Engineering practice¶

in Team, Engineering practice
20 min read

An Approach to Engineering Leadership and Delivery

An Integrative Philosophy for Modern Engineering Leadership

Modern engineering leadership demands more than managing tasks or enforcing methodologies. It is about deliberately designing, shaping, and evolving systems in which engineers can think clearly, build effectively, and deliver outcomes that matter. Most persistent delivery, quality, and sustainability failures are not caused by a lack of effort or talent, but by the systems within which people operate. Leadership, therefore, is fundamentally a systems design discipline.

in Engineering practice
4 min read

The Impact of Interruptions on Developer Productivity: Evidence and Real-World Data

In the world of software development, interruptions—both planned (like meetings) and unplanned (like Slack messages, calls, or ad-hoc requests)—are productivity killers. Anyone who's spent time coding knows the frustration of losing their train of thought due to an ill-timed question or a looming meeting. But beyond the anecdotal frustrations, how much do interruptions actually cost in terms of productivity?

in Engineering practice, Embedded
5 min read

How Long Should It Take for a Developer to Be Productive?

Bringing a new developer onto a project—especially something as complex as an embedded C application—is always a balance. You want to get them up to speed quickly and ensure they learn the right way to do things. But how long should it actually take before they can fix bugs, add features, and contribute effectively? And if it’s taking months, what does that say about the project?

in Engineering practice
4 min read

Why Standardising Tools and Processes Across Software Teams is a Bad Idea

There’s a persistent belief in many organisations that standardising tools and processes across all software teams is a good idea. The logic goes something like this: if everyone is using the same set of tools, collaboration becomes easier, onboarding new engineers is smoother, and there’s less administrative overhead.

in Engineering practice
3 min read

Feature Flags: A Pragmatic Approach to Software Development

Feature flags (or feature toggles) are a simple but powerful technique that can transform how we develop, release, and manage software. They allow us to decouple deployment from release, making it easier to control features in production without needing a full redeploy.

in Engineering practice
4 min read

A Pragmatic Approach to Semantic Versioning

Semantic Versioning (SemVer) is one of those things that looks simple on paper but gets complicated when applied in the real world. At its core, it provides a structured way to version software in a meaningful way, helping teams, APIs, and libraries manage dependencies and avoid breaking changes without warning. But, as with most best practices, the devil is in the details.

in Engineering practice
3 min read

The Cone of Uncertainty: Why Your Estimates Are Always Wrong (And That’s Okay)

If you’ve ever been asked, “How long will this take?” and immediately felt a wave of dread, you’re not alone. Estimating software projects—or any complex endeavor—is notoriously difficult. The reason? A concept called The Cone of Uncertainty.

in Embedded, Engineering practice
4 min read

How to Write Maintainable Embedded Code: Principles That Outlast Your Compiler

Embedded systems often have a long lifespan, with software that must be maintained, debugged, or modified years—sometimes decades—after its original release. Writing code that’s easy to understand, modify, and test isn’t just a luxury; it’s a necessity.

in Documentation, Engineering practice
3 min read

"Good Code Documents Itself!"—No, It Really Doesn’t

There’s a popular mantra among developers: “Good code documents itself!” It sounds nice, doesn’t it? A world where code is so clean, structured, and intuitive that it magically explains itself.

in Embedded, Engineering practice
3 min read

Fixing MISRA C Errors: More Than Just Cleaning Up the Report

MISRA C compliance is a crucial aspect of writing safe, reliable, and maintainable embedded software. If you've worked on an embedded system, you've likely encountered a long list of MISRA violations flagged by your static analysis tool. The temptation? Quick fixes—add a cast, suppress a warning, tweak a few lines—just to make the report look "cleaner."