Building for DevX in a "cloud-last" company

From managing small teams to massive engineering orgs, one of the most important things an engineering leader can focus on is reducing friction in the development process. In an insightful conversation with Thomas Squeo, Principal at Convergence Consulting Services, we explore the intricacies of managing large engineering orgs and developing a golden path that streamlines development and keeps teams aligned. 

Join us as we discuss:

• Maximizing team capability while reducing mental burn
• Eliminating friction in high-performing teams
• Maintaining team coherency amidst an acquisition

Limit mental burn where it counts

Looking to ensuring strong team cohesion? Reduce mental burn. Prioritizing working with technologies that offer clear-cut paths to valuable solutions. If technology was best-in-class, had an active roadmap and made financial sense, Thomas has never been opposed to implementing it, so long as it also provides his team with value. 

“People always think when you consolidate, it’s about finding one technology to rule them all,” Thomas says. “But it’s really about how we find what gives us the most capability with the least amount of mental burn for any engineer.”

The point isn’t consolidation for the sake of consolidation. It’s making sure that the best solutions are in place to solve the most problems, which frees developers up to focus on more impactful work. 

Eliminate the blast radius around big decisions

No one wants to see a big bureaucratic mass around customer change requests — so thinking about where friction comes into play regarding colleagues, networks and security functions is key to ensuring developers enjoy seamless sprints.

“If you’re in the system and you’re using it the way we agreed upon, then you can eliminate the change request cycle of the enterprise,” Thomas says. “This addresses the three baseline threats: security, network and human errors.”

Being able to open up the floodgates and give developers the power to go forth and do what they do best without a cinderblock right in their way goes a long way toward both effective coworking and quick product shipping.

“People want to be unleashed to their full capacity, and if people work for you, you know they’re capable,” Thomas says. “Why would we do anything that inhibits their capability?”

Maintain strong teams during an acquisition

There are two schools of thought when it comes to an acquisition, says Thomas: “buy it and leave it alone” and “buy it then make immediate changes at a high level.” Thomas says he prefers the former, not the latter — it gives leaders an opportunity to inform integrations with the help of their teams. 

“We, as a team, will come together and figure out how the integration will be done,” he says. “But it won’t be a long period where nothings changes — That creates a culture of ‘us versus them’.”

Thinking about how an acquisition impacts people dynamics is just as important as considering how technology adoptions are affected. Being transparent about how every team and every individual is influenced by changes brought about because of a new shift is vital to bringing coworkers — old and new — into the fold. 

“You can always feel it when someone’s not being direct with you,” he says. “That’s why I start with the big picture and then explain what it means for each team and person in their segment. That’s how we make sure every person understands the context and the value in what they do.”

Want to learn more about programmatic delivery of solutions, company acquisitions done well, and keeping different teams aligned around common goals? Listen to the latest episode of Level Up on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts.

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