Building High-Performing Engineering Teams

How can you "go faster" as a software engineering team?  

Throughout my career, I’ve invested a significant amount of time helping engineering teams maximize their effectiveness—getting them into processes that are both efficient and impactful. Inevitably, my boss will come to me with the challenging question, “How can we get the team to do more and go faster?”

Given my experience and after evaluating the best teams I’ve ever worked with, I’ve come to understand what made those teams special. These high-performing teams were always clear on what they were working towards, had taken steps to make their development process easier, and had a strong support structure in place to help them when needed. This reflection has shaped the way I now evaluate and approach my own teams, looking through the lens of three critical areas: Clarity, Development Experience, and Collaboration & Teamwork.

When these three areas are optimized, teams not only move faster but also deliver higher quality work and maintain strong morale. In this article, I’ll break down each of these focus areas and explain how they can help any engineering team perform at its best.

1. Clarity & Vision

Have you ever watched one of your engineers start their day and immediately become frustrated because they don’t know what they should be doing or how to approach it? I have. Early in my career, I would get so frustrated when I saw that not enough work was getting done. Now, when I see this happening, I recognize it as an easy fix. The problem isn’t the engineer—it’s the lack of clarity. Our job as leaders is to ensure that our teams never have to spend their day "hunting" for what needs to be done.

Clarity is the foundation of any high-performing team. I always ask my teams if they feel confident they know exactly what they should be working on. If you were to ask each member of the team individually, would they all give you the same answer? If not, there’s a gap in clarity that needs to be addressed.

Achieving clarity comes from clear communication, effective prioritization, alignment on goals, and strong support from leadership. It's crucial to build a structured process that helps teams come together, refine the backlog, and create crystal-clear expectations. One effective way I’ve found is through regular backlog refinement (grooming) sessions, where the team can clarify goals, refine priorities, and understand the desired outcomes. This not only ensures alignment but also prevents valuable time from being wasted on misunderstandings.

When teams are given clarity, they can focus on execution without getting bogged down by ambiguity. As leaders, we must proactively eliminate any uncertainty so that our engineers can spend their time building, not searching for answers. By providing this clarity, you’ll quickly see the difference in how the team operates—moving faster, working more efficiently, and producing higher-quality output. Clarity doesn’t just help the team know what to do; it enables them to run at full speed.

2. Development Experience

Years ago, I led a team that clearly understood what they were trying to build, but their development experience was incredibly frustrating. The biggest issue for that team? They couldn't debug code locally on their machines. Instead, they had to go through a cumbersome process: code a change, build it, upload it to a server, and then wait to test and troubleshoot. This slow process limited them to just two or three cycles a day, significantly dragging down their productivity. It wasn’t their skills or commitment that were the problem—it was the development environment they had to work with.

When developers spend a significant portion of their day waiting on slow builds, struggling with outdated tools, or navigating complex approval processes, it drains their time and energy. As leaders, we need to remove these time-consuming roadblocks. The goal is to make the act of coding as seamless as possible. Developers should be able to quickly code, build, test, and iterate. Every minute they spend waiting for a build, hunting for resources, or dealing with inefficient approval processes is time they aren't spending on building valuable software.

A strong development experience involves optimizing these workflows. It means ensuring your teams have the right tools, automation, and resources to make their jobs easier. Are we using agile methodologies effectively? Do we have automated testing and continuous integration set up? Does the team have adequate technical skills, shared understanding of the technology, and the infrastructure they need? These are questions I constantly ask myself to ensure the team has everything they need to work efficiently.

For example, setting up automated testing and continuous integration pipelines can dramatically improve the speed at which code moves through development. Additionally, simplifying the code review and approval processes can save hours each week. The easier we make it for developers to move from writing code to seeing it run in a production-like environment, the faster and more productive they become.

That said, many changes to improve a team’s development experience can take significant time and effort to implement. Whether it's investing in new tools, restructuring workflows, or creating automation processes, these changes don’t happen overnight. It’s important to start now and keep pushing forward, even though it may take a while to see the full benefits. Over time, as these improvements take hold, you’ll start to see the fruits of your efforts—higher velocity, greater efficiency, and a more satisfied, high-performing engineering team.

3. Collaboration & Teamwork

When I’ve looked back at the best teams I’ve worked with, one thing stands out: they were always set up to succeed. These teams were surrounded by a strong support system, ensuring that when questions arose or when someone got stuck, there was always someone available to help. No one worked in isolation—they knew they had a network of teammates and mentors to rely on, which made all the difference in their ability to move forward quickly and confidently.

A critical aspect of a high-performing team is the collaborative environment they work in. No one should feel like they are alone when facing a problem. Every engineer should know that if they get blocked, they have people around them who can help solve the issue, share knowledge, or offer guidance. Collaboration isn’t just about teamwork during a sprint—it’s about creating a culture where people feel comfortable asking questions and sharing their insights, knowing that they’ll receive support from their peers.

In successful teams, the right balance exists within the team structure. You want every person to feel like they have someone to go to, without overwhelming the key lead or go-to engineer. Everyone should contribute to helping unblock others. This structure enables a culture of experimentation and learning, where continuous improvement is at the forefront. Regular retrospectives can also help teams reflect on their processes and look for ways to improve how they work together.

It's important to foster a sense of shared responsibility. In these successful teams, everyone contributes to the progress of the group. It’s not just about individual achievements—it's about ensuring that the team, as a whole, is effective. If one person is struggling, it slows everyone down. But when everyone is invested in supporting each other, the team operates at its full potential.

As leaders, it’s our responsibility to enable this collaboration by encouraging open communication and mentorship. By building a culture where everyone feels supported, teams are more confident in tackling challenges, sharing new ideas, and pushing boundaries. In turn, they can move faster and achieve more because they are not bogged down by bottlenecks or isolation.

When a team is set up with the right support systems and collaboration practices, they operate at a whole new level. You’ll see higher engagement, faster decision-making, and a stronger sense of unity—all of which contribute to a team that can handle challenges efficiently and maintain high velocity.

Conclusion

As both leaders and individual contributors, it’s essential to continually monitor and improve the three key areas that drive engineering team performance: Clarity & Vision, Development Experience, and Collaboration & Teamwork. When we notice friction—whether it’s in understanding goals, dealing with inefficient tools, or in team dynamics—it’s critical to address it immediately. Proactively removing these obstacles is what enables teams and individuals to operate at their highest potential.

Focusing on these areas leads to teams that are not only happier but also significantly more productive. When everyone knows exactly what they need to do, has a development environment that empowers them to work efficiently, and is surrounded by a strong support network, both teams and individuals can excel.

It's important to remember that many improvements—especially in development experience—can take time and effort to fully implement. However, by starting today and making steady progress, both leaders and individual team members will eventually see the rewards: a faster, more efficient, and more unified engineering team. By investing in clarity, optimizing the development process, and fostering collaboration, you empower everyone to work at their best and consistently achieve the organization’s goals.

I hope you found these insights helpful for boosting your engineering team's performance. Have you tried implementing any of these strategies in your own teams? I’d love to hear about your experiences!