Initial Release of "How To Create A Great Engineering Environment"
Something I get repeatedly asked, whether it's formally at previous jobs or in interviews for potential roles, is what I would do to create the "ideal work environment for software engineers". I always have a couple things to bring up, but never the cohesive chain of thoughts or Master Plan I'd want to have, because I was put on the spot.
During the most recent round of unemployment, I decided to change that.
So I give you "How To Create A Great Engineering Environment", which is my open-source/CC-BY pseudo-book on what I'd recommend.
Questions You Might Have
Why Write This?
To be honest, I'm not aware of very many existing works around creating/managing culture. There's lots of good stuff out there on managing humans, or on specific aspects (e.g. "how to start supporting remote workers"), but nothing comprehensive/holistic that I feel good about point people to.
This represents my efforts to change that.
What Makes Me Competent?
I've experienced a broad variety of work environments & roles, over now two decades in the field. I've been a Principal/Staff/Founder engineer multiple times over, and have spent a lot of cycles thinking about these topics.
I've also mentored a lot of engineers, and done my best to solicit lots of feedback about what works/doesn't over the years.
How Complete Is It?
It's early (and I've been dealing with a bunch of other stuff, including trying to find a reliable source of income to support my family), so it's incomplete so far, but the first couple sections/chapters are there. I plan to keep adding to it, in the open, over time.
Can I Get It In Paperback or eBook Form?
The short answer is: Not right now.
Maybe someday it'll turn into a Real Book™, which while that would thrill me, I'm doubtful I'll find a publisher that easily.
That said, I believe Read The Docs (where it's hosted) does support generating ePub docs, so perhaps I'll look into that as time allows.
Can I Contribute?
I'm not explicitly looking for contributions, but thoughts/feedback/fixes are welcome. All of the docs are hosted in raw format on GitHub, so feel free to open issues and/or pull requests there.
Please Read (& Hopefully Enjoy)!
Anyway, that's all I have to say on it for now here. I'd love it if others took time to give it a read, and if it helps in any way for your environment, I'd love to hear about that too! Thanks!