Engineering Management: Adding a Self-Assessment Document To Continue Growing Our Teams

As an Engineering leader, one of our biggest responsibilities is ensuring our teams and team members are growing and evolving in their careers. There are lots of tools and techniques out there. Gotta have 1-on-1s, and hugely beneficial to have a Career Path, but feedback is where the 🪄magic🪄 happens.

Expanding the Dialogue for Growth

So, with some solid feedback infrastructure in place, we need to make sure the content and conversations are meaningful. Additionally, we want this process to scale so there is consistency from Pod to Pod and manager to manager. 🚀

Create the Common Language

At FloQast, we recently created four core engineering competency areas. We opted for simple concepts that engineers, SDETs, and engineering Managers can conceptualize. These four engineering competencies can then be tied back to the FloQast Career Path but also carry forward into 1-on-1s and feedback for performance and growth.

The Four FloQast Engineering Competencies

Product

• Understands the customer problems related to my team and share that context with my team and others
• Looks to understand the ‘why’ behind the work we do and build shared context with the team
• Seeks to understand and measure the impact of work for our customers
• Fosters a strong Triad relationship and work with Product and Design regularly

Process

• Approaches problems and solve them with iterative and/or incremental solutions
• Embraces and advocate for principles advocated in Accelerate (DORA metrics)
• Constantly working to make small improvements to myself(themselves) and/or the team
• Active throughout sprints in grooming, story writing, design discussions, code reviews, retrospectives, and quality

Technology

• Delivers work consistently and with quality
• Is a constant learner, actively improving and expanding my (their) skills
• Demonstrates strong problem-solving skills
• Has a level appropriate understanding of the design and architecture implemented by my(their) team and FloQast

People

• Collaborates effectively with people on my team and other teams
• Exhibits effective communication skills to meet my team’s goals
• Looks for opportunities to mentor, pair, or swarm/mob with my team
• Regularly supports others who need assistance

Getting Started

We started simple, thinking about where, and when feedback is most helpful. Ultimately, determining, evaluating, and discussing these competencies during onboarding and a new hire’s first 90 days would have the largest impact. So, in early 2023, we started to incorporate a 90-day bi-directional assessment of these core competencies. Both manager and employee complete a small survey on the four competencies. Then, this output can be reviewed by the manager and new hire, discuss strengths and areas of alignment, but also identify early on any growth areas for a new employee.

Scale it 

After about a quarter, we had enough data points that validated the 90-day assessment was providing the right signals and fostering good conversations. So, we went wider fast, incorporating the four competencies into our 360 review process. Now, allowing all engineering employees and their managers to complete the bi-direction assessment and discuss it as part of the formal review process. We will be starting those 360 review discussions in the coming weeks. We’ll evaluate the impact and success (or lack thereof) and keep iterating.

Eric Thompson

Software Engineering leader focused on helping teams grow and succeed