Balancing Engineering Cultures, GitHub Copilot's Impact on Code Quality, and Ingenuity's Success on Mars

In this edition, we’re diving deep into the heart of what makes our tech world tick: the delicate dance of engineering cultures, the real-talk on GitHub Copilot’s influence on our code, and a nod to the sheer brilliance of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter making history on Mars. But let’s get personal for a moment. Reflecting on our own team’s journey, it’s clear to me how pivotal balance is—not just in the tools we use or the technologies we marvel at, but in the very way we come together to create something greater than the sum of our parts.

I’ve seen it firsthand, the friction and the fusion of PMs and devs, each of us initially looking in slightly different directions, yet all striving towards a common goal. It’s been a ride of trial, error, and triumph, reminding me that while we may not always start on the same page, through persistence and understanding, we find our rhythm.

So, as we tackle the topics of engineering culture balance, the double-edged sword of AI assistance in coding, and the marvels of space exploration, remember, it’s our shared experiences, our struggles, and our successes that bind us. Here’s to not just looking in the same direction but moving forward together.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Let’s get into it.

In The Queue Today

• Balancing engineering cultures, high-performing teams, and GitHub Copilot: The impact on code quality.

• Arch Linux: Taking the road most documented and cheating in technical interviews with ChatGPT.

• GitHub and DX report reveals a 50% boost in productivity for developers who prioritize deep work.

Reduce Friction

Balancing Engineering Cultures: Debate Everything vs. Just Tell Me What To Build

The longer you work in product development the more you'll realize that there is a spectrum of culture. In the relationship between product management and engineering the opposing ends of the spectrum are “debate and question everything, build nothing” and “just tell me what to build and I’ll build it”.

3 Steps for Building High-Performing Teams

Research by Mario Moussa, Madeline Boyer, and Derek Newberry as part of the McNulty Leadership Program at Wharton shed light on the elements that drive high-performing teams. Goals, roles, and norms are the three key elements shared amongst successful teams.

No One Can STOP You From REFACTORING in SMALL Steps

Refactoring is something you can do quicker than making a cup of coffee. Refactoring in small steps is what rids your team of the guilt and analysis paralysis. The biggest issue individual contributors face in teams with long-lived branch issues is that they are shamed when opening small PRs. The issue isn’t the dev opening too big PRs, the issue is systems and processes that make it expensive to deliver code faster.

New GitHub Copilot Research Finds 'Downward Pressure on Code Quality'

New research on the effect of AI-powered GitHub Cop Pilot on software development cites some adverse results. Code churn -- the percentage of lines that are reverted or updated less than two weeks after being authored -- is projected to double in 2024 compared to its 2021, pre-AI baseline.

Deepen Your Expertise

Take the Road Most Documented

The Arch Wiki is a massive wealth of information and troubleshooting resources to help you navigate the various configuration and installation issues. Some people claim Arch Linux is too difficult for new users, but for me it’s been the only distribution I’ve been able to get consistently working. With all else equal, take the road most documented.

Agility in the Construction Industry

Agility means different things in different contexts but many of the principles are shared across industries. This post discusses using an agile approach adopted in the construction industry. Construction is considered to be on the other end of the spectrum of software development, but some lessons translate.

How Hard is it to Cheat With ChatGPT in Technical Interviews?

How hard is it to cheat with ChatGPT in technical interviews? The authors ran an experiment. They wanted to know: How much can it help? How easy is it? Will companies need to make significant changes to their interview process? To answer these questions, they recruited some of their professional interviewers and users for a cheating experiment.

Increase Scalability

Yes, Good DevEx Increases Productivity. Here is the Data.

GitHub and DX have published a report on the benefits of developer experience (DevEx) Developers who carve out significant time for deep work enjoy a 50% productivity boost. Developers who find their work engaging feel 30% more productive, according to the DevEx study.

Hiring ONLY Seniors is the Worst Policy in the Software Industry

Every company has a different excuse: “we are a very small team and we don’t have time to mentor juniors.” “We are going to grow very fast, we need engineers who can handle scale and faced such challenges before.“ “Our infrastructure is super complex, it’ll take juniors too long to ramp up”. Do these excuses hold up?

Just Cool

NASA's small Ingenuity helicopter flew 72 sorties across the red planet. The program did so by using commercial, off-the-shelf parts. On its 72nd flight, one or more of its four blades was damaged during a hard landing. The helicopter is the first vehicle to demonstrate powered flight on another planet.

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