Each time I change jobs I am always excited to be going to the new job. Often that excitement is about making a new home for yourself with new responsibilities and with new technologies but there is always the hope that it will be different this time.

Wading into a new job where the absurdities are an order of magnitude worse than the previous place you were at is soul crushing. Fortunately I am older these days so I have more control of my future than I did fifteen years ago.

Taking small victories is always important; focusing on software code quality and consistency in software delivery are easy wins that engineering can focus on without having to talk other groups into joining in, once that is achieved other groups join simply because it is better.

We have turned small victories in to large ones that have become organization wide by this approach. Good engineering begets leaner processes. However given larger organizations propensity to create absurdities from thin air I thought this was interesting (I read the same article today):

Most of the prescriptions in the article are standard management advice fare, but I think they key point is worth remembering -- people are generally excited about their jobs until the realities of the situation beat it out of them. The main responsibility of managers is to help them hold onto that enthusiasm.

Leadership counts. Not only is good leadership cheap, it is morally rewarding. Simple things like thanking people for their hard work is a positive to both giver and receiver. Simple comments like; "Thanks for your support and hard work, we really appreciate it."; are fantastic motivators.

Most people are motivated anyway, especially in technology which is often its own reward. So rather than micro-managing, or constantly changing directions a broad strategy can set within which people can excel to the limits of their ability and willingness to commit to that strategy.

We have focused on the strategy of improved software quality and automation. Out of that has grown some fantastic software engineering. And it has not been because of someone barking, "Do this." or "Do that." It is because we have had common quality problems of artifacts, hot deployments and code quality. Engineers have taken it upon themselves to solve these problems as part of the wider project we are doing.

The solutions Engineering has developed are now being used by other groups in the company to solve their problems. I am really proud of the guys. In one difficult project we have gone from the bottom of the chain to the very top and we have removed a lot of unintended residual dysfunction along the way.