It’s Not Just an Engineering Problem

Efficiency and Effectiveness in Engineering

Lately, I’ve been thinking a good about the efficiency and effectiveness of engineering teams. (And just to clarify—when I say engineering, I mean software development. I'm not fixing bridges in Visual Studio.) The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that most of the challenges engineering teams face aren’t actually “engineering problems.” Much of the challenges engineering faces are organizational problems.

Here’s the thing: engineering teams often see the obstacles in their way as their problems to solve. That’s noble, we are problem solvers by nature, but a little analysis reveals a more frustrating reality—most of these challenges are systemic. They span departments, processes, and even company culture. And they’re not something engineering can fix by itself.

Let me share an obvious example from my real experience

This is from my time at a major software publisher. Engineering was getting heat for taking “too long” to deliver projects. The grapevine consensus pegged this as an 18-month slog from idea to deployment. It didn't feel right. Nonetheless, we took it on ourselves and dug into the data, expecting to find where we were slacking. What did we discover? That engineering was delivering features in three months on average. Three months! That’s from the moment tickets were created to the moment they were closed.

Cue the drumroll

So where did the other 15 months go? It was eaten up by sales/product deliberations, certification, and delivery (installation at customer sites). In other words, the delay wasn’t an engineering problem; it was an organizational one.

Even if engineering somehow became superhuman and shaved a full third off our timeline, the impact would’ve been a whopping... one month. Yep, one measly month out of 18. Hardly a game-changer.

The takeaway?

The solution required a holistic change across the organization. Engineering could hustle all day, but without buy-in from sales, product, and certification teams, the problem wasn’t going anywhere.

This example is far from unique. I see engineering teams all the time trying to fix systemic issues within the walls of their silo. And when those efforts inevitably fail, morale takes a hit, and the cycle continues.

I expect I will be writing about this a lot.  I’m going to dive deeper into this topic on the blog. There’s a lot to unpack about how organizations can work together to tackle these challenges—and why engineering shouldn’t have to shoulder the blame (or the burden) alone.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Have you faced similar situations? Are there strategies you’ve seen work (or fail spectacularly)? Drop me a comment, and let’s keep this conversation rolling.