Working out loud as a software engineer

At the last event I attended, I said that I started my career as a Software Engineer who just “couldn’t stay in their lane”, and afterwards someone came up to me with an IC challenge that they had recently encountered. A new software engineer was “straying out of their function” and had changed all the buttons to hide instead of being disabled across the app. This leader asked, isn't this a time to say “Stay in your lane, and focus that extra energy on writing better code or writing more tests or something”. 

‍

My UX and Accessibility peers will no doubt have some thoughts on hiding vs disabling buttons. And while I can see the temptation to say to a Software Engineer “Stick to coding buddy” I think that as a leader we can do better. 

‍

Instead I’d take a two pronged approach, the first is to ensure this person understands where & why we make style decisions in this organisation. This is about arming them with the knowledge to make better decisions in future. The other is to introduce a “working out loud” approach. This helps catch & redirect folks who have strayed down a path we don’t want earlier. Working out loud means making folks responsible for ensuring everyone (that needs to) knows what they are working on before they start, as they progress, and when it is done. Yes, your stand ups might catch most of this, but it might also involve posting to #ux in slack “I think hiding disabled buttons will make a cleaner screen, starting on page XYZ this afternoon”, then sharing a screen shot “This is how it looks, any thoughts?” and then “PR here - landing it tomorrow morning”. 

‍

If for you and your team, the problem isn’t about buttons but that our core focus for the quarter is improving our test coverage, I’d still do the above, but refocus the individual, with a simple “Hey buddy, we’re aiming to hit 65% test coverage this quarter, let’s get there together”. Again working out loud can really help maintain that focus, in #my-team this might look like, “PR for bug fix here - and it has 8 new tests, taking this module from 42 to 44%”

‍

Working out loud creates visibility, connection and focus for folks, all vital things in this remote work world we find ourselves.

‍

Set clear expectations easily and drive career growth with Kaleida: https://www.kaleida.team/why-kaleida/for-managers