How can I build support for a logging + analytics project from my leadership?
I’m a senior iOS engineer at my company which has 8 mobile developers total. I believe there’s a lot of opportunity to better understand how our apps perform and crash – for example, we added Bluetooth support in the app which was buggy, but it was hard to diagnose since our logging is insufficient.
Other engineers on the team are supportive of spending time on this project, but my manager and director want us to stay focused on feature work. We have a queue of features for every engineer for the next 6 months, so there’s no time to address tech debt. They’d like us to hire interns to take on some of the feature work, but that doesn’t give us more time. How can I convince the leadership team that it’s worth spending time on this logging project?
Discussion
(1 comment)- 02 years agoMeta, Pinterest, Kosei
- Instead of the question “can we do this?” the question should be “when is the right time to do this?”
- Interns almost never speed up a project delivery date. In fact, they usually cause more delays since they need more hand-holding.
- I’d create a short doc with 2 things: document the benefit, and make sure it includes the data from other teams. Second, break down the logging project into various milestones, and indicate what exactly is the output-oriented goal at each checkpoint (It should be obvious to your director that you achieved the milestone).
- Show early progress, e.g. start with something that only takes a day but moves the needle. Paint the picture of the benefit of that change, and how it can lead to additional changes later on.
