Research-Driven Engineering Leadership

Research-Driven Engineering Leadership

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June 2025

RDEL #98: What Diff Authoring Time (DAT) reveals about developer experience
Three internal case studies at Meta reveal how DAT captured meaningful changes in developer efficiency through improvement in tools, UIs, and shared…
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Lizzie Matusov
RDEL #97: How does extraversion shape communication behavior in remote workplaces?
Extraverts prefer task-focused interactions, while introverts gain from relational supervisor connections.
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Lizzie Matusov
1
RDEL #96: What’s the relationship between developer seniority and code refactoring?
Experience level shapes the most likely contributors to refactoring, and may also influence quality of documentation.
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Lizzie Matusov
RDEL #95: What does effective coordination look like in distributed software teams?
Distributed teams that pair efficient meetings with clear Slack norms reduce ambiguity, lower message volume, and align faster.
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Lizzie Matusov

May 2025

RDEL #94: How do experienced engineers actually review code?
Reviewers build three internal models to decide what to read, question, or approve.
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Lizzie Matusov
3
RDEL #93: What causes procrastination for software engineers?
Task vagueness, stress, and complexity drive delays. Procrastination can hurt team trust, but also boosted creativity.
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Lizzie Matusov
1
RDEL #92: How do AI code reviews impact engineering teams?
Automated reviews improved code quality, but didn’t reduce human effort or accelerate delivery.
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Lizzie Matusov
4
RDEL #91: What makes production incidents in GenAI services different from traditional cloud incidents?
GenAI incidents are detected later, mitigated more slowly, and rooted in deep infrastructure complexity.
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Lizzie Matusov
2

April 2025

RDEL #90: How does the gap between actual and ideal workweek impact developer productivity and satisfaction?
Bigger misalignments predict lower satisfaction and productivity. Developers overwhelmingly want AI to reduce toil from documentation, testing, and…
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Lizzie Matusov
RDEL #89: What async communication behaviors lead to better outcomes for software engineers?
Communications in "bursts" lead to better outcomes than evenly spread activity, and team communication was more important than individual skill for…
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Lizzie Matusov
2
RDEL #88: What factors influence the well-being of software engineers?
A cross-country study identifies that well-being in software engineering is shaped by trust, recognition, and connection.
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Lizzie Matusov
© 2025 Lizzie Matusov
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