PinnedhliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideCargo cult programming is killing the software industrySome months ago, I asked a self-identified “machine learning expert” to explain backpropagation to me. They could not. However, they knew…Oct 15, 202160Oct 15, 202160
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to diagnose development productivity issues (1)Improving the productivity of development teams is a constant thorn at the sides of senior management at tech companies. When confronted…Jun 10Jun 10
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to adopt time boxing without adopting an entire Agile methodologyOne way you can “do Agile” without adopting an entire methodology or attempting an “agile transformation”, is to adopt time boxing: the…Jun 6Jun 6
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to get engineers to fix bugs — part IBug fixing (or debugging) is one of the least favourite activities of both software engineers and engineering managers. For the engineer…Jan 12, 2023Jan 12, 2023
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to provide ballpark estimates without trapping your team into unrealistic deadlinesFew things fill an engineering team with trepidation more than a request for a “ballpark estimate”.Jan 3, 20232Jan 3, 20232
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to help your team deliver continuously“Continuous delivery” (or more popularly, continuous integration and delivery, or CI/CD) reached buzzword status somewhere between 2015 and…Mar 27, 2022Mar 27, 2022
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to speak to a low-performing engineerHaving to deal with a low performer who is not responding to positive reinforcement can bring out some of the worst instincts in a manager…Mar 15, 20221Mar 15, 20221
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to avoid unnecessarily failing a coding/design interviewIt can happen to the best of us: with minutes to understand something they would normally ponder about for hours in real life, and an…Mar 6, 2022Mar 6, 2022
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to help your team deliver architectural changes incrementallyAgile methodologies suggest that software be developed and delivered in small, non-breaking increments. This generally involves slicing a…Feb 24, 20221Feb 24, 20221
hliyaninThe Engineering Manager GuideHow to become an engineering managerAs it is with many things in software engineering, there are different schools of thought about what an engineering manager should be…Feb 20, 20221Feb 20, 20221