/Laura Tacho

How To Communicate The Reality Of AI-Assisted Engineering In Today’s Hype Cycle tl;dr: “A lot of engineering leaders are feeling the pressure: execs have been sold on massive productivity gains, and so many have inflated expectations. It’s on engineering leaders to ground these conversations in reality, by focusing on what the tools are actually being used for, the impact they’re having so far, and what it’ll take to enable teams to get more out of AI. Here’s Laura with a practical guide to help.”

featured in #624


Setting Targets For Developer Productivity Metrics tl;dr: “Laura shares a set of principles for effectively setting targets while avoiding common pitfalls. Whether you’re an engineering leader or part of a DevProd or Platform team, this guide should be helpful for identifying metrics to align around.”

featured in #620


Dumb Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made tl;dr: (1) Dismissing intuition. (2) Data-driven theater. (3) Trying to be smart instead of making other people smart. (4) Not utilizing experts soon enough. (5) Not realizing that I’m not an engineering leader.

featured in #615


Dumb Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made tl;dr: (1) Dismissing intuition. (2) Data-driven theater. (3) Trying to be smart instead of making other people smart. (4) Not utilizing experts soon enough. (5) Not realizing that I’m not an engineering leader.

featured in #565


Using Metrics To Measure Individual Developer Performance tl;dr: Laura reframes this into another question that leaders need to ask to evaluate reports: “what data are you going to use to evaluate my performance?” Her high level advice, which the article dives into: (1) Determine how you want to measure performance first, then find metrics to measure what's important to your company. (2) Focus on outcomes over output, using output metrics mainly to debug missed outcomes. (3) Watch out for metrics encouraging the wrong behaviors. (4) Metrics alone aren't enough - you still need active performance management and feedback. 

featured in #502


Using Metrics To Measure Individual Developer Performance tl;dr: Laura reframes this into another question that leaders need to ask to evaluate reports: “what data are you going to use to evaluate my performance?” Her high level advice, which the article dives into: (1) Determine how you want to measure performance first, then find metrics to measure what's important to your company. (2) Focus on outcomes over output, using output metrics mainly to debug missed outcomes. (3) Watch out for metrics encouraging the wrong behaviors. (4) Metrics alone aren't enough - you still need active performance management and feedback. 

featured in #501


Applying The SPACE Framework tl;dr: The SPACE Framework of Developer Productivity is a holistic approach to thinking about and measuring software developer productivity. The SPACE framework is not a list of metrics or benchmarks. Instead, it outlines five different dimensions of productivity that can inform your own definition of productivity, and by extension, your measurements: (1) Satisfaction and Well-being. (2) Performance. (3) Activity. (4) Communication and Collaboration. (5) Efficiency and Flow.

featured in #480