How to Build a Strong Engineering Culture Alper Hankendi @Hepsiburada Head of Technology

No content

If the mission statement of the company is the interface for a company’s operations, the culture is the implementing class.

The importance of a good engineering culture Organizational culture fosters productivity Culture shapes values, work ethic, collaboration and innovation Culture attracts top talent The best people want to work at companies with strong values and culture Culture enhances the customer experience Happy employees lead to happy customers and better products Organizational culture is the foundation for success in engineering teams. It shapes how people work together and the results they can achieve.

Foster a good engineering culture Encourage learning Encouraging learning and professional development offers engineers attractive opportunities to gain beneficial skills for daily tasks and projects. Prioritize identifying each individual's professional goals to help them achieve, providing benefits including course, seminar, Internal Tech-.Talks, Lunch & Learns and training enrollments.

Foster a good engineering culture Align company goals with the engineers’ goals A healthy engineering culture aligns the engineers' objectives with the organization’s goals. Through effective communication and compromise, a synergy that fosters productivity and success is created. A unified vision for the future is shared by all. When a team member's aspirations are supported in alignment with broader organizational goals, it reflects an effective engineering culture benefiting both parties.

Foster a good engineering culture Create a Culture of Passion "If we learn to start with WHY, and share the reasons that we're passionate for our work, we give people an opportunity to connect with us on a deeper, more human level. People don't buy what we do, they buy WHY we do it" ― Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Foster a good engineering culture Foster effective communication Effective communication is crucial for an organization aiming to establish an engineering culture. Listen to your team's goals and aspirations to align with the company's capacity. Regular check-ins with your developers help monitor their satisfaction and the company's progress. Clear communication at all levels ensures company success.

Foster a good engineering culture Leverage agile methods To build a strong engineering culture, utilize agile methods and empower developers. Agile development involves customer feedback and multiple iterations of the software. Increase iteration speeds by giving developers decision-making freedom. Hold regular agile meetings and ensure preparedness by providing an agenda outlining discussion points and questions in advance. This way, your team can start the meeting on the right foot.

Foster a good engineering culture Create a culture of accountability, consistency, and inclusion It enables businesses to build a culture of accountability and inclusion by offering workspace-wide templates for different departments. The action items feature allows assigning tasks with due dates to team members, improving accountability.

Continuous Feedback Foster a culture where team members feel comfortable providing honest feedback without fear of judgement. Encourage Open Communication Prioritize and implement feedback in small iterations to drive continuous improvement. Implement Feedback Incrementally Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with team members to get feedback on processes, collaboration, and areas for improvement. Gather Feedback Regularly

Hire for Culture Fit Hiring for culture fit means finding people who share the values, work styles, and personalities of your existing team. Culture fit ensures new hires are aligned with the company's vision and mesh well with coworkers. This builds a collaborative, energized environment.

Behavioral questions

Promote Collaboration Cross-Functional Teams Build project teams with members from different disciplines and backgrounds to encourage diverse perspectives. Share Knowledge Encourage engineers to proactively share expertise and information with their peers. Foster Teamwork Organize group projects and activities that require engineers to collaborate and solve problems together. Recognition and Rewards (Give credit) Recognize and reward collaborative behaviors to reinforce teamwork and information sharing. Provide Shared Spaces Create open office spaces and common areas for casual interactions and knowledge sharing between engineers.

Encourage Innovation Accept some failures Allow small experiments Reward creative solutions Provide time for brainstorming

Provide Mentorship Group discussion Engineers having an open discussion to share knowledge and experiences. Reading a book together An engineer reading a technical book with a new hire and explaining concepts. Two people working together A senior engineer teaching a junior engineer coding techniques.

Autonomous Team Culture What is autonomy at work? Autonomy at work refers to how much freedom your employees have while they are working. Autonomy means teams are allowed to set their own schedules and can decide how their work should be done.

Building Autonomy and Trust Accept Mistakes The most successful organizations learn from mistakes and foster a growth mindset. Hire Smart People Hire smart autonomous people and let them tell you what to do. "A possible danger" in an autonomous team is that the team may become blind to their own weaknesses so the teams open to feedback from other teams. Trust Your Team Trust to the team. Without trust, autonomy is impossible. Allow Open Disagreement Leaders must respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even if uncomfortable. Once a decision is determined, the team commits altogether. Outline Goals, Not Methods A leader outlines goals but allows teams to decide how to achieve them.

Social aka team values How does that apply to engineering organizations How do team members treat each other? Do team members celebrate each other? Birthdays, project wins, etc Are team members friendly to one another? Brutally honest? Mean, vindictive? When team members aren’t actively coding or in a meeting, what do they do in the office or off-times? 1 2 3 4

Technical How does that apply to engineering organizations How are decisions made? Does the team make compromises, and if so, how/when? Where do new ideas come from? How are code reviews conducted? Pair programming? What are the technical standards of the group? 1 2 3 4

3 Great Engineering Culture Examples Netflix, a pioneer of streaming services, has earned its reputation through a software engineering culture that emphasizes innovation and excellence. At the heart of their success is a balance between freedom and responsibility. Granting engineers the autonomy to make decisions. Their engineering team values are straightforward: put the customer first, embrace change, and always strive for improvement.

3 Great Engineering Culture Examples Google’s status for having a world-class company culture is no coincidence. It’s built upon comprehensive research, specifically the Project Oxygen initiative, which identified key behaviors crucial for organizational performance. Google’s focus on innovation, prioritization of employee soft skills alongside their tech skills when hiring, and free communication encouragement have made the company a model for businesses and a top choice for job seekers.

3 Great Engineering Culture Examples Amazon shows how to create a culture that champions autonomy and customer orientation. At the heart of their strategy is a unique leadership principle that allows teams to make decisions in the best interest of the customer. Their culture engineering emphasizes the importance of asking questions like, “What do our users want?” and “How can we alleviate our client’s pain points?” The company’s leadership prioritizes customer feedback and regards their engineers as subject-matter experts, which makes Amazon’s environment creative, innovative, and thriving.

/alperhankendi /alperhankendi @alper_hankendi