Product engineering team health self-assessment
Blackmill works with startups and scaleups to improve their product engineering practices and culture.
The objective of this survey is to assist in assessing your current situation and identifying challenges, applicable to various roles such as engineers, managers, founders, or executives. This serves as a pulse check.
This survey includes a set of 30 questions for quick self-evaluation using Likert ratings. The focus is on product engineering and team health rather than business overhaul.
The questions highlight common challenges we observe regularly, as well as areas people are often unaware of or overlook.
We will send your results with additional information within a few days.
An anonymised aggregated report will be published on our website when there is a large enough corpus.
On a scale of 0-5 (0 being poor, 5 being excellent)
How well are the organisation’s biggest challenges and opportunities understood by everyone?
*
For example does leadership communicate clearly about its strategic direction, goals, and priorities or are there silos between teams and departments?
How well does the organisation build alignment of vision across different levels and functions?
*
For example, setting clear goals and sharing them with the teams or do different teams have conflicting goals and priorities?
How well do people do at discussing important and difficult issues together?
*
For example, openly discussing mistakes, listening to others speak, collaborating toward outcomes where everyone has a voice?
How effective are people in communicating and collaborating?
*
For example, do people communicate effectively with stakeholders, with each other, and with other teams, or do they just focus on their own priorities?
How smooth is your product delivery process?
*
For example, how many hand-offs occur or needed? Do teams collaborate in a manner to improve coordination and reduce handover friction or the need for manual handovers? How easy or difficult is it for people to deliver value?
How often do people end discussions with clear and specific resolutions and calls to action?
*
For example, are they confident of commitment to these actions? Do they follow up when commitments aren’t met?
How would you rate the team's overall performance in delivering high-quality reliable engineering solutions?
*
For example, does the team consistently produce solutions that meet project requirements and exceed customer expectations, or do they frequently fall short? How would you rate the technical stability of the applications or services you work on (i.e., amount of bugs, errors, performance issues)?
How well does the team handle changes to project requirements or priorities?
*
For example, do people adapt quickly to new demands or do they resist change?
How effective has the organisation been in developing and attracting great performers?
*
For example attracting people with appropriate role-specific skillset, who are good communicators, quick learners, etc.
How well does the organisation reward people for learning?
*
For example, recognising and celebrating people achievements? Providing access to and reimbursing fees for training programs?
How well does your organisation put its strategic goals into practice?
*
For example, setting clear, measurable, and specific goals? Establishing a framework for tracking progress against those goals, including regular reporting and performance measurement? Allocating resources and prioritising initiatives based on their alignment with strategic goals? Communicating regularly about progress toward goals to all levels of the organisation?
How frequently does leadership share up-to-date information about competitors, industry trends, and organisational directions?
*
For example, sharing the information in parallel channels on a regular cadence?
How well are people encouraged to ask “why” regardless of role?
*
For example, encouraging people to challenge assumptions, ask questions, and seek clarification? Providing opportunities for people to share their perspectives and ideas, even if they challenge the status quo? Fostering a culture of curiosity and learning, where questions are seen as an opportunity to discover new insights and solutions? Modelling openness and receptiveness to questioning at all levels of the organisation?
How well do people handle conflicts and disagreements?
*
For example, do people approach conflicts constructively or do they escalate into personal attacks?
How would you rate the quality of the time dedicated to work?
*
For example, do people have sufficient uninterrupted deep work time or is their time broken up with meetings and they have to context switch regularly? Can people minimising distractions or interruptions to their workflow?
How well does the team take ownership of their mistakes and learn from them?
*
For example, analysing the root cause of the mistake to prevent it from happening again in the future? Sharing lessons learned with other people and the broader organisation? Developing and implementing corrective actions to address the mistake(s)? Using mistakes as opportunities for growth and improvement rather than as sources of blame?
How effective is the team in managing project timelines and deadlines?
*
For example, do people consistently meet their individual deadlines and contribute to on-time delivery of team goals? Over the past month, what percent of your time has been lost due to obstacles or inefficiencies in your work environment (e.g., slow tools or processes, unplanned work, unclear tasks)?
How often do people have choices in their work assignments?
*
For example, encouraging people to take ownership of their work and make decisions about how they complete tasks? Providing opportunities to learn new skills?
How well-defined are team roles and responsibilities?
*
For example, do people understand their individual tasks and how they contribute to the larger goals?
How supportive is leadership of requests for learning opportunities and training?
*
For example, is there an allocated training budget? Providing access to courses, training or workshops, either online or in-person? Assigning mentors or coaches to help people develop new skills or knowledge? Encouraging cross-functional learning opportunities and collaboration with other teams?
How well does leadership ensure that the organisation’s actions are consistent with its values?
*
For example, clearly defining and communicating the organisation's values? Establishing policies, procedures, and practices that align with those values? Modelling and actioning those values at all levels of the organisation?
How effectively do teams prioritise and manage their workload to provide value for customers?
*
For example, do people prioritise tasks based on importance or do they get bogged down in less critical (but busy) work? Do they address customer needs in a timely manner? Do priorities change regularly, interrupting the ability to get things done and leading to change fatigue?
How well are performance gaps or unproductive behaviours identified and handled?
*
For example, do people feel safe to raise gaps directly? Do people openly discuss mistakes in order to learn from them? Do people openly admit their gaps and mistakes? Is constructive feedback received and acted on without resentment?
How well does the organisation enable people to get needed information quickly and easily at any time?
*
For example, providing up-to-date documentation on policies, procedures, and systems? Implementing a culture of transparency and openness around information sharing?
How effective is the team in completing work tasks on time?
*
For example managing project scope and ensuring that work remains focused on critical deliverables? Setting realistic deadlines? Continuously monitoring progress and adjusting the team's approach as needed?
How transparent and open is the team regarding their progress and challenges when communicating with stakeholders?
*
For example, providing regular updates on project status, milestones, and deliverables? Sharing challenges and blockers with stakeholders in a timely manner? Being receptive to questions and concerns from stakeholders?Providing clear and concise documentation, reports, or other communications to keep stakeholders informed?
How would you rate your speed at which the team delivers software?
*
For example, consider your development cycle time. A cycle time can be defined as the time from earliest commit in a pull request to having it merged and deployed. Top performing engineering organisations achieve a cycle time of less than one day. Do you know where your regular bottle necks are?
How often are people invited to contribute to the organisation’s vision?
*
For example, involving people in the development of team’s objectives and plans? Allowing people to contribute their ideas and suggestions for improving processes, products, or services?
To what extent does the organisation consider the impact of its decisions on team morale?
*
For example, implementation of new policies or procedures, layoffs, reorgs, workload management which might lead to burnout
How often do people view problems in their work as an opportunity to learn?
*
For example, do people consider mistakes as opportunities for growth rather than failures or are people blamed for errors and mistakes? Do you focus on short-term goals only or also on long-term learning and improvement?
And a couple of details about you, so that we can send you more information about the results of this survey
