Vince Sacks ChenBecoming a Productive Software EngineerAs an engineering manager, I’ve often heard from my reports during performance reviews all the external reasons why their productivity…Mar 7Mar 7
Vince Sacks ChenConfession of an Engineering Manager on PromotionsI’ve often seen or heard that one of the key indicators of a good manager is the ability to promote someone. On the surface, it seems…Mar 18Mar 18
Vince Sacks ChenMy Ted Lasso Moment at UberIn the first episode of Ted Lasso, when Ted starts his job as head coach on the new team amid all the cynicism and doubt, he leaves an…Feb 20Feb 20
Vince Sacks ChenPassion vs StressIn his tweet below, Simon Sinek says stress and passion only differ in purpose. In a corporate setting, the organizational needs create a…Feb 19Feb 19
Vince Sacks ChenConstituting an Engineering ProcessEngineering managers are responsible for a team of typically highly paid software engineers in a domain with nebulous aspects of technology…Jan 22Jan 22
Vince Sacks ChenManaging Engineering ProductivityAround mid-year 2022, tech companies began tightening their belt and closely monitoring software engineers’ pull request (PR) counts. This…Jan 16Jan 16
Vince Sacks ChenAbout Promotion-Driven DevelopmentAt the outset, a promotion-driven culture is meritocracy, which is the backbone of capitalism. What permeates many tech companies today…Jan 13Jan 13
Vince Sacks ChenPerformance Management at a Macro LevelAs an engineering manager, at least 50% of the time is spent on people management. The ultimate goal is not just to utilize the team’s…Jan 10Jan 10
Vince Sacks ChenWriting an Excellent PostmortemIn the world of software engineering, incidents happen every once in a while. The uninitiated fix them in isolation and move on while the…Jan 61Jan 61
Vince Sacks ChenThe Process for Engineering ExcellenceIn a large-scale & interconnected software system, there are upwards of millions of lines of logs daily, many of which are signals of…Jan 1Jan 1