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For Gal and/or Dan - Questions and Discussion points

  • How have you managed individual performance reviews in a team-performance oriented organization?
    • Velocity?
    • 360 Reviews?
  • Updated thoughts on Pair Programming?
  • How to best collaborate/comment on speccing? - We've started moving specs for larger issues into Google Docs simply because commenting on a huge running list of specs is unmanageable.
  • Best practices for distributing responsibilities between engineering managers and product managers

Notes from talking to Dan Drew:

  • It's OK to have "part-time" engineering managers if the team is small
  • Rule of thumb: if you manage 6 to 8 people, you need a full-time manager
  • Engineering vs HR managing: People management should be part of engineering management
  • Remote team should have a local manager (product mind but technical and with a project manager background?)
  • Engineering managers need to be involved because they decide what their team is working on, how long something is going to take, what architectural decision needs to be made, etc.
  • Who owns the sprint: Engineering Managers own the sprint and standups
  • Planning is where product and engineering negotiate
  • Business understanding is key for engineering managers