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The Human Dimension of Software Engineering

The Human Dimension of Software Engineering

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Avoid Design by Committee: Generate Apart, Evaluate Together

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Reading Time: 4 minutes

The tech industry thrives on innovation. Building innovative software products requires constant design and architecture of creative solutions. In that context, I am not a fan of design by committee; in fact, I believe that it is more of a disease than a strategy. It afflicts teams with no leadership or unclear leadership; the process is painful, and the results are abysmal.

Usability issues plague software products designed by committee. Such products look like collections of features stuck together without a unifying vision or a unique feeling; they are like onions, built as a series of loosely connected layers. They cannot bring emotions to the user because emotions are the product of individual passion. ... 

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11 Essential Elements to Build High-Performing Engineering Teams

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Reading Time: 6 minutes

Being able to build high-performing engineering teams is a non-negotiable skill for engineering leaders. It is the difference between successful and failing technology companies.

I have been thinking about this topic for many years, studying and decoding what exceptional leaders do to create great teams. During this time, I refined a list of what I believe are 11 must-have elements. I kept it in one the many thousands of Evernote notes that organize my life, and I finally decided to share it.

First, let me give you the summary of the elements in the form of a MindMap infographic. I debated between publishing this view at the beginning and at the end of the article. I decided to go for the beginning, as I hope it will spark your curiosity for the many details that you’ll find in the rest of this post. ... 

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8 Engineering Leadership Roles Explained

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Reading Time: 4 minutes

Like most industries, tech doesn’t have a standard for roles and titles, even in the area of engineering leadership. However, some patterns can be found replicated in most software companies. I’ve discussed the technical side of this equation in Software Engineering Job Titles Explained and 19 Types of Developers Explained.

In this post, I am focusing on engineering leadership roles and what they are accepted to mean. Depending on the company, some of these roles are also job titles; others might correspond to one or more job titles, might not exist at all or might be implicit functions. ... 

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5 Reason Why I Love Being Wrong

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

When I was programming 100% of my time, it was my job to write robust and maintainable code. My work needed to be well documented, designed with the proper level of abstraction and as bug-free and efficient as possible. I also had to come up with good ideas for how to resolve problems and create viable products.

As a developer, I had to be right a lot of the time. Being wrong when writing code resulted in bugs and other issues. Regardless of code reviews and testing, dumb ideas in software code have a way of costing an ever-increasing tax. ... 

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A Programmer Burnout Story; How to Recognize it And Avoid it

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Reading Time: 7 minutes

I am very interested in psychology, but I am not a psychologist. I do not have any specific or tangential formal education on the phenomenon of burnout. My experience with it is from the trenches. I have been in some nasty ones, knee deep in the mud, grasping for something solid to avoid going down and drowning. I have observed software developers burnout, and I know how bad it can get.

I got close to get burnout myself a couple of times but managed to avoid it by doing research on the topic and taking decisive actions. I have seen friends and co-workers fall deep into it, and struggle to get out of its hideous embrace. I have also helped some of them to get out of it. ... 

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