What role does company culture play in the success of engineering teams?

Company culture significantly influences engineering teams by shaping empowerment, quality standards, and operational excellence. Intentional cultural practices can lead to both positive and negative outcomes, affecting team dynamics and performance.

Empowerment and Decision-Making

One of the key roles that company culture plays is in the empowerment of team members. Brad shared an experience from his time at 98.6, a telemedicine startup, where he witnessed an unprecedented level of empowerment. Engineering managers were given the authority to make decisions about site outages without needing higher approval. This level of trust and empowerment was new to Brad and highlighted how culture can empower individuals to take ownership of their roles. "I had never seen that level of empowerment all the way down to creating a planned outage at an organization before," Brad noted ▶ 4:12.

However, this empowerment can have unintended consequences. Brad also observed that while 98.6 successfully filtered out toxic behaviors during hiring, it inadvertently stifled bravery and the willingness to speak up. This highlights the delicate balance in cultural design - empowering teams while ensuring open communication and courage to challenge norms.

Quality Standards and Operational Excellence

Culture also plays a crucial role in defining quality standards and operational excellence. At 98.6, the focus on operational quality was intense, with the company investigating every single error due to the critical nature of healthcare services. This approach was a stark contrast to Brad's previous experiences in consumer internet companies, where thousands of errors were often tolerated. "It was kind of peaking during the beginning of the pandemic as people needed to do medicine online," Brad recalled ▶ 2:32.

Greg contributed to this culture of excellence by implementing a structured process for addressing technical debt and operational issues. He emphasized the importance of regular leadership meetings to review root cause analyses (RCAs) and prioritize fixing underlying issues. This process ensured accountability and continuous improvement, demonstrating how culture can drive operational excellence. Brad mentioned how they would hold each other accountable by reviewing RCAs and addressing technical issues highlighted in those analyses ▶ 16:15.

Navigating Cultural Challenges

Despite the benefits, cultural practices can sometimes lead to challenges. Greg shared an observation about the use of "blameless retrospectives" at 98.6, which unintentionally made it difficult to pinpoint accountability. He suggested shifting to "egoless retrospectives" to encourage openness without fear of blame. "I think unintended side effect where and I've stopped in my current team, I don't use the term blameless retro," Greg mentioned ▶ 27:44.

This anecdote underscores the importance of evolving cultural practices to ensure they serve their intended purpose. By fostering a culture that encourages transparency and learning from mistakes, teams can improve their processes and outcomes. Greg's experience highlights the need for a culture that balances accountability with psychological safety, allowing team members to learn from failures without fear of retribution.

Balancing Culture and Technical Debt

The conversation also highlighted the intersection of culture and technical debt. At 98.6, the team faced significant challenges with technical debt impacting their service uptime. Greg and Brad discussed the importance of not only addressing immediate issues but also looking for patterns and investing in long-term solutions. Greg's approach involved creating a tech debt backlog and prioritizing issues based on their impact and recurrence. "There's layers to this, and I think you have to decide," Greg explained ▶ 13:09.

This strategic approach to technical debt management is a testament to how culture can influence technical practices. By embedding a culture of continuous improvement and accountability, teams can effectively manage technical debt and enhance their operational resilience. Greg's implementation of regular leadership meetings to discuss RCAs and prioritize technical debt issues was a key factor in improving operational stability.

Conclusion

In conclusion, company culture plays a pivotal role in shaping the success of engineering teams. From empowering individuals to setting high standards for quality and operational excellence, culture influences every aspect of team dynamics and performance. However, it requires careful design and continuous evolution to ensure it serves its intended purpose. By fostering a culture of empowerment, transparency, and continuous improvement, engineering teams can navigate challenges and achieve sustainable success.