How Big Tech Runs Tech Projects and the Curious Absence of Scrum

1. Autonomy for software engineers and teams. The expectation of developers at traditional companies is to complete assigned work. At SV-like companies, it’s to solve problems that the business has. This is a huge difference. It impacts the day-to-day life of any engineer.
2. Curious problem solvers, not mindless resources. A motivated engineer easily makes multiple times the impact of a “factory worker” who only does what they’re told.  For organizations with a factory worker attitude, this approach will bias towards more heavyweight project management approaches that leave little room for interpretation, on purpose.
3. Internal data, code, and documentation transparency. Employees – and not just engineers – often have access to real time business metrics and data sources, to write their own queries and create custom reports.
4. Exposure to the business and to business metrics. Engineers are encouraged to interact with the rest of the business and build relationships with non-engineers. In contrast, traditional companies often make it impossible for developers to interact with the rest of the business.
5. Engineer-to-engineer comms over triangular-communication.Traditional companies will encourage hierarchical communication that slows down information flow, and results in slower decisions.
6. Investing in a less frustrating developer experience. Companies that care about engineers solving problems quickly set up various platform teams, which reduce the developer experience churn.
7. Higher pay, justified by higher leverage. Companies that leverage engineers well, have no trouble paying close to the top of the market, or above it.
8. Caliber of the talent hired. These companies hire highly competent and highly motivated people, thanks to the combination of all the above. They have a large pool to choose from, as they are known for generous compensation packages, and strong career growth opportunities.

Empowered and autonomous teams are the building blocks of all these companies. They are also the key differentiator between many companies in the tech industry.