

A large bank hired a consultant to assess their DevOps strategy, which had been in progress for two years. After interviewing teams and creating a model of what was missing, the consultant became a trusted advisor to the executive team in charge of the transformation. The consultant set up metrics for measuring progress, created frameworks and architecture for the management of tools, and helped with the mindset change within the teams. As a result of the consultant's work, the bank was able to reduce their lead time for a change from 3 months to 2 weeks, and quickly respond to changes, such as pushing out a new loan processing platform for the COVID-19 pandemic. The consultant's lessons learned included building out high-performance teams, successful transformation requires the right people, and understanding how to deliver value.

Dealing with Uncertainties and Adapting as You Go

Organizations are facing a high level of uncertainty due to the changes in the work environment since 2020. Teams need to find the right balance between short- and long-term plans and incorporate flexibility. Managers should have discussions with their teams about the organization’s mission and stakeholders. Teams should have weekly achievements instead of monthly targets and frequent and purposeful communication. To build long-lasting teams, team-building activities should be encouraged and mission-driven, autonomous teams should be fostered.

A 4-Step Structure for Improving Your Pull Request Review Process for Better Code Delivery

The text discusses the importance of providing context in pull requests (PRs) to improve the PR review process and code development speed. It suggests that a strong PR should include sections such as an overview of the problem the change solves, the context for understanding the impact of the change, instructions for evaluating and replicating the change, and additional information like screenshots or documentation. By providing this context, reviewers can better understand the purpose and impact of the change, leading to more effective and efficient reviews.

Make Time for Personal Growth of Your Employees

This article discusses the challenge of balancing company OKRs and employee career goals. The solution was to include career documents and discussions into actionable items, and to apply the concept of fixed velocity or fixed story points. This approach is a blend between the agile and waterfall approaches, with personal development being part of the structured plan. The lesson learned is that it is important to integrate the personal development plan into the work plan and find a balance between the "actual" work and work that enhances the skills of employees.