Q&A: How an Engineering Manager Reduced Ramp-Up Time by 65%

Magda Miu is an innovative Engineering Manager at Adobe Romania and Google Developer Expert for Android with more than 12 years of experience in software development. Passionate about technology and leadership, she is a blogger, trainer, public speaker, and promoter of digital communities from Romania, supporting other technical professionals to constantly improve their knowledge.

The Educative Team spoke with Magda Miu about how she reduced ramp-up time by 65%. An experienced developer turned engineering manager, Magda covers tactics for building a high-performing team from scratch.

• How do you get new team members up to speed on your tech stack and workflows?
• How do you create effective documentation with your team?
• How do you tackle a project with an ambiguous roadmap?
• What are the best frameworks for scaling productive teams?
• How do you balance people and technical leadership?
• As your team scales, how do you manage capacity planning for engineering tasks?

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How do you get new team members up to speed on your tech stack and workflows?#

At Adobe Romania, we have an engineering enablement project that curates learning paths and trainings for the specific technologies we use in the Adobe Experience platform. We integrate these resources into an onboarding script that guides new hires through their first few months on the team.

As new hires move through the onboarding script, they can easily access the information they need and provide real-time feedback about the process. We use developer feedback to make continuous improvements so that onboarding stays relevant and efficient.

Since implementing this approach, we have reduced time-to-productivity from 6 months to 2 months. Let’s break down the components that make our plan so effective:

Learning paths#

The learning paths in our onboarding plan include:

• Resources and trainings on our tech stack
• Team-specific documentation for processes

Adobe involves principal scientists, engineers, architects, and engineering managers in creating learning paths so new hires can learn from the experts. For example, if a new developer needs to learn about Java, they can easily access a list of relevant and validated resources.

To maintain a high level of technical and operational excellence, engineering leaders collaborate with their teams to document workflows and processes. New hires can then access documentation and learning resources in a centralized wiki.

Onboarding script#

The onboarding script is a roadmap that lays out expectations and weekly goals for an engineer’s first 3 months. Experienced engineers act as “onboarding buddies” and collaborate with new hires to create the script.

The script directs new hires to relevant learning paths and collects questions and feedback in real-time. This information provides insight into how new hires are doing and enables leaders to refine the onboarding process.

How do you create effective documentation with your team?#

Writing documentation can be time-consuming and tedious. At Adobe Romania, we treat it as an ongoing community project. Here’s how to help engineers become invested in documentation.

First of all, I facilitate the process by creating a skeleton that outlines important topics. From there, my team gradually fills in the gaps. We make this process manageable by embedding documentation in our definition of done. As a result, everyone stays accountable.

I make sure to communicate the benefits of effective documentation:

• Engineers spend less time tracking down knowledge and explaining their work.
• Engineers can showcase their contributions to the company.

In my experience, I don’t have to convince engineers that writing documentation is helpful. Once they see the benefits in practice, they are eager to create and maintain our knowledge base.

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How do you tackle a project with an ambiguous roadmap?#

Navigating ambiguity is a huge part of engineering leadership. Here are some steps I take to keep my team productive when the roadmap is unclear:

1. Maintain psychological safety by framing the project as a learning experience.
2. If you have a Product Manager, seek clarity about stakeholder priorities.
3. If you don’t have a Product Manager, find out who will be using the feature you are developing. Sync with those people to create a definition of done.

As you work through these challenges, I encourage you to document your thinking. Creating processes related to soft skills helps your team maintain a high level of excellence.

To hear the rest of Magda’s thoughts on the following 3 questions, check out the full webinar:

• What are the best frameworks for scaling productive teams?
• How do you balance people and technical leadership?
• As your team scales, how do you manage capacity planning for engineering tasks?