My name is Bob Brand. I’m an engineer and technical leader. I enjoy learning, innovating, and making things. I build teams that create the technology that enhances our lives. I specialize in the art of software development.
One day I was working at a startup company as a software developer, and I had been exchanging some cynical humor with a colleague about something at work as colleagues sometimes do. Our boss, who had worked with us at a previous company, overheard us and asked us to join him in his office. "I know that we used to joke like that at our old place," he explained, "but that kind of negativity can drag down the entire team and we are not going to do it here. We all have a lot of work to do, so let's get back to work on making the place better." We agreed, and while after all of these years, I do not remember what the jokes were about, I remember his message clearly.
Leaders play a huge role in developing the culture of an engineering organization. Leaders often drive behaviors through their own example. They set priorities for an organization. They recognize and reward behaviors while dissuading other behaviors. It is an important role of a leader, and smart leaders will proactively drive healthy cultures.
Is work fun? Is the environnement collaborative? Does it foster innovation? Are engineers growing and learning while they work? Is the quality of the work good? Do projects complete on time? Do people work hard? Do they work smart? Do people learn and grow from mistakes? These are only a few of the characteristics that contribute to an engineering culture and no two are ever the same.
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When I was in school, I had the opportunity to study computer usability which employed quantitative analysis to measure the effectiveness of human computer interaction. In one lecture, my professor shared an anecdote about a survey in which employees in an office were asked what food they wanted to see in the vending machine.
There was an overwhelming response requesting healthier options, including fresh fruits and low sugar alternatives to traditional snacks. But after the vending machine was restocked with some healthy alternatives, the sales reflected that consumers consistently chose the traditional chips and candy bars when they purchased snacks from the machine.
The takeaway of the story, he explained, is that the employees indeed wanted to "see" these options in the vending machine, but that their behavior showed that they wanted to purchase the traditional snacks. Importantly, it also demonstrates the fallibility of qualitative data and the importance of acting on actual behavior.
Data permeates the modern software world from digital marketing and product management to diagnostics and software quality.
Read MoreEric Schmidt is credited with coining Mobile First Design at the 2010 Mobile World Congress.
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Mobile First Design recognized the growing importance of mobile computing and ensuring products work perfectly for mobile users before designing for web and PC users. Given the weight that current generations place on mobile usage, one may wonder how long it will take before Mobile First Design evolves into Mobile Only Design. In fact, for many services it already has.
But Mobile First Design is an artifact of a broader movement in mobile computing which now comprises more than half of all web traffic, and the mobile device has become the gateway for connecting the everyday things in our lives to our online world of cloud services and social communities. It can add extraordinary value to ordinary things. This does not come without its technical challenges.
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