Toptal Engineering Expert
The Importance of Written Communication for Engineering Teams
While good engineering managers can code, great ones can also communicate. Written communication is integral to the management and scaling of engineering teams, says Juan Pablo Buritica, who has led several successful teams of engineers.

Stephanie Emma Pfeffer
Stephanie is a sought-after writer for bestselling publications, including New York Magazine.
A Day in the Life of an Engineering Manager
Engineering managers tend to have a wide range of responsibilities. In this article, Karl Hughes, founder of Draft.dev, shares what a typical day in the life of an engineering manager looks like.

Karl Hughes
Karl is a former software engineering manager and CTO turned writer. He’s currently the founder of Draft.dev.
Toptal Webinar: How to Build and Scale a Remote Engineering Team
Building and scaling engineering teams is more complicated than just hiring additional people. As teams grow, everything has to change.
In the latest on-demand Toptal Webinar, our Vice President of R&D Bozhidar Batsov and Chief People Officer Michelle Labbe discuss how to build and scale best-in-class engineering teams.

Toptal Publications
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People, Product, and Technology: A Beginner’s Guide to Engineering Management
What makes a successful engineering manager? Success usually depends on how managers lead their people, product, and technology.
In this article, we examine what it takes to get started and progress in the engineering manager role.

Giorgi Dalakishvili
Giorgi has worked on a variety of applications, ranging from mobile to console platforms. He also maintains several open-source projects on GitHub.
Watch Our Webinar: Leading a Distributed Engineering Team
Toptal was an early adopter of an all-remote business model. As one of the leading remote workforces worldwide, Toptal strives to engage with other thought leaders and innovators in this space.
In our latest on-demand webinar, Toptal Engineering Manager Marco Santos talks with James Bourne, Editor-in-Chief of TechForge Media, about best practices for remote engineering teams.

Toptal Research
In-depth analysis and industry-leading thought leadership from a panel of Toptal researchers and subject matter experts.
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Software Engineer Performance Reviews Explained
Software development is a complex process, and evaluating the performance of software engineers can be too. Finding the right balance between complexity and practicality in software engineer performance reviews is vital.
In this article, Toptal Engineering Blog Editor Nermin Hajdarbegovic outlines the difference between commonly used performance review models and discusses how they should be employed.

Nermin Hajdarbegović
A veteran tech writer, Nermin helped create online publications covering everything from the semiconductor industry to cryptocurrencies.
Using the Radical Candor Framework for Effective Engineering Management
One tool that managers can consider adding to their management skill set is a practice called Radical Candor. Radical Candor is the ability to care emotionally about the engineer as an individual and valued contributor, while also expressing honesty concerning their efforts and results achieved by those efforts.

Peter Varhol
Peter is a technologist and editor on staff at Toptal, and speaks on software development, testing, and DevOps at technical conferences worldwide.
Tips to Attract, Manage, and Retain Software Developers
What makes software developers tick? With this theme in mind, we will present some ways to retain employees that we have identified in successful software development teams.

Fernando Martinez
Fernando is a veteran systems and computing engineer with 30 years of experience. He has developed in Java, C#, SQL Server, and more.
A Guide to Security Best Practices for Remote Teams
Learn how, with the right remote worker security policy, distributed teams can be just as secure as in-house teams.
Toptal Freelance Software Engineer and full-time remote worker Amin Shah Gilani walks us through common security attack methods, cyber defense strategies, and, finally, an example of a good remote worker security policy.

Amin Shah Gilani
Amin is a developer and entrepreneur who loves writing clean, test-driven Ruby and ES6 code—crafted for CI/CD.
A Beginner’s Guide to Managing Software Development With Kanban and Trello
While the success of your project depends on many factors, one of the most common reasons projects fail is a lack of management or downright bad project management.
In this post, Lead Engineering Editor Demir Selmanovic teaches you the basics of Agile project management using Kanban and Trello.

Demir Selmanovic
Demir is a developer and project manager with over 15 years of professional experience in a wide range of software development roles.
Keep Calm and Transition to a New Development Team
Many product owners don’t have a technical background and thus often find themselves unprepared and scrambling when it comes to bringing on a new development team. This often results in hindered progress, wasted time, and frustration for everyone involved. If this sounds like it could be you, either now or in the future, then you should be somewhat concerned.
In this blog post, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Carlos Ramirez III will walk you through the various steps of a typical transition process in project management so you can prepare for this eventuality and make the transition as smooth as possible.

Carlos Ramirez III
Carlos is a professional software engineer specializing in the Ruby on Rails framework. He has worked with US tech companies for years.
How Not To Manage Your Remote Team of Developers
When entering the remote developers’ world, the biggest obstacle that managers must overcome is to change their mindset by accepting that the developer will not be in plain sight, and where they can manage and follow the work being done.
This new paradigm requires businesses to implement a number of mechanisms to track progress and avoid a redundant workload. Such mechanisms will help both manager and developer be more productive, which is in everyone’s best interest.

Senad Biser
Senad is a highly experienced software engineer and project manager, skilled in a variety of technologies, most notably Java ands Android.
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