Optimizing Productivity for Remote Engineering Teams with Doug Gaff, VPE @ Zapier & Emma Tang, EM @ Stripe #23

Doug Gaff and Emma Tang discuss high-bandwidth communication, innovation accounting, preventing developer burnout, influencing teams, and communicating priorities. They’ll help you move from frustration and survival in remote work, back to optimized productivity!

“Personal stuff is totally in bounds and people just listen. And they don't try to solve a problem for you. And I might be like, I'm red today. I didn't get any sleep. I'm stressed about this thing. I'm not sure I'm going to get it done or this thing's happening personally. I'm worried about a friend who's not well... and it requires a certain level of vulnerability and you've got to have a trust, comfort level, but, that's another thing like as leaders, the best thing you can do is demonstrate this kind of behavior so that other people know it's okay to do it.” - Doug Gaff

DOUG GAFF - VP of Engineering @ Zapier

Doug is the VP of Engineering at Zapier, the software solution that helps your other software work together more effectively. As the leader of an organization with over 100 engineers, he has learned a lot about effective management and leadership. Doug currently resides in the Greater Boston Area.

EMMA TANG - Engineering Manager @ Stripe

Emma is an Engineering Manager in Data Infrastructure at Stripe based in San Francisco. Her team focuses on building distributed computation infrastructure to support Stripe's business. At Stripe, we believe in investing in our remote culture, and have built out the remote engineering hub, and tripled the number of remote engineers in the last year.

SHOWNOTES

• Ideas for Remote “Offsites” (3:27)
• How to ensure clear, high-bandwidth communication (5:44)
• How to make engineers feel connected to the mission and company (9:44)
• Measuring productivity with “Innovation Accounting” and “Waterlining” (15:03)
• It's time to trust your people and fix your cultural anti-patterns (21:19)
• How to prevent developer burnout (25:03)
• How to influence leadership teams remotely (28:26)
• How to communicate priorities to multiple groups and teams (33:00)
• Health metrics to track your team - Happiness surveys, pull requests, and “innovation accounting” (35:11)
• Takeaways (38:34)
   

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