Structuring an Engineering team: a long-term vision
A lot has been said and written about leadership and management of software engineering teams, and yet, dealing with the human side of team management remains one of the most persistently intricate and challenging tasks there is. Even though some challenges will always present, using a few key principles when setting up your engineering team might save you, and everyone else, a lot of time, resources, and energy.
FOCUS ON PEOPLE
Not the product. Not the code. Not the schedule.
“The thing to realize is that management is about people, it’s not about code”- Tim Howes
When you succeed in putting together the right people and creating the best environment for them to grow; everything else will flow naturally: from a line of code to a final rendering.
A focus on human qualities should start in the hiring process and then extend through every phase of a project. Managing personalities and talent doesn’t end once everyone is assigned to their role in a project. It’s essential to maintain a level of harmony, integration, and communication from start to finish. It’s about understanding the individuals that make up a team: their timing, their quirks, how they interact, what motivates them, what makes them comfortable or uncomfortable, what do they need in order to give their best and how can you provide that as a leader.
Leaders should focus on team-building activities. It’s essential for team members to get to know each other not only professionally but personally. You can’t imagine how useful it is to eliminate biases and create solid structures. After all, your team will spend lots of time together and success relies on great environments. And remember, this applies to every member of a team regardless of where they’re working: in the office, remotely, or stuck at home due to a global pandemic. It is critical for leaders to think creatively about how to foster personal relationships amongst team members regardless of the situation or obstacles.
SIZE MATTERS… BUT NOT MORE THAN ORGANIZATION
Of course you need to consider the size of your team when thinking about your approach to team management and leadership style. A bigger team doesn’t necessarily mean bigger problems.
“Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization” — Sun Tzu.
The key principle to managing larger teams is efficiently assigning roles and tasks, that is to say, putting the right people in the right places. For example, you could create small sub-teams with several mid-level leaders. “Equip each team with everything it needs to get a product off the ground, from engineering to QA to product management to marketing”, suggests IT entrepreneur Tim Howes, who also insist on the importance of formalizing management roles: “Over 50 people, if you’re not formalizing roles, everybody thinks they’re a tech lead. And that gets bad.”
Another key strategy is to be clear about accountability. Everybody should know what to expect from others. Having transparency in responsibilities reduces frustration and increases efficiency. Goal setting and accountability is also a great way to help team members find work/life balance that reduces burnout and attrition. If leaders set an expectation that their team members respond to emails at 10 pm on a Friday, they will soon find their team diminished in morale, and eventually, size as well. Leaders should, as they say, lead by example, and demonstrate professional excellence as well as healthy work habits.
At Spark Digital, we’ve adopted the OKR approach to goal setting. This framework is especially helpful in connecting the daily work of every team member to the most central goals of the entire organization. This, in turn, helps team members understand the interconnectedness of everyone’s efforts, fosters teamwork and aligns focus around a common vision.
FIND YOUR WHY
Simon Sinek’s philosophy “Start with Why” might be one of the most quoted works in the genre of corporate leadership and management, and there’s a good reason. He discovered why some companies are more successful than others and, as it turns out, it’s more about connecting to a common cause than sticking to a plan.
“The goal is not just to hire people who need a job; it’s to hire people who believe what you believe (…) if you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money, but if they believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears” — Simon Sinek.
When building an engineering team, or any team for that matter, the lead should get their power from inspiration rather than authority. And inspiration comes from connection. It’s important to make sure that the people are there because they want to be, because they share common goals and philosophies with the rest of the team and with the organization to pursue a common vision. Being a leader means having a cause. Having the ability to inspire your team to follow it. To be able to share that vision that inspires them so much, that they want to build it together with you. (read more)
Define your why, and let it become the fuel for every decision in the team. This should happen at the company level and the team level.
EMBRACE SKILL DEVELOPMENT
“Skill development ultimately builds relationships, which build teams”
In technology, more than in any other industry, skills can become outdated pretty quickly. A focus on developing skills will keep your team sharp and ready for current and future challenges. Your team skills need to be assessed and monitored from the beginning; make it a priority to identify the skills you need to improve, update, or further develop. As a leader, it is a mistake to fall into the trap of traditional/rigid career paths. It’s becoming increasingly important to encourage team members to develop skills that will compliment their knowledge to push them further into a diverse range of opportunities as opposed to traditional profiles. As you encourage people to learn and grow in their careers, not only will they be more useful as team members, they will also be happier and more motivated.
THINK LONG-TERM
Structuring an engineering team based only on your current circumstances will cause many frustrations in the future. When building a team, every decision should be founded on a long-term vision.
Efficiency often depends on your ability to think ahead. Identify pain points and potential problems at an early stage, instead of dealing with them as they arise. To do this effectively, a team leader should include all the relevant stakeholders and understand all the dependencies amongst stakeholders. For example, don’t engage QA once a product is ready to be tested, engage QA from day one, create a plan for testing before a single line of code is written — we have found this to be especially critical when building applications to a high standard of accessibility (check out our white paper on that topic here).
ACCEPT CHANGE
Even if you study every team structuring model there is and choose one after careful consideration; even if you follow every step; even if you play out every possible scenario in your head: change is inevitable. Your ability to anticipate should be balanced with your ability to adapt.
Be ready to evolve as your team evolves; even if that means changing the structure or the strategy. “By nature, a team — a good team — understands that it should do things for the benefit of the team, not strictly to adhere to some organizational model (…), first, know your team. Then know your problem. Only then can you make needed adjustments based on established models, you, and your team’s dynamics and goals”, advises Sarah Goff-Dupont, Principal Writer at Atlassian.
CONCLUSION
IT and engineering leaders tend to have a lot on their hands and sometimes it’s easy to overlook human elements while solving complex technical problems. Just remember, not every group is a team… sharing a purpose, planning ahead, being able to adapt, and keeping it human; that’s what will make it a successful team.
Pablo Gamba — Director of Technology @ Spark Digital
If you want to be a part of Spark Digital (an intive Business), email us with your CV at careers@sparkdigital.com
