Communicating Effectively as an Engineer

Engineering is often viewed as a highly technical discipline where hard skills are the key to success. But if you take a closer look at what we - engineers - do in our daily jobs, a lot of it boils down to… communication! When we write code, submit pull requests, move tickets on the board, we essentially communicate with each other in one way or another, which means we can benefit from the rules of effective communication to become more successful at our jobs.

This talk will offer you a fresh perspective on common engineering activities and provide practical advice to help you communicate effectively as an engineer!

Transcript

1. @egorand Communicating Effectively as an Engineer
2. Why talk about communication at droidcon?
3. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION JETPACK COMPOSE, KMP, AI…
4. CODE TICKETS BUGS PRS
6. Ground rules
7. Ground rules • Be kind • Be helpful • Communicate clearly • Ask questions • Mind cultural differences
8. Code
9. Fun funs vs boring ifs fun funLen(s: String): Int { return s.takeIf { it.isNotEmpty() }?.length ?: -1 } fun boringLen(s: String): Int { return if (s.isNotEmpty()) s.length else -1 }
10. Boring is good
11. Common suspects • ?.let { … } • .takeIf { … } • .runCatching { … } • Less common functional methods (fold, reduce, scan, etc.)
12. Names
13. Named args val name = "Alice" println(name.compareTo("Bob", true)) val name = "Alice" println(name.compareTo("Bob", ignoreCase = true))
14. ✅ Lambda param names val emailAliases = contacts .filter { it.aliasType == EMAIL } .map { it.alias }
15. ❌ Lambda param names repository.getNotificationSettings() .map { it.category_preferences.map { it.account_token }.distinct() }
16. ✅ Lambda param names repository.getNotificationSettings() .map { settings -> settings.category_preferences .map { it.account_token } .distinct() }
17. ✅ Lambda param names repository.getNotificationSettings() .map { it.category_preferences .map(CategoryPreference::account_token) .distinct() }
18. Sometimes you don’t need names! val appConfig = combine( remoteAppConfig, localAppConfig ) { remoteAppConfig, localAppConfig -> remoteAppConfig + localAppConfig }
19. Sometimes you don’t need names! val appConfig = combine( remoteAppConfig, localAppConfig, List::plus, )
20. Documentation
21. Documentation • Document API, not implementation
23. Documentation • Document API, don’t document implementation • Communicate in programming language, resort to comments
24. fun findUserNameOrDefault( id: String, db: Database, ): String { val user = db.findUserById(id) // Return "Guest" instead of null because the UI // requires a non-empty name. return user?.name ?: "Guest" }
25. const val DEFAULT_USER_NAME = “Guest" fun findUserNameOrDefault( id: String, db: Database, ): String { val user = db.findUserById(id) return user?.name ?: DEFAULT_USER_NAME }
26. @Provides fun provideMerchantCategoryNameMapping(): Map<String, String> = mapOf( // If the category name is "Shopping" this needs // to be replaced with "Shop". // Context here: https://docs.google.com/... "Shopping" to "Shop", )
27. Why, not what
28. Documentation • Document API, don’t document implementation • Communicate in programming language, resort to comments • Tests as documentation!
30. // https://github.com/square/kotlinpoet/issues/1696 @Test fun aliasedImportInSamePackage() { val packageName = "com.mypackage" val className = ClassName(packageName, "StringKey") val source = FileSpec.builder(packageName, "K") .addAliasedImport(className, "S") .addType( TypeSpec.objectBuilder("K") .addProperty( PropertySpec.builder("test", className) .initializer("%T(%L)", className, 0) .build(), ).build(), ).build() … }
31. // https://github.com/square/kotlinpoet/issues/1696 @Test fun aliasedImportInSamePackage() { val source = … //language=kotlin assertThat(source.toString()).isEqualTo( """ |package com.mypackage | |import com.mypackage.StringKey as S | |public object K { | public val test: S = S(0) |} | """.trimMargin(), ) }
32. Pull requests
33. https://saket.me/great-teams-merge-fast/
34. As a pull request author… • Keep PRs small and focused
35. https://www.egorand.dev/the-big-o-of-code-reviews/
36. • O(1) — Automated refactoring
38. • O(1) — Automated refactoring • O(n) — Well-scoped change • O(m * n) — Poorly scoped change • O(n!) — Everything, everywhere, all at once! (›°□°)› ︵ ᵲᴸᵲ
39. O(n!) O(1) + O(n) + O(n) + O(n)
41. git checkout branch # make changes git add —all && git commit -m “My first PR” gt track # make more changes, create a new branch, commit gt track # rinse and repeat gt submit
43. # make changes in any PR in the stack # commit changes gt restack gt submit
44. Why not just multiple commits? • Better reviewing experience (at least on Github) • Pull requests can be reviewed and merged separately • No way to squash merge
45. As a pull request author… • Keep PRs small and focused • Keep a clean diff
46. val fruits = listOf( "Apple", "Banana" ) val fruits = listOf( "Apple", "Banana", "Pineapple" )
47. val fruits = listOf( "Apple", "Banana", ) val fruits = listOf( "Apple", "Banana", "Pineapple", )
48. As a pull request author… • Keep PRs small and focused • Keep a clean diff • Clearly demonstrate the change
50. https://github.com/cashapp/paparazzi
52. As a pull request reviewer… • Don’t bike shed! • Automate code style checks • Trust your teammates • Approve by default • Suggest follow-up improvements
53. Communicate with future you
54. Communicating with future you • Version control
55. https://developer.squareup.com/blog/how-square-writes-commit-messages/
56. Great commit messages • Accurate • Concise • Informative
57. Why is it important? • Helpful when fighting fires 🔥 • Understand context behind decisions
58. Communicating with future you • Version control • Cross-link context!
61. Cross-linking context • Tickets <-> Commits/PRs • Bug reports/feature requests <-> Tickets • Misdirected Slack messages <-> Properly directed Slack messages
62. Communicate with everybody!
63. Communicate with everybody! • Be mindful of your audience • Wear many hats! • Be open to learning and collaboration
64. Conclusion
65. Conclusion • Communication is everywhere! • Efficient communication makes you more productive • Be kind, be helpful & enjoy the ride!
66. @egorand Thanks!