Neglected roadblocks slow production and demotivate your engineering team, so what’s a quick and easy sequence to knock down roadblocks? Imagine this part of your job as similar to the work sequence of an emergency room (ER) doctor. Picture a patient walking through the door with an ailment or complaint. As an ER doctor, your job is to quickly diagnose the issue, resolve it, and prescribe preventative measures.
As an engineering manager, your job takes a roadblock your engineers present and pushes them back out the door quickly and systematically. Everyone runs into roadblocks, so start by imagining yourself in the shoes of your developer and approach their issue with empathy. The hard truth about coding is that it doesn’t follow a set of predictable steps, so it more closely resembles invention and scientific discovery. Today, we’ll cover the three steps engineering managers should take to knock down roadblocks.
Unblock your remote engineering team
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You’re in a good spot if your new developer approaches you with a roadblock. The last thing you want is a new developer afraid to ask any questions and to feel siloed in their work. Instead, take this as an opportunity to showcase company-specific use cases and your support for your developer’s growth.
Start big, then chisel down your approach. When diagnosing a problem, imagine a funnel starting with a variety of roadblocks an engineer can run into. These roadblocks range from technical issues to communication gaps but ultimately pose a similar threat: slowing down production and demotivating your engineering team. Start knocking down roadblocks by composing a list of general reasons your engineers may feel blocked by.
Here is a list to help you get started:
Leave no room for assumptions. Often, improper communication results in further roadblocks. Here are some helpful clarifying questions or methods to make sure you accurately diagnose the roadblock at hand:
Time to knock down roadblocks. Since different roadblocks call for additional solutions, we’ll cover common roadblocks your engineers will face and how to overcome them.
If goals or project priorities are constantly shifting, your engineers may start to feel unmotivated or overwhelmed by a lack of organization. Solutions to shifting priorities involve the following:
Does your team have the technology and resources available to complete the project efficiently? Consider listing out software you use vs. what your team will be using. Taking this step can help streamline communication and consolidate notes on the project. Here are some lists to consider writing out between what you see and what your team sees:
Available communication channels
Task tracking applications
Documentation
Tap into the wealth of information provided by external and internal resources through keyword expertise. For example, a recent conversation with an engineering manager friend revealed that a helpful skill for knocking down roadblocks is knowing what keywords to type into Google, Stackoverflow, or internal wiki documents. In addition, don’t be afraid to tap into various developer communities and use tribal knowledge to knock down roadblocks. Here are common places to look for solutions:
Educative Teams empowers your team with the learning tools and courses to fill any skill gaps on your team. Don’t leave your team’s technical skills up to assumption and provide them with resources to flexibly brush up on technical skills for your projects.
Follow up every resolution with space for feedback. Prevent roadblocks by anticipating and preemptively creating strategies that identify roadblocks and resolve roadblocks for the next time your engineers face issues. Communication builds the foundation for effective roadblock prevention.
After any sequence of identifying and resolving a roadblock, spend time asking your engineers what could have been done to prevent the roadblock in the future? Roadblocks inevitably show up in the future, but ideally, each experience makes the unblocking process more efficient. Spending the extra time to receive feedback communicates your support for the engineer and improves the process for the subsequent roadblock encounter.
Here are some questions you can ask your engineers during 1:1s:
According to a recent report by Pluralsight, 21% of developers felt inadequate employer support was a barrier, while 32% felt there were budget constraints to their tech skill development. Act as an advocate for your engineering team and keep communication channels open for feedback on engineering support. Providing learning resources strikes a balance between autonomy and mastery for your engineering team. One-size-fits-all resources are easy to implement but often aren’t as effective. Consider the following learning model to keep your engineers up to date and prevent future roadblocks:
Frequency: Monthly
Length: 3 hours
Time of day: During work hours
Technology of interest: Cloud management
Course Difficulty: High
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