Abstract image of a woman sitting on books and studying on a laptop

How to Work with Software Engineers (strtupboost 10/18/18)

K
Kate Travers

The document provides insights on effective collaboration with software engineers, emphasizing their social capabilities while highlighting the importance of attention span and communication methods. It advises on respecting the chain of command and offers guidelines for defining requirements without overwhelming engineers with details. Key takeaways include fostering rapport, asking questions, and connecting tasks to business outcomes to improve teamwork and efficiency.

Engineering
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How to Work with Software Engineers A (totally unbiased) software engineer’s perspective Kate Travers | @kttravers
How to Work with Software Engineers (strtupboost 10/18/18)
Much successSo joy Such business Very smiles Wow Super yes
Misconceptions Kate Travers | @kttravers
"Engineers... do not like speaking with people. Coding all day is good fun, talking with people is torture." [1] Kate Travers | @kttravers
Kate Travers | @kttravers Engineers are just as social as your average co-worker. We’re just very protective of our precious (and limited) attention span.
Know how your team builds. Kate Travers | @kttravers ● Roadmap ● Agile (iterative) ● Waterfall (fully spec’d)
Respect chain of command. Kate Travers | @kttravers ● Feature request? Product manager ● Technical issue? Engineering manager
Kate Travers | @kttravers URGENCY TIMEFRAME CHANNEL Low Need answer within a few days or longer Email Medium Need answer by end of day Email / public Slack High Need answer within an hour DM Emergency Things are on fire *DM, then tap on shoulder Communication Channels x Urgency
When you ask for something from an engineer, don't get too detailed. They're the experts, so let them decide how to do it. Kate Travers | @kttravers
Engineers are detail-oriented problem solvers. Ambiguity slows us down. Kate Travers | @kttravers
Kate Travers | @kttravers Be precise. ● Don’t make assumptions ● Eliminate guesswork ● Put all your cards on the table
Kate Travers | @kttravers ● Define the desired outcome(s), not the means ● Set priorities ● Ask for tradeoffs Provide requirements, not implementation.
Engineers love details and hate meetings, so don’t bring them into a project until you’ve mapped everything out completely in advance. Kate Travers | @kttravers
Bring developers in early. Kate Travers | @kttravers
Work better together. Kate Travers | @kttravers ● Don’t insulate engineering team from the “business” ● Better context leads to better results ● Catch problems early enough to fix
Exercises Kate Travers | @kttravers
Product Manager: How’s the password reset feature going? Developer: I started looking into the Postmark API and installed their client library, but I started running into some issues in my development environment because of an outdated library we’re using for image handling. ??? < /> Kate Travers | @kttravers
Marketing manager to developer: Can you please build us something to address the sign-up conversion rate by the end of the day? ??? < /> Kate Travers | @kttravers
CEO: Ok, but what about the landing page update? Developer: I just used a really cool algorithm to guess similar words using something called “Levenshtein distance”. The data consistency problem should be fixed by EOD. ??? < /> Kate Travers | @kttravers
??? < /> Developer to product manager: I’m working on the search feature and noticed that some of these filtering options don’t make sense together. What if we did it like this instead? Kate Travers | @kttravers
Takeaways Kate Travers | @kttravers
DO DON’T Talk like you know something when you don’t “What if we just…” Be intimidated by jargon Assume your problem isn’t interesting enough to solve Ask lots of questions Dream out loud in user stories Connect your asks back to business wins Build rapport (attend demos, volunteer for testing, or just grab coffee) Kate Travers | @kttravers
Thank you! Kate Travers | @kttravers
Questions? Kate Travers | @kttravers
Resources: Articles 1. Krzysztof Rakowski - How To Communicate Effectively In IT Projects 2. Julie Zhuo - How to Work with Engineers 3. Nicholas Zakas - The care and feeding of software engineers 4. Cliff Gilley - How to Work Effectively With Engineers 5. June Cohen - How to Work with Engineers on a Web Development Project 6. Stella Garber - 5 Best Practices for Working with Developers Kate Travers | @kttravers
Resources: Videos 1. Ron Lichty - How to Get Your Development Team to Love You 2. Laura Klein - Building Happy Product Teams like Heist Teams 3. Ryan Hughes - Bridging the Gap between Designers and Developers 4. Salesforce Case Study - How Admins And Developers Can Collaborate Kate Travers | @kttravers
Appendix 1: Vocabulary Kate Travers | @kttravers
Developer ProgrammerEngineer PEOPLE WHO WRITE CODE Kate Travers | @kttravers
Feature Development Kate Travers | @kttravers
Stories / Tickets Kate Travers | @kttravers
The “Stack” Kate Travers | @kttravers
The “Stack” Much simple So nbd Such easy Very no problem Wow Kate Travers | @kttravers
Backend vs. Frontend vs. Full Stack HTML CSS Javascript Ruby Python PHP C# Java Javascript (!!) Kate Travers | @kttravers
API Kate Travers | @kttravers
:shipit: Kate Travers | @kttravers
:ship: :it: Kate Travers | @kttravers

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How to Work with Software Engineers (strtupboost 10/18/18)

  • 1. How to Work with Software Engineers A (totally unbiased) software engineer’s perspective Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 3. Much successSo joy Such business Very smiles Wow Super yes
  • 5. "Engineers... do not like speaking with people. Coding all day is good fun, talking with people is torture." [1] Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 6. Kate Travers | @kttravers Engineers are just as social as your average co-worker. We’re just very protective of our precious (and limited) attention span.
  • 7. Know how your team builds. Kate Travers | @kttravers ● Roadmap ● Agile (iterative) ● Waterfall (fully spec’d)
  • 8. Respect chain of command. Kate Travers | @kttravers ● Feature request? Product manager ● Technical issue? Engineering manager
  • 9. Kate Travers | @kttravers URGENCY TIMEFRAME CHANNEL Low Need answer within a few days or longer Email Medium Need answer by end of day Email / public Slack High Need answer within an hour DM Emergency Things are on fire *DM, then tap on shoulder Communication Channels x Urgency
  • 10. When you ask for something from an engineer, don't get too detailed. They're the experts, so let them decide how to do it. Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 11. Engineers are detail-oriented problem solvers. Ambiguity slows us down. Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 12. Kate Travers | @kttravers Be precise. ● Don’t make assumptions ● Eliminate guesswork ● Put all your cards on the table
  • 13. Kate Travers | @kttravers ● Define the desired outcome(s), not the means ● Set priorities ● Ask for tradeoffs Provide requirements, not implementation.
  • 14. Engineers love details and hate meetings, so don’t bring them into a project until you’ve mapped everything out completely in advance. Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 15. Bring developers in early. Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 16. Work better together. Kate Travers | @kttravers ● Don’t insulate engineering team from the “business” ● Better context leads to better results ● Catch problems early enough to fix
  • 18. Product Manager: How’s the password reset feature going? Developer: I started looking into the Postmark API and installed their client library, but I started running into some issues in my development environment because of an outdated library we’re using for image handling. ??? < /> Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 19. Marketing manager to developer: Can you please build us something to address the sign-up conversion rate by the end of the day? ??? < /> Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 20. CEO: Ok, but what about the landing page update? Developer: I just used a really cool algorithm to guess similar words using something called “Levenshtein distance”. The data consistency problem should be fixed by EOD. ??? < /> Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 21. ??? < /> Developer to product manager: I’m working on the search feature and noticed that some of these filtering options don’t make sense together. What if we did it like this instead? Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 23. DO DON’T Talk like you know something when you don’t “What if we just…” Be intimidated by jargon Assume your problem isn’t interesting enough to solve Ask lots of questions Dream out loud in user stories Connect your asks back to business wins Build rapport (attend demos, volunteer for testing, or just grab coffee) Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 24. Thank you! Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 26. Resources: Articles 1. Krzysztof Rakowski - How To Communicate Effectively In IT Projects 2. Julie Zhuo - How to Work with Engineers 3. Nicholas Zakas - The care and feeding of software engineers 4. Cliff Gilley - How to Work Effectively With Engineers 5. June Cohen - How to Work with Engineers on a Web Development Project 6. Stella Garber - 5 Best Practices for Working with Developers Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 27. Resources: Videos 1. Ron Lichty - How to Get Your Development Team to Love You 2. Laura Klein - Building Happy Product Teams like Heist Teams 3. Ryan Hughes - Bridging the Gap between Designers and Developers 4. Salesforce Case Study - How Admins And Developers Can Collaborate Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 29. Developer ProgrammerEngineer PEOPLE WHO WRITE CODE Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 31. Stories / Tickets Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 33. The “Stack” Much simple So nbd Such easy Very no problem Wow Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 34. Backend vs. Frontend vs. Full Stack HTML CSS Javascript Ruby Python PHP C# Java Javascript (!!) Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 35. API Kate Travers | @kttravers
  • 37. :ship: :it: Kate Travers | @kttravers