Engineering's Ability: Engineering Communication

You communicate generously. As a P&E member, you are thorough, seek to understand, and gently teach when called for. You also ensure information is translated in an easy-to-understand way for all of our team members and customers who are not necessarily proficient in business or technical terms

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability with only a small amount of guidance

• You treat your feedback as a collaborative discussion rather than demands.
• You ask clarifying questions about anything you don't completely understand.
• Communicate project status clearly and effectively
• Collaborate with others with empathy
• Ask squad team members for help at the appropriate juncture
• You are an active participant within squad meetings (asking questions, bringing up opinions, sharing insights)
• You take a complex backend bug and explain the impact in an understandable way to non-technical stakeholders

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability, with no assistance as well as being a trusted active or passive mentor to others

• Your PR descriptions, epics, stories, documentation provide the full context necessary to understand the change we plan to make in the world (Story Writing/Epic Writing)
• Your PR descriptions, stories, and documentation anticipate questions and proactively document anything that won't be obvious to a reviewer.
• Ensure stakeholders are aware of their personal and their squad's current blockers
• Choose the appropriate tools for accurate and timely communication
• You go out of your way to make sure all voices are heard. In meetings or group settings, you give space to each person to share their thoughts
• You ask clear questions by sharing the appropriate amount of context and relevant background information and outlining your assumptions and expectations.
• Engineers who have never worked on the area of code you've changed easily understand your PR's.

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to multiple squads when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability as well as being considered an expert within this discipline

• You're proactive about creating documentation and/or comments in the code base to share knowledge and ensure every engineer has the clarity they need when working on areas of the code base you touch
• When describing technical concepts/information to non-technical folks, those consuming your information do not need to ask follow up questions.
• Communicates project risk and tradeoffs skillfully and with nuance
• Anticipate and share schedule deviations in plenty of time that may impact squad goals
• Resolve communication difficulties between others

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can not only employ this ability but where they set the tone for this at the company level

• You drive long-term investments that deliver ongoing value and provide solid foundations for future needs.
• Lead organization and facilitation of offsites and what is going to be communicated during those sessions
• Contextualize and clarify ambiguous direction and strategy for others
• Identify needs for remote working communication and works to implement those across P&E and the company

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to not just internal teams but the community/industry in general when wielding this ability, and they are recognized by the community/industry as an expert

• At this exceptional milestone, your impact is foundational to our future or is of industry-level prominence.
• Define processes for clear communication for us
• Develop and deliver plans to execs, the board, and outside investors