Last updated: 2024-04-02
Great developer experience starts with ... great employee experience ๐ Here are some non-technical aspects of our daily work worth considering before diving into the topic of proper DevX.
๐๏ธ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ - you knew the first point was going to be meetings, right? ๐ Lots of great advice out there already, so I won't go into too much detail. Just remember to have a clear agenda and to leave meetings that aren't valuable and/or you cannot contribute to. A tip that works for me is to schedule all meetings either in the morning or afternoon, allowing a solid block for focused work. (Harder to achieve as manager, but still doable.)
๐ฃ๏ธ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐น๐ - a proper taxonomy is crucial for an efficient flow of information. Don't leave developers wondering on which channel to post certain information. Set clear rules for which channels are push vs pull and which one are required and which are not.
๐ป ๐๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ - ensure you have a stable internet connection and good audio quality, especially when working remotely. Companies usually provide a budget for equipment, so make sure to utilize it. Donโt be the team that wastes 15 minutes of meeting due to a poorly configured laptop.
๐ ๏ธ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐น๐ - It's surprising how often engineers lack access to basic services within their organization. If you are a manager, make sure all members of your team have access to essential tools. Nothing worse than starting a task and realizing you donโt have access to your cloud provider or any other important service.
๐ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป - It's irrelevant if your CI runs in 2 nanoseconds if it took you 2 weeks to find the necessary documentation ;] I enjoy this topic way too much and plan to write a separate post about it. But for now I can only say that documentation is vital, particularly as the team expands with new members joining and old members leaving.
Hope that helped! Anything missing from the list? Please share your thoughts in the comments on LinkedIn .
โ
