Engineering Principles
These are the core beliefs that guide how we work as XION engineers.
Crewmates
We operate less as a corporate pyramid, but more as the crew of a ship.
- You must be able to trust your teammates to do their job to the highest level.
- In an emergency, there are several others who can take over on a task. Nothing is blocked on a single person.
- Feeling blocked by other teammates and unable to progress should not be common.
- If you are stuck for an extended period, ask for help. Time wasted is always worse than a bruised ego. Crewmates will always be willing to help.
- Everyone should have enough information to make smart, autonomous decisions.
Kitchen Communication
When things are sharp, burning, unstable and frantic; it's better to yell things out as they happen.
- Overcommunication is praised, not a cause for embarrassment.
- We don't silo information.
- Communicate early. If a project will be delivered late or an unforeseen blocker is uncovered, we are in the best position the quicker we know about it.
- Mistakes happen, and are easiest to remediate if surfaced ASAP.
- If directions or requirements are ambiguous, make an educated decision that clears the ambiguity and communicates that decision back out.
- We depend on bottom-up reporting and confidence that teammates will surface issues as they are discovered. The organization can't scale if it has to be micromanaged top-down.
Acceleration
The only way you win if you are smaller, is by being faster. Automation compounds our ability to deliver.
- We build tools to allow ourselves to work faster.
- Anything that requires repeated manual work or guidance should be automated as soon as possible.
- Tooling that allows the team or external parties to deliver products faster is prioritized.
- Automation is an investment that pays off forever.
Phalanx
A strong position when working together, but crumbles with internal dysfunction.
- We are taking extremely difficult tasks, in large numbers and constant flux, with a team that is 1/10th the size of our competitors. This structure only works if we work together, not against each other.
- Any interpersonal issues or disagreements should be surfaced and resolved immediately, so we can continue focusing on external challenges.
- Teammates should always feel confident to approach each other or leadership to resolve issues.
We Ship Experiences, Not Code
In the shifting sands of this industry and market, it's expected that a great deal of the products or tools we spin up may be irrelevant or outdated quickly.
- We consider it a success if a tool did the job at the time it was needed, and failure if delivery was too late.
- We bias toward deprecating things that don't bring us continued value. We take enjoyment in deleting code and products that aren't force multipliers.
- We bias toward outside tooling if it does the job, so we can focus on the core differentiators that make our business model unique and powerful.
- Code should be backed by design and purpose, not simply created for the sake of it.
- We win when the applications built on top of us win.
Living Document
These principles aren't carved in stone. They evolve as we do. If something here doesn't match how we actually work—or how we should work—speak up.
The Construct gets updates.