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Ditch all the communication mediums except phone and email. Phone (or in person) for 'synchronous' communication where something is immediate. Email for every

by zbuf 10y ago

Ditch all the communication mediums except phone and email. Phone (or in person) for 'synchronous' communication where something is immediate. Email for everything else; answer it 3 times a day and in batches. Yes, phone isn't as 'easy' as slack, IRC, gchat; that's the point. Add just a little barrier, and also a little incentive to know you in person. There's an illusion of immediacy to all these queries. A lot of those calls will turn to emails, and a lot of email threads will turn into "question for you...", "Oh I've worked it out but here's a new question", "oh actually that's fixed now". A little more learning and initiative takes place too. Phone/person = synchronous Email = asynchronous

afarrell 10y ago
Note that if you do this, you need to have some way for junior engineers to ask questions without hard-grabbing peoples' attention. Otherwise, you're going to see a sharp spike in junior engineers going down rabbit holes for a long time.
- greenyoda 10y ago
  If you answer your e-mail three times a day, your junior engineer would only get stuck for a maximum of about three hours (less, on average). That delay might give them the incentive to search for the solution to their problem a bit more, and in many cases the satisfaction of having solved the problem on their own. If they ever want to become a senior engineer, they'll need practice in trying to solve difficult problems independently - this skill isn't just something that you magically acquire; it takes practice. Then, there's the rubber-duck effect[1]: the act of writing down your question in a well-organized e-mail can frequently make you realize the answer before you click 'send'. This works for me quite a lot. And if someone really gets stuck, they can move on to another part of their code that they're not stuck on while waiting for your reply. Of course, if they're working on something truly urgent, they can always call you on the phone. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging

by zbuf 10y ago

afarrell 10y ago

Note that if you do this, you need to have some way for junior engineers to ask questions without hard-grabbing peoples' attention. Otherwise, you're going to see a sharp spike in junior engineers going down rabbit holes for a long time.

greenyoda 10y ago
If you answer your e-mail three times a day, your junior engineer would only get stuck for a maximum of about three hours (less, on average). That delay might give them the incentive to search for the solution to their problem a bit more, and in many cases the satisfaction of having solved the problem on their own. If they ever want to become a senior engineer, they'll need practice in trying to solve difficult problems independently - this skill isn't just something that you magically acquire; it takes practice. Then, there's the rubber-duck effect[1]: the act of writing down your question in a well-organized e-mail can frequently make you realize the answer before you click 'send'. This works for me quite a lot. And if someone really gets stuck, they can move on to another part of their code that they're not stuck on while waiting for your reply. Of course, if they're working on something truly urgent, they can always call you on the phone. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging