Back in January, my partner and I took an impromptu trip to Mauritius in order to escape the European winter. On our almost 11 hour flight from Paris to Mauritius, I couldn’t help but wonder how many things had to go right everytime the flight was conducted for it to have been added as a regular route for Air France.
In the same manner, there are quite a number of things that need to work out in just the right way for engineering teams to function like conveyor belts delivering value to the the business like clock work.
You think about the engineering talent on the team, interpersonal relationships between the team members, having a convincing mission and vision from management that every engineer believes in, a sense of freedom to build and deliver within that shared vision, projects that challenge the ingenuity of each team member, a sense of responsibility and ownership that’s passed around the team, and the list goes on.
In today’s world, with the advances we’ve made in getting large language models to function as invaluable sidekicks to engineering teams, I hope engineering managers out there are constantly on the lookout for those factors that make their teams continually deliver at a high level. There still exists, the tasks of pushing back on unrealistic expectations, ensuring that your teammates (because, that’s who they are at the end of the day) continue to maintain a harmonious work-life balance, providing valuable constructive feedback, mentoring and ensuring they have a environment that’s suitable for growth and continuous development.
These, and more, are only a subset of the many things that need to work in just the right way, for your team of superstars to continue being just that.