Strategy Template

Notes: This is an Engineering Strategy Template Following an idea from Will Larsen (Lethain) Tasks: 1. After observational period, provide a diagnosis. 2. Set out a vision (what does good look like in x time period (typically a year ot two). 3. Set out guiding principles. 4. Set out high-level action plan (remediation).

[Outline Goal of the team, business, and high-level how we will achieve this]

Diagnosis

[Consider: Architecture, Culture, People (quantity and skill), Tech stack, Organisation, Ways of working,

Vision

[Engineering North Star]

Guiding Principles

[As an example…]

Choose boring technology. (see for more info). Choosing well-established, stable “boring” technology reduces the risk of deprecation and is often easier to hire for. Software that has a regular release cycle (to fix vulnerabilities or bugs) and ideally has long term support versions, allows the business to absorb change at a more or most suitable time. Enable innovation and new technologies in personal development time and non-front line systems first e.g. improving developer tooling or for proof of concept work. We want to ensure engineers are exploring new things and there is opportunity to find a solid use case for them.
Leverage open source or purchasing third party technology where it is commoditized (applicable to tools, packages, infrastructure, functionality etc). There is no value in reinventing the wheel. Focus innovation on bespoke business needs, but do challenge these, why does the business need to operate differently to what is standard practice elsewhere. This could be a valid differentiator or value add, but could be a refusal to adapt operations or business processes towards standards.
Working together in small groups (ensembles, or pairs) to share knowledge, increase number of eyes and diverse minds on a task such that review time is reduce and quality goes up. We focus on Test-driven-development techniques when working on new code and are test-first when addressing bugs or logic changes. We build solutions that are easy to test and refactor those that are not.

Guiding Policies

- Scalability

- Modularity and Coupling

- Flexibility

- Reliability

[Consider link to on-call policy and playbooks]

- Security

[Consider recent penetration test reports, and secure development policy]
[Consider working towards or retaining certifications e.g., IS027001, Cyber Essentials etc]

- Quality

Quality is at the forefront of every action we take and is the unmovable anchor and is never sacrificed.

[Consider including a focused quality strategy]

- Talent and Development

To ensure our people are able to perform at their best we encourage teamwork and collaboration through methods such as ensemble and pair programming, we encourage sharing of knowledge during lunch and learn sessions and devote one afternoon per fortnight for personal development time.

We operate in teams and work in small fixed iterations to deliver working software in line with agreed

[Consider including link to practices and principles]

We embrace diversity and foster an inclusive environment where everyone is welcome. We encourage discourse and disagreement but commit with a bias towards action.

We define roles, career paths and progression and actively seek opportunities for everyone as needed.