More lessons from 14 years at Google
6 hours ago
- #engineering
- #productivity
- #teamwork
- The best engineers focus on solving the right problems, not just any problem.
- Effective meetings require clear decisions; vague meetings lead to wasted time and drift.
- Progress requires specific actions with names and dates, not just intentions.
- Slow decisions are often the root cause of project delays, not slow coding.
- Reliability should be treated as a key product feature with dedicated resources.
- Clear team interfaces reduce the need for excessive communication.
- Escalations should come with proposals to facilitate decision-making.
- Avoid hero culture by building systems that don't rely on individual heroics.
- Observability should be integrated into features from the start.
- Small PRs are easier to review and lead to faster, more reliable deployments.
- Adding team members increases coordination costs; design teams to minimize dependencies.
- Migrations require planning for human factors, not just technical challenges.
- AI makes generating drafts easy, but taste in selection becomes crucial.
- Trust within teams reduces decision latency and increases efficiency.