automaticdev.team

When Will I Be a Senior Engineer?

Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Rather than time spent or indvidiual experiences, I go back to the knowledge, skills, and behavior of a senior engineer. Not only what you know, but how you show up for your team.

Bare Metal Agile

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:57:13 -0400

A simplified take on development process that prioritizes predictability, flexibility and delievering end-user value.

Steering Committee

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:57:13 -0400

A lightweight steering committee can give product and engineering teams a practical way to create transparency, align priorities, and make capacity tradeoffs without turning planning into a heavyweight governance exercise.

The goal is not to relitigate every prior commitment. The goal is to review current objectives, inspect the delivery pipeline, and decide what should move next based on value, readiness, and available capacity.

Knowledge, Skills, Behavior

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Engineering roles should have a well understood definition of what should be known, tasks to be accomplished, and expections of how you show up day to day for your team.

This following is a high level list of things that every Entry Level Engineer should strive for.

Engineering Organization Accountability

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Clear accountability is what keeps an engineering organization aligned as it grows. Roles do not need to be rigid, but they do need clear ownership boundaries so strategy, delivery, architecture, and people leadership are all consistently covered.

This model separates organizational leadership, delivery execution, and technical leadership into distinct responsibilities. That separation reduces ambiguity and makes coordination easier across engineering, product, and other partner teams.

Director of Product Engineering

Sun, 07 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Below is a real job posting for a Director of Product Engineering. It was used it as a reference while constructing a job posting for a similar role at my company.

Engineering Manager

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A engineering manager is accountable for building a software delivery organization that is efficient, predictable, and high quality. The role also carries responsibility for helping create a production environment that is secure, reliable, and scalable.

This is not just a people-management role. It sits at the intersection of delivery systems, engineering culture, technical enablement, and organizational execution.

Engineer Onboarding

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The following is based on an actual template used to onboard fully remote software developers. Names have been changed to protect the guilty.😀

About

Sun, 21 Jul 2019 12:59:08 -0400

My name is Brian Austin and I am an Engineering Manager leading high-performing remote, distributed software engineering teams.

“Engineering without cruft” is my commitment to removing waste in how we plan, build, and operate software, while preserving the rigor that keeps systems reliable.

My goal as an engineering manager: build teams where people can do their best work, where processes help rather than hinder, and where platforms make shipping high‑quality software the natural outcome of everyday practice.

I believe that the most successful teams are built with a relentless focus on three core areas: People, Process and Platform.