--- title: "VP of Engineering @ Mews - A look back on my 1st year | 1:1 mentoring" description: "Life is fun! Joining a new company in April 2020 couldn’t have been easier: The Prague HQ office got closed due to the virus whose name we shall not mentio…" url: "https://www.marian.coach/blog/vp-of-engineering-mews-a-look-back-on-my-1st-year/" lang: "en" image: "https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-covers/vp-of-engineering-mews-a-look-back-on-my-1st-year.webp" --- ![VP of Engineering @ Mews - A look back on my 1st year](https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-covers/vp-of-engineering-mews-a-look-back-on-my-1st-year.webp) ## ? Take off Life is fun! Joining a new company in April 2020 couldn’t have been easier: The Prague HQ office got closed due to the virus whose name we shall not mention. That said, all my individual introductions with engineers, team leads, my peers, and the leadership board were done remotely, video only. How can I build a relationship with my folks in such a situation? Is it going to work? I was doubtful, as I knew [building trust](https://medium.com/mews-devs/how-to-build-trust-with-engineering-teams-6c23df666a23) was going to be essential. During the initial 2 months, I invested most of the time getting to know the culture, people, environment, and processes. That turned out pretty good, helping me to find out what works well, what needed to be improved, what the quick wins could be achieved, and which “big stones” required pushing through. ## ⭐️ Mission All in all, after 2 months, I was ready to publish my internal audit and formulate my mission streams: ![Two mind maps: Development process we are proud of around the SDLC, and Stabilize for Growth vol. II around tech people](https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-archive/2023/08/image-15.png)My mission mind map ## ? Stream #1: Tech department scalability By the time I joined [Mews](https://www.mews.com/), the company’s business domain was hit heavily by Covid and some of the people were laid off. Despite these circumstances, we decided to invest in potential future growth by stabilizing the teams and [preparing the future team leads](https://www.marian.coach/team-lead-readiness-test/). In 2021, as it turned out, we’ve been handling the situation pretty well as a company and our bet paid off. As a result, we have chosen to grow our tech department from 60 to 100 by the end of 2021. ![Marian Kamenistak on the main stage of the Engineering Leaders Conference, arm raised, co-host in the background.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/talk-17.EHsoOj9U_1tWLHU.webp) On stage a couple of years after Mews, still telling this same growth story. Having said that, we decided to make our structure stronger, ready for the upcoming growth: - Above all, we enforced the notion of product-oriented teams by making our org chart formally cross-functional. Thus, we lowered down the amount of dependencies across the teams and made them aligned with the product goals. - The leaders of our teams are the [leaders worth following](https://www.lollydaskal.com/leadership/become-leader-worth-following/). It is the continuous [involvement during our 1:1s](https://www.marian.coach/blog/one-on-ones/), internal mentoring and external [PlatoHQ](https://www.platohq.com/) sessions, personal development plans, and guidance in various situation resolutions. We plan to introduce the [Tech Lead Associate programme](https://review.firstround.com/this-90-day-plan-turns-engineers-into-remarkable-managers), helping the chosen engineers through the transition to people leader role. ![Engineering org chart under a CTO: Product Engineering, Platform Engineering, IT and Security, Community management](https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-archive/2023/08/image-16.png)The tech department growth - We ended up building a hiring strategy, reflected in a timeline that shows us which teams to boost or split. In parallel, we [strengthened our hiring pipeline](https://www.marian.coach/blog/6-strategies-for-high-candidate-conversion/), involving more hiring agencies across Europe. - If you plan to boost your hiring process and get involved in examinations, get ready to allocate roughly 40% of your capacity, as interviews require constant focus and are exhausting. No one was born with the ability to lead interviews. Having an interview guideline is great, but not enough. To make sure we keep high-quality standards and new starters’ aligned with [our Culture and Values](https://www.mews.com/en/about-us), the team leads must observe and [learn](https://marian-kamenistak.medium.com/learn-or-die-176861f30d9e) how to run interviews, how to set the right atmosphere and how to close the deal. These are the key topics that tell us the most. Over time, the team leads are getting more proficient at interviewing the candidates so I can fully hand over the hiring journey to them. - Finding the right team balance is essential. With the hiring, there is also [a flip side in firing](https://www.marian.coach/blog/3-performance-criteria-every-leader-needs/). Leading multiple teams, I am the one helping them to make a quick decision if the initial months are not going as well as expected. That is why I do an open check after the first and before the third month end with all the newbies. At this point, in June 2021, we are at a headcount of 77, with 8 people signed up. ## ? Stream #2: Boost the software delivery My ambition is to create efficient guidelines that the teams benefit from and are proud to work in. The outcome is to make 4/5 of incoming requests flow seamlessly through the development pipeline. Taking care of the remaining 20% gives us comfortably enough time and space for learning, making improvements, as opposed to constant firefighting. ![Three-arrow progress graphic: 50% in the past, 68% after two months, 80% stable within three months](https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-archive/2023/08/image-14.png)Sprint completion increase (planned vs. delivered ratio) At Mews, the Scrum method had been introduced and followed. Therefore, I didn’t have to start from scratch. I decided to make my initial additions simple: - Using analytics visualization on top of the ticket data flow, I introduced a high level of openness across the company. The teams, the departments and the leadership now has real-time data about all the features’ progress and teams’ efficiency. Ultimately, this step [raised trust levels](https://medium.com/mews-devs/how-to-build-trust-with-engineering-teams-6c23df666a23) in the tech department as a whole. We were also able to identify our bottlenecks and observe improvement impact. After 4 months, we improved the sprint completion by 30% and decreased the average ticket cycle time by 36%, without cannibalizing the throughput. - We asked the teams and individual contributors to focus most of their effort on the roadmap-related tasks, combined with capping the amount of different parallel initiatives by [WIP (Work In Progress) limit](https://www.planview.com/resources/articles/wip-limits/). The outcome? Teams [deliver 80% of initiatives related to OKRs](https://medium.com/agileinsider/how-to-make-your-teams-beat-okrs-6727f466f386). The beauty of it is, our teams are well respected, which is reflected in their satisfaction and stability. - We improved several Scrum meeting ceremonies. Pro tip: for the Sprint planning, ask the team to prepare proposal of the sprint plan before the actual prioritization. That wipes out most of the questions and the session takes roughly 15 minutes, as opposed to 1 hour. On top of that, my ambition is to change the teams’ mindset from being busy (output, throughput) to being productive (outcome, focus, goals). ## ? Bonus stream #3: Mews awareness ![Eleven Mews engineers in branded T-shirts sitting together on office sofas with beers after work](https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-archive/2023/08/image-19.png) At Mews, we say “Talent attracts talent”. Writing [blog posts](https://developers.mews.com/), participating in various [meetups](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imE7fS-6FJg), [podcasts](https://soundcloud.com/czpodcast-1/cz-podcast-234-engineering-praktiky), or giving [university lectures](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mariankamenistak_unicorn-scrum-kanban-activity-6797824570918277120-uMdS/) is part of my role. If truth be told, in my past, I had low hopes writing an article or attending a panel discussion. The beauty is, I found out it makes me more thoughtful about my path, my mission, gets me back on track and strengthens my ambition. It is ultimately a mind hack I hadn’t expected to come across. Enhancing the learning environment is yet another golden nugget. [Learn or die](https://marian-kamenistak.medium.com/learn-or-die-176861f30d9e). Mentoring more people in how to learn, organize and share their knowledge across the company paid off. ## ? Moving forward ![Dual-track diagram: discovery loops feeding learning on top, delivery sprints shipping software below](https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-archive/2023/08/image-17.png) There are many additional streams and ideas on how to help my teams in terms of stability and delivery. During summer 2021, my aim is to focus on the [Time to Value](https://www.plutora.com/blog/understanding-measuring-and-improving-time-to-value-ttv) aspect, ensuring we have a predictable flow of features and bigger-scope epics, with a fast feedback loop and a minimum of outliers. That comprises both the Discovery and the Delivery streams in [Dual track agile](https://www.productboard.com/glossary/dual-track-agile/). I strongly believe in [lead by example principle](https://medium.com/swlh/the-best-leaders-lead-by-example-88ee68186aaehttps://medium.com/swlh/the-best-leaders-lead-by-example-88ee68186aae). If you want to change the culture or the mindset, providing books and guidelines does not work much. To help people feel in control, we have to show examples all the time through our actions, boosting the environment with continuous improvements. Only then, other folks are keen to copy such behavior. ## ? Summary I don’t mean to say everything turned out 100% successfully. Looking back, I should have changed the sequence of applied improvements or been more strict in some situations. I should have acted and communicated certain changes differently, more individually and thoughtfully. I should have involved the team leads sooner in interviewing. I was hoping to rotate across all the teams on a bi-weekly basis to get to know everyone more personally, grasp more knowledge and provide specific help. I wish I had spent more effort to fine-tune individual teams’ ceremonies. Years later, I wrote up what those lessons boil down to: [the three gaps between an EM and a VP of Engineering](https://www.marian.coach/blog/engineering-manager-to-vp-of-engineering/). > _I do see my journey at Mews as a mission. Witnessing the impact is my true satisfaction and my ultimate motivator. I know I contribute practically in building something monumental. Making the Mews teams stable, predictable in delivery and trusted, is what gives us a competitive advantage, a true differentiator that gets us to unicorn scale and beyond._ According to my personal profile, I’m a [defender](https://www.16personalities.com/isfj-personality). I’m a healer. I love helping people and stabilizing things. I want to see my teams celebrating success. Curious about my journey at Mews after 2 years? ? 1:1 mentoring ## Ready to move this from advice to action? 1:1 mentoring for engineering leaders. 300+ mentees since 2019. Pay-as-you-go or a 6-session pack. First intro is free. [Book a free 30-min intro →](https://www.marian.coach/mentoring/) ## Read next - [ ### 9 Solid Tips To Grow Your Team’s Talent in a Year “I have no time to grow my teammates. We have to deliver.” 9 practical moves to grow your team's talent in a year without dropping delivery. 15 March 2023 · By Marian Read → ](https://www.marian.coach/blog/9-solid-tips-to-grow-your-teams-talent-in-a-year/) - [ ### How to Build Trust with Engineering Teams In engineering management, my vision is to create a productive software delivery environment that developers are proud to work in, with a focus on tangible… 10 August 2020 · By Marian Read → ](https://www.marian.coach/blog/how-to-build-trust-with-engineering-teams/) - [ ### Should I Become a Team Lead? A 6-Dimension Answer Six dimensions predict whether the team lead role will fit you, drawn from 3,400+ mentoring sessions. Take the 3-minute test, get a straight verdict. 22 July 2026 · By Marian Read → ](https://www.marian.coach/blog/should-i-become-a-team-lead/) ### New posts, straight to your inbox. Your emailSubscribe You're on it. Nothing hits your inbox today. First send goes out once the list is live, and you're already on it. [Connect on LinkedIn →](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariankamenistak/)[See the free tools →](https://www.marian.coach/ai-coaching-tools/) ## Structured data ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ProfessionalService","name":"Marian Kamenistak | Engineering Leadership Mentoring","url":"https://www.marian.coach/blog/vp-of-engineering-mews-a-look-back-on-my-1st-year/","image":"https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-covers/vp-of-engineering-mews-a-look-back-on-my-1st-year.webp","description":"Life is fun! 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