Shelly Stuart at LeadDev West Coast 2023

Prevent burnout in engineering teams by recognizing its signs, prioritizing impactful work, and fostering a supportive culture through regular check-ins and the BICEPS framework.

Key takeaways
  • To address concerns of senior leadership, tie plans back to business goals and risks.
  • Track work over time, such as with Scrum teams tracking story points.
  • Make yourself a partner in understanding the capacity of work for your team.
  • Burnout results from chronic workplace stress and is one of the biggest risks to creating efficient teams.
  • Senior leaders often have a hard time seeing engineers as humans with needs, increasing the risk of burnout.
  • Burnout can look different for everyone, and it’s a spectrum.
  • The most important thing as engineering leaders is to recognize burnout and react to it quickly.
  • One-on-ones are crucial in addressing burnout, and a coaching conversation should be approached early.
  • Prioritizing impactful work and being able to hit deadlines consistently creates more efficient teams.
  • Over-engagers may need to take time off due to exhaustion and mental distance.
  • Disengagers may need to recharge and have more capacity for work.
  • Creating space for teams to minimize burnout risk can help with predicting the unexpected and having a buffer for it.
  • BICEPS framework is a tool for supporting developer well-being and creating more resilient teams.
  • Developer well-being is connected to team efficiency and requires regular conversations and check-ins.
  • Supporting developer well-being can help reduce the risk of burnout.
  • Recognizing burnout and addressing it quickly can improve team performance and efficiency.