Unlocking the Secret to Engineering Team Success: How a People Partner Can Make All the Difference!
What is the most crucial thing the People team has to have to work with technology teams?
I was asked by Inventa’s Head of Engineering on my interview for the role I’m currently in. I’ve been working in the HR area for over a decade now, and this simple and tricky question made me realize how much things have changed for the People area — including its name.
In the past, Human Resources was primarily viewed as a service and support function, focused on meeting basic business needs and legal requirements such as hiring and payment. The human factor was often treated separately from the goal of delivering productivity, with employees being seen as mere resources. However, over time, this perspective has changed to view human needs and well-being as critical to business success (this is a very recent event, but… finally!). This new approach considers factors such as behavior and purpose, recognizing that engaged employees perform better and lead healthier lives.
Despite this shift in perspective, one critical aspect of Human Resources has remained largely unchanged: its mindset. Many companies still view HR as a service-oriented department tasked with creating processes and projects that are thought to be best for everyone, without truly understanding how these initiatives impact employees. HR teams often lack direct experience with the routine challenges and experiences that employees face, making it difficult to develop effective solutions. This disconnect is particularly problematic when it comes to product development and squad management, where a deep understanding of employee needs and experiences is not only crucial for achieving success but also for creating solutions that have genuine meaning for people.
I want to make it more tangible with an experience I had in the past. As a People Partner within a squad that was developing a new product for a retail tech company. The developers’ coding skills were awesome, they were really good at making code scalable and clean, but they weren’t a proactive team. The team tended to get stuck on minor issues or obstacles, relying heavily on the leader to resolve every single problem, they also depended on him to stretch to other squads to understand the core part of the product. As a result, the leader became very overwhelmed, the team lost time, and progress stalled. It’s easy in a situation like that to think as a People area person: “They don’t have the culture of autonomy yet, we could do a group dynamics, or a culture talk to solve this”, etc. Since I had the opportunity to participate in retrospectives, daily meetings, and planning sessions, as well as hold regular 1-on-1s with the team, I had the right proximity to stay in the loop. In addition, my ongoing learning and willingness to ask even the most basic questions (no questions are silly here) meant that I had a good understanding of software development.
I observed that the team had not been actively involved in refining our backlog and that the items on the list were too narrowly defined as tasks. The squad leader took charge of organizing all the information and always provided direction. While it’s certainly helpful for a leader to be objective and support the team’s progress, this approach had the unintended consequence of diminishing the team’s sense of ownership over building solutions alone. So, we decided to make a change: distribute more responsibilities, making them owners of agile rites and refinement, asking them more questions on development directions than providing the answers (and a lot of changes more on routine, planning meetings, etc). One month later, we saw a significant shift in our team’s dynamic, they became the protagonists. Through our 1-on-1s, we reinforced our culture of autonomy and empowerment, using recent actions as examples and providing valuable feedback.
People can play a crucial role in any technology team by not only helping to bridge the gap between the team and the wider organization but boosting the area by applying psychology knowledge and techniques in an assertive way. By actively participating in the team’s activities, gaining deep knowledge of their area, and building close relationships with team members, People can offer valuable insights and support on issues related to people, leadership, structure, group relationship, and organizational culture. The gap between People solutions and what the tech team really needs will become smaller and smaller.
Moreover, by working closely with specialists in areas such as design, data, engineering, and product, People can help to ensure that the team is fully aligned with the wider goals of the business. Through these efforts, a skilled People person can make a significant difference in driving team success and fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.
This is the kind of boost that the People team should strive to provide. Instead of running group dynamics that don’t resonate with employees, we should aim to be a true Partner to the team, working alongside specialists in design, data, engineering, product, and business. To be effective we’ve gotta be there, we’ve gotta know tech and how things work.
That was my answer to Adilson.
Processes and organization alone may define my role as a department, but it’s my proximity, deep understanding of the area, and active participation that enable me to become a strategic partner… a true partner to people — therefore — to business.
You can apply this mindset to any business area and people’s specialty. Did you identify with our mindset and way of thinking? Feel free to get in touch with me on LinkedIn or visit our website to learn more about careers and job openings!
