The key ingredients to engineering success

"When you look at what successful companies look like, the first thing you think of is talented people. But passion is more important," says Daniel Gebler, CTO at Picnic, during the Leadership in Digital conference on March 28. However, the right people are just one part of the equation. A good engineering culture is also vital.

One of the key ingredients of such a culture is a short feedback loop. "If I build something today, I want to know if it works tomorrow." This means working with short sprints, fast tests and reviews, and continuous delivery. Moreover, Picnic doesn't want to see big steps with each release, but rather many small steps. "Even if we improve by 1% every day, that gives us a big improvement over time."

Another important ingredient is a 'quality state of mind,' as Gebler calls it. In other words, quality is more important than quantity. "You can measure that by asking your engineers if they are happy with this release. Are they happy sharing this piece of code?"

Constant improvements also play a crucial role. "Picnic turns ten this year. What we did in year one is totally embarrassing. But it was an important stepping stone to where we are now." According to Gebler, it's important to learn from mistakes and regularly conduct retrospectives. "But also: ask your customers what they want. Engage with them and live up to that engagement."

AI changes leadership

However, with AI currently causing massive shockwaves throughout the business world, how do you adapt your team and leadership? "No one has really figured out what leadership should look like in the world of AI. But you need to be able to adapt, to change over time. Because whoever you are as a leader now, that will not be what is needed in half a year or a year."

For team members, certain skills are already identifiable as useful for the AI era. "Communication is becoming more important," says Gebler. "You also need technical knowhow, but more on a conceptual level than hardcore coding." A love of learning is crucial for staying current, and engineers must think of the big picture: "You need to be able to zoom in and out between strategy and operations. That is a super hard skillset."