Keep WARG Engaging!

Following some director discussions (if you’re a director they can be read around here though some information will remain private to directors) regarding team engagement we realized some unintuitive truths regarding engagement that are required for WARG’s progression. This document seeks to write them down for future reference. This document seeks to provide solutions and guidance to the symptoms described in Keep WARG non corporate! by Anthony Berbari.

Tighter timelines and more engineering work being required is not inversely proportional to member enjoyment and engagement. Often times it is associated that working a lot on something burns you out on it though in reality the real burnout hits when it feels like your contributions are not being valued and/or their is no visible growth path ahead of you. WARG can maintain tight timelines while keeping members excited, happy, and engaged by properly valuing contributions.

Members are most engaged when they feel their decisions and analysis are valued and incorporated into the team’s design. Further, when members are given a very wide project and given the freedom to choose their own individual tasks and direction it allows them to pick their own course. You’ll notice all members that have been on the team for a long time are able to do this autonomously. Please not as well that encouraging people join meetings with the team at large (sync meets / general meetings) is important so they see how their contributions impact the team at large!

Directors and leads heavily drive the teams culture and therefore team engagement. A key role of directors and leads is to direct culture. Everyone will end up following what directors and leads do and if people see leadership doing things they disagree with they will simply go somewhere else if their investment in the team is low. Notably as members are more engaged and stick around for longer it becomes easier for them to challenge decisions they disagree with and come to the optimal conclusion to controversial decisions.

Engagement is critical for recruiting and long-term viability of the team. If members are not engaged they will get bored with WARG and head off to more promising teams or create their own where they feel their engineering abilities will be more valued. Further

Socials are a great tool to promote a sense of community and therefore build engagement. Making WARG enjoyable while working hard is a great way to keep the team engaged! More information regarding ideas and orchestration of socials can be found in: Socials . Related to socials and also engaging is Workshops .

None of us are being compensated by the organization and consequently the primary motivation for showing up at all is we feel engaged. Consequently valuing the engagement of others is required to build the team up. If you feel others do not possess the will to improve the team as you do it means you are not adequately engaging them.