Chapter 4 of 4
Working with Others
Collaboration, code reviews, and communication skills for effective engineering teams.
Key Insights
Code reviews are the highest-leverage activity for improving team code quality and spreading knowledge.
The best technical decisions are made through structured written proposals, not meetings.
Empathy in communication is a technical skill — treat it as one.
Notes
Effective Code Reviews
Good code reviews focus on: correctness, readability, maintainability, and knowledge sharing. They don't nitpick style (use formatters for that). Aim to review within 24 hours. Be kind in comments — suggest, don't demand. Ask questions instead of making accusations.
Writing Design Documents
For any project over 2 weeks, write a design doc before coding. Include: problem statement, proposed solution, alternatives considered, and risks. This forces clear thinking and gets early feedback. It also becomes documentation for future engineers.
The RFC Process
Many top tech companies use RFCs (Request for Comments) for major technical decisions. Engineers write a proposal, share it broadly, collect feedback asynchronously, and then make a decision. This scales better than meetings and creates a written record of why decisions were made.
Giving Constructive Feedback
Use the SBI framework: Situation (when/where), Behavior (what you observed), Impact (the effect). Example: 'In yesterday's PR review (S), I noticed the error handling was missing for the API calls (B), which could cause silent failures in production (I). Could we add error handling here?'
Quotes
“Great engineering teams are built on trust, and trust is built through clear, honest communication.”
“The best engineers make everyone around them better.”