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How to Lead? Julien Salvi - Android GDE | Android @ Aircall Android Makers by droidcon 2024 ๓ฐƒ @JulienSalvi Testimonial of a Lead Android Engineer ๓ฐณ•

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Julien Salvi Lead Android Engineer @ Aircall Android GDE PAUG, Punk & IPAs! @JulienSalvi Bonjour !

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Disclaimer Based on my personal experience Might not work everywhere Challenge and adapt to fit your needs Itโ€™s always a continuous learning ๐Ÿ™‚ This talk will be interactive ๐Ÿ™Œ

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A bit of storytellingโ€ฆ It has to start from somewhere ๐Ÿ˜…

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2013 2019 2020 2014 2011 2021 Mobile Engineer Intern Android Engineer Intern Android Engineer from junior to senior in a team ofโ€ฆ 1 to 2. Senior Android Engineer Senior in a team of 3 to 5 persons Senior Android Engineer Lead Android Engineer ๐Ÿฅณ Promotion to Lead Leading a team of 4 persons

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๐ŸŽถ What is love lead? Oh please donโ€™t hurt me ๐Ÿ™ˆ

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โ€œLeadโ€ ๐Ÿ”Š /liหd/ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lead โ— To control a group a people, a country, or a situation โ— To cause someone to do something, especially something bad โ— To live a particular type of life โ— To take someone somewhere, by going with them (In boxing) to make the first attacking punch, especially with a particular hand ๐Ÿ˜… verb

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โ€œLeadโ€ ๐Ÿ”Š /liหd/ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lead โ— An action or an example that shows a person or group what to do โ— A piece of information that allows a discovery to be made, customers to be found, or a solution to be found noun

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โ€œLeadโ€ ๐Ÿ”Š /liหd/ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lead Used to describe the main performer or part in a performance adjective

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What about Lead Eng?

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Senior Engineer Mid Engineer Junior Engineer Tech/Team/Whatever Lead Engineer Eng. Manager/Director/He ad ofโ€ฆ Staff/Principal/Distin guishโ€ฆ Eng. Individual Contributor (IC) Individual Contributor (IC) Manager path

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Build a learning environment ๐Ÿค“ The daily role ๐Ÿ›  The cross-team party ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บ Staying technically sharp ๐Ÿ”ช Empowering your team ๐Ÿค Building a team ๐Ÿ— Whatโ€™s next? ๐Ÿš€

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Build a learning environment ๐Ÿค“ Continuous learning is the key!

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Building a learning environment ๐Ÿค“ Tech skills Core skills โ— Identify what are the needs of the team (tech & core skills) โ— Make sure to provide enough time to learn โ— Organize workshops or time to learn with the entire team โ— Donโ€™t hesitate to try! โ— Go beyond your team to learn something new โ— A learning environment creates motivation!

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Learning env. @ Aircall ๐Ÿค– Android Chapter โ— Working all together on various topics (tech, problem solving, redefining processesโ€ฆ) โš’ Learning & development time โ— Personal time to craft new features, learn new tech ๐Ÿค Pair/mob programming โ— Tackle a problem or a bug with 2+ persons ๐Ÿงช Internal hackathons โ— Hack new features, dev tools for the team

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Learning env. @ Aircall ๐Ÿ—ฃ Internal tech talks โ— Organize internal tech talks to share knowledge between the company teams ๓ฐณ• Hosting meetups โ— Connect with communities and develop the attractivity ๓ฐณ“ Internal training โ— Manager training, resources available (books, articlesโ€ฆ) ๐Ÿ—ฃ External public speaking โ— Share what the company is doing in conferences or other events

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Building a learning environment ๐Ÿค“ Propose pair/mob programming sessions A Chapter is a good way of learning Motivate your team in learning and sharing A good opportunity to identify and tackle the tech debt

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The daily role ๐Ÿ›  Be organized to organizeโ€ฆ

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The daily role ๐Ÿ›  Tech skills Core skills โ— Tech expertise โ— Problem solving โ— DevExp โ— Architecture โ— DevOps โ— โ€ฆ โ— Communication โ— Leadership โ— Teamwork โ— Management โ— Decision making โ— โ€ฆ

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Team org @ Aircall ๐Ÿƒ 2 weeks sprint ๐Ÿš€ 1 release every sprint validated by a testing session ๐Ÿค– 1 Chapter running since 2021 ๐Ÿ“ Async where possible (daily, estimation) ๐Ÿค Pair/mob programming at any time ๐Ÿงช 2 hackathons every year (Q2 and Q4)

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My lead role @ Aircall ๐Ÿ“š Sprint organisation & ceremonies ๐Ÿค– Developing the learning environment ๐Ÿ“ Quarterly assessments ๓ฐณ• Active participation in the development/architecture ๐Ÿ— Building the tech vision with the team ๐Ÿงช Crafting and experimenting new features/tech ๐Ÿ—ฃ Public speaking internally and externally

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Sprint organization

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The daily role ๐Ÿ›  Be the entry point for your teamโ€ฆ โ€ฆ but donโ€™t do everything! Delegate to your team! Free some time (focus time, blocking your calendarโ€ฆ) Empower your team Work on the retention Be always fair Making your team grow will me you grow

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Whatโ€™s next? ๐Ÿš€ Always in motion the future is!

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Senior Engineer Mid Engineer Junior Engineer Tech/Team/Whatever Lead Engineer Eng. Manager/Director/He ad ofโ€ฆ Staff/Principal/Distin guishโ€ฆ Eng. Individual Contributor (IC) Individual Contributor (IC) Manager path

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Senior Engineer Tech/Team/Whatever Lead Engineer Eng. Manager/Director/He ad ofโ€ฆ Staff/Principal/Distin guishโ€ฆ Eng. Individual Contributor (IC) Individual Contributor (IC) Manager path DevRel Engineer Developer Relation (DevRel)

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Whatโ€™s next? ๐Ÿš€ A Lead position is the entry point to many roles. โ— If youโ€™re seeking to move forward with the Manager path: โ—‹ Moving to an Engineering Manager could be a good position โ— If youโ€™re more into the Individual Contributor path: โ—‹ Depending on the career path of the company, a Staff/Senior/Tech Lead Engineer position is the way to go โ— Have interest in sharing and public speaking, maybe have a look at some Developer Relation roles.

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Whatโ€™s next? ๐Ÿš€ Everythingโ€™s possible! ๐Ÿ˜

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The cross-team party ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บ โ€ฆ

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The cross-team party ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บ Tech Product QA The virtuous circle

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The cross-team party ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บ ๐Ÿค Have regular sync with close teams (iOS, QAโ€ฆ) ๐ŸŽฏ Context sharing when building new features ๐Ÿ— Participate in architecture decisions ๐Ÿ“š Make resources available for other teams (documentation) ๓ฐณ• Communicate (async or sync) Interacting with other teams

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The cross-team party ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บ ๐Ÿค 1-1 with your manager (share feedbacks, issues, winsโ€ฆ) ๐Ÿ” Itโ€™s OK to skip levels ๐ŸŽ™ Expose what your team is doing internally (demos, Slack, mailsโ€ฆ) ๐Ÿ’ฏ Share the right metrics to top management Communicating up

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The cross-team party ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บ Know how to communicate with other teams Regular sync for cross-team features Participate in architecture decisions Make sure to well expose the needs of your team Always share what your team is doing for transparency and visibility

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Staying technically sharp ๐Ÿ”ช One commit a day keep the doctor away

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Staying technically sharp ๐Ÿ”ช ๐Ÿ”ช Be up-to-date and proactive with your current tech stack ๐Ÿ”ฎ Itโ€™s OK not to know everything ๐Ÿค Learn from your team ๐Ÿ’ฅ Learn from mistakes ๓ฐณ• Go beyond your stack (backend, webโ€ฆ) ๐Ÿงช Craft and experiment new features/tech ๐Ÿ—ฃ Public speaking internally and externally

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Staying technically sharp ๐Ÿ”ช Continuous learning is key Newsletters, books, articles, conferencesโ€ฆ Learn from your team and managers, make your own opinion (Team Leads) Always participate in the development Be proactive, experiment things It will help you understand the big picture

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Empowering your team ๐Ÿค Higher, further together!

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Empowering your team ๐Ÿค โ— As a leader itโ€™s your responsibility to empower your team โ— By making the team grow, it will make you grow โ— Give them advices, guide them but always be fair! โ— Trust each other! โ— Define the career path of each team member according to their ambition and skills

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Building a team ๐Ÿ— โ€ฆ

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Building a team ๐Ÿ— โ— Building a team is NOT always adding new team members โ— You can be appointed lead in a new team and/or new company โ— With an existing team, bring your vision and expertise without pulling everything apart โ— If you need to add a new member, well define your interview process with the team

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Building a team ๐Ÿ— โ— Adapt the interview according to the target level โ— Build the interview process by keeping in mind the needs of company AND the team โ— Build a dialog and understand the point of view of the candidate is essential Defining the interview process

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Promotion to Lead but must build a team Promotion to Lead with the same team New Lead with another team and company New Lead with another team same company Assess the needs You know the team and how it works Build trust with new team members Establish the interview process for the right level You probably know the product and can iterate Be fair! Easier to work on retention Bring new processes that can help the team Share the vision (tech and product) to the team Adaptability and communication are key Build trust with new team members Understand the ways of working from the team New area to discover Manager README Take time to learn company and product vision Build trust with new team members Learn from team first, then bring your personal touch

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Building a team ๐Ÿ— Bringing diversity to your team Donโ€™t always seek the best, seek the best fit From Junior to Senior Build a coherent interview process Be human first

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A bit of resources The Art of the One-on-One meeting https://fellow.app/blog/meetings/one-on-one-meeting-definitive-guide/ Documenting Software Architectures https://www.amazon.fr/Documenting-Software-Architectures-Engineering-English-ebook Building Great Software Engineering Teams by Josh Tyler

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Julien Salvi Android Makers by droidcon 2024 ๓ฐƒ @JulienSalvi Merci ! Remember to always learn new stuff ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿ™‚