Unblocking Software Engineers: Technical and Non-technical Roadblocks

"Unblocking Software Engineers: Overcoming Non-technical and Technical Roadblocks" serves as a guide for both software engineers and product managers on how to effectively address common obstacles encountered during task execution. Non-technical blockers often stem from a lack of clear context, sufficient details, or examples provided by the product team in task descriptions, making it difficult for engineers to start work. The article emphasizes the importance of the product person clearly defining "what to do" for a feature. At the same time, the engineering team retains responsibility for determining "how to do it" from a technical perspective. Furthermore, the source examines various technical blockers, ranging from syntax issues and third-party library problems to more complex debugging challenges. It suggests strategies such as using a debugger, making small changes, and leveraging community resources like Stack Overflow to find solutions and minimize blocked time, thereby increasing productivity.

Transcript