The Effective Software Engineer

Chapter 8. Strategic Thinking for Engineers

Up to now, I’ve covered how to execute well and lead at the team level. As you become a senior/staff engineer, you increasingly need to think about doing the right work, not just doing the work right. This means identifying high-impact projects, aligning technical efforts with business goals, balancing long-term tech vision with immediate deliverables, and using data to drive decisions. In short, developing strategic thinking skills.

A common challenge is finding the time for this kind of high-level thinking amidst daily coding and meetings. A powerful technique is to proactively block out strategy time on your calendar—perhaps one or two hours at the beginning of the week. Treat this appointment with yourself as seriously as any other meeting. Use this time to zoom out, review your team’s metrics and goals, think about the engineering vision for your area, or work on one of the high-impact identification strategies mentioned in this chapter. Without dedicated time, it’s easy for strategic thinking to be perpetually pushed aside by urgent but less important tasks.

Identifying High-Impact Work

Not everything on the to-do list has equal value. Effective engineers learn to focus on what’s going to move the needle for the business or team metrics. This is especially important as you gain autonomy over what to work on.

These practices will help you identify the most important things to focus on:

Focus on outcomes (reprise).

Recall the ...