Three D's of Feature Leading
Discover
Turn the product value into a technical analysis
Remember to validate assumptions early. Bounce ideas off others, create prototypes and spikes, start communication early.
What is the problem you're solving?
- Talk to PM, EM, etc. about the root problem
- Understanding the root problem helps you suggest alternatives
What's the current technical landscape?
- Prior art from other teams or elsewhere. Avoid re-inventing the wheel.
- Relevant documentation to the task.
- Conversations with any collaborating teams/guidance/subject matter experts
How are you going to move forward (ideally incrementally) to the goal?
Decide
Build consensus on the plan
Present ideas to others, and reach a consensus among all stakeholders. Remember that stakeholders can be more than just your team.
- Everything has a trade-off, be upfront about what they are
- What are the constraints, remember they can rule out possibilities
- It's important to communicate both the possibilities, and the outcome. Get other teams aware ASAP.
- Decision logs, kick off meetings, etc. are all useful here.
- Tech debt is a tool when it comes to times/estimation, use it wisely [[20220509052548-tech-debt-is-a-resource]].
Delegate
Features are created by teams, not individual developers
- You always want a high bus factor. The project shouldn't stall if people are out sick, or get tied up in other things
- Sharing context often keeps everyone on the same page
- Keep people informed of any decisions or changes in direction
- Break down tasks, and provide all the necessary information. [[20211203043016-writing-saves-time]]
- Remember you can also delegate spikes, facilitating meetings, communicating to other teams, etc.
- Don't take on everything yourself, but don't over delegate either.
[[20221110024405-delegate-eisenhower-matrix]]
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