I've been writing blog posts for 20 years (!?) and I still like to do it, even if blogging is considered a bit less fashionable these days (and no, I don't feel like starting a youtube channel)

I still like to do it, because I want to share what I learn, and I'm also happy to meet people regularly around a visio or a coffee to exchange. I've seen the world of software development radically transformed thanks to sharing, open source, meetups, blogs, forums. Our profession is one of those in which this sharing is the most active and visible and I want to contribute in my own way.

For those who don't know me, I've been working in IT development since 2001. I had more than a decade of experience when I co-founded Malt, a very nice tech company where I still hold the role of CTO.

And there is a subject that has been driving me for a long time how to create impact in engineering teams.

What is the impact for an engineering team in a product company?
How can I bring impact as a software engineer and not as a manager?
How can I develop my leadership?
What is a good tech organization?
How do good product & tech teams work?

And all this I can do on this blog. But I'd like to make it a structured book, that logically flows from article to article, that can be used as a reference.

So I'm announcing that I'm going to start an e-book on this blog called: "Impactful Software Engineering ".

And if you are in a hurry, the link to the first page is at the end of the article. But if you don't want to be disappointed by discovering that a lot of chapters are not written, I invite you to read the rest to understand the process.

An iterative book

How will it work?

This blog is still a hobby, I can't and won't lock myself up at home for 6 months to write this book. To be clear, my main job is still to build Malt on a day to days basis.
I will write it chapter by chapter, each chapter will be available here as a blog post. For most readers of this blog, it won't make a difference, each chapter will be readable independently of the others.

But I will maintain a general outline and reading order on a separate page of this blog. The best possible comparison would be the staffeng.com site which can be read as a blog.

Several chapters already exist, but you didn't know it yet (and neither did I). Maybe they will be reworked, and then integrated to the rest.

For me, this way seems the most efficient to have a chance to get to the end and not end up in the graveyard of my sides projects.

(And even if that happens, there will still be many articles left)

A book in English and French

Another novelty, previously I often translated articles in English to publish them on Medium. But to be able to do what I want in terms of presentation and structure, I will now publish them here. I want this book to help as many people as possible and I have been working in an international environment for several years. I have to make an international version. But I don't want to waste my time by copying and pasting on Medium, fixing the markups etc...

You can help me

Of course, all the content remains free, it would not make sense for me to restrict the audience. My goal is to contribute, in my own way, to create a strong tech culture, just like I benefited from the experience of my predecessors.

If however you want to support the costs of this blog or just motivate me a little, don't hesitate to click on the button below :)

But there are other ways to contribute.

Writing this e-book here has other advantages. When you write a book, once it's out there you can't go back to it. You can write something, have a fascinating discussion with someone and realize... you'd like to change what you just wrote.

This book can evolve permanently. Each article can be commented on and enriched by your contributions. For those who want to go further in terms of contributions, it is possible to click on the link at the bottom "Edit on Github" which will allow to create a Pull Request on Github, all the content being on a repository free of access.

Of course, I will act as a "benevolent dictator", this will remain a content with my opinions, but I would be happy to receive suggestions for improvements.

I insist again, but please feel free to comment on the articles, point out typos, contact me to discuss, on Twitter, by email or in a meetup. I'm happy to write, but I do it so it's useful and readable. Encouragement, wherever it comes from, keeps me motivated.

The first chapter

With that in mind, to conclude this post, I suggest you discover the book's start page.

If you want to keep up to date, you can subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow me on Twitter.

Stay tuned!