Building And Managing Effective Software Development Teams

Master strategies for leading high-performing remote software development teams and optimizing workflows

What you'll learn

Master key engineering management strategies to lead remote teams with powerful techniques like Watchabunga and Trackabunga

Implement Flawless Victory Checklists (FVCs) to streamline tasks and ensure smooth handoffs—no more chaos!

Set SMART goals and use performance metrics to drive clarity and progress with the Rankabunga method

Unlock your team’s potential through proactive coaching with Watchabunga—learn how to spot opportunities for growth

Create and manage effective runbooks and playbooks to minimize chaos in remote work

Conduct powerful 1-on-1s and feedback sessions with Trackabunga to drive continuous improvement

Use root cause analysis (5 Whys) to eliminate problems with Thinkabunga, preventing issues before they arise

Design processes that eliminate waste with Improvabunga, ensuring a smooth, continuous flow of work

Lead with consensus and facilitate decision-making to balance collaboration and authority

Drive continuous process improvement using Improvabunga—keep things fresh, adaptive, and always improving

Optimize remote work environments for productivity and well-being with practical, actionable management strategies

Track and measure performance to drive success and accountability using Flawless Victory Checklists (FVCs)

Requirements

Basic understanding of project management concepts—no need to be an expert, but knowing the basics of task tracking and team coordination will help

Familiarity with remote work—you don’t need years of experience, but understanding the challenges of leading distributed teams is a plus

An interest in improving team performance—this course is designed for leaders ready to optimize workflows and help their teams thrive

A willingness to learn and experiment—this course includes actionable techniques and strategies that you’ll need to implement in real life, so an open mind is essential

Description

In this course, you’ll learn how to build and manage high-performing software development teams, with a focus on remote work environments. As a software engineering manager, it’s crucial to not only lead your team but also optimize workflows, create clear processes, and drive performance at every level. This course offers practical strategies, tools, and techniques that will help you lead your team to success, whether they’re in the same office or spread across the globe.You’ll dive deep into proven methodologies such as Watchabunga and Trackabunga to improve communication, team accountability, and project tracking. Additionally, we’ll explore the power of Thinkabunga for proactive problem prevention, Rankabunga to drive data-driven performance metrics, and Improvabunga for continuous process improvement.We’ll also explore the importance of Flawless Victory Checklists to ensure smooth handoffs and quality outputs, as well as using SMART goals to create measurable, achievable objectives for your team. Through actionable coaching techniques, you’ll unlock your team’s potential, providing proactive feedback and continuous improvement.Additionally, you’ll learn to optimize your team’s workflows by eliminating waste and implementing streamlined processes that work in a remote-first world. This course is designed to equip you with the tools needed to create a productive, efficient, and happy team—no matter where they are located.Whether you’re an experienced manager or new to the role, this course will empower you with the skills to lead with confidence and drive impactful results in software development.

Overview

Section 1: Welcome to the Pizza Party

Lecture 1 Intro to Cowabunga Management

Section 2: Deep Work & Async Workflow – Ninja Focus for Devs

Lecture 2 Welcome to the Deep Work Zone – Meet Your Focus Mindset

Lecture 3 Why Focus Gets Wrecked by Pings & Meetings

Lecture 4 Async Work: Communication Without Chaos

Lecture 5 Write Like You Might Vanish Tomorrow

Lecture 6 Don’t Start Until You’re Unblockable

Lecture 7 Being Less Available = Being More Reliable

Lecture 8 SLAs: The Secret Weapon of Async Teams

Lecture 9 Your Async Ninja Starter Kit Summary

Section 3: Watchabunga – Observational Coaching & Mentoring

Lecture 10 Introduction to Watchabunga

Lecture 11 What We Really Mean by “Watching”

Lecture 12 Gemba Walks for Software Teams

Lecture 13 Time & Motion Studies For Devs

Lecture 14 Tools & Tactics: Watch Without Disrupting

Lecture 15 From Watch to Coach

Lecture 16 Watchabunga Mindset

Section 4: First Time Right – Mortal Kombat Coding

Lecture 17 First Time Right – Mortal Kombat Coding

Lecture 18 Why “First Time Right” Matters (And Where It Came From)

Lecture 19 Button Mashing vs Combo Moves – The Mortal Coding Truth

Lecture 20 The Hidden Cost of Rework – Meet Iteration Debt

Lecture 21 The Real “First Time Right” Formula

Lecture 22 Flawless Victory Checklist (Just a Tease)

Lecture 23 Your New Dev Mantra – Slower Before, Faster After

Section 5: Flawless Victory Checklists

Lecture 24 Flawless Victory – Why Checklists Matter

Lecture 25 The Input Flawless Victory List – Start Smart

Lecture 26 The Output Flawless Victory List – End Clean

Lecture 27 The Internal Flawless Victory List – Build Like a Pro

Lecture 28 From Memory to Mechanism – Automating the Flow

Lecture 29 Real Flawless Victory – Across the Whole Team

Section 6: Trackabunga – Ethical Activity Tracking

Lecture 30 Welcome to Trackabunga – Ethical Activity Tracking

Lecture 31 How Trackabunga Works

Lecture 32 The Real Reason We Track

Lecture 33 Best Practices That Build Trust

Lecture 34 Worst Practices That Destroy Motivation

Lecture 35 Trackabunga = Gemba for Remote Work

Section 7: Dev Docs, Playbooks & Other Spellbooks

Lecture 36 Why Do Dev Docs Suck?

Lecture 37 Docs Aren’t About Volume

Lecture 38 Types of Docs You Actually Need

Lecture 39 Async & Deep Work Superpower

Lecture 40 Ownership & Updates

Lecture 41 Docs Should Live Where Work Happens

Lecture 42 What Makes Great Dev Docs?

Section 8: SMART Goals & Performance Metrics That Don’t Demoralize

Lecture 43 Track Progress Without Crushing Spirits

Lecture 44 The Metric Trap: Why Most Systems Backfire

Lecture 45 Building SMART Goals That Aren’t Dumb

Lecture 46 Good Metrics vs Bad Theater

Lecture 47 Sharing Metrics Without Triggering Trauma

Lecture 48 Metrics as Mirrors, Not Microscopes

Section 9: Async Work & Daily Targets

Lecture 49 Why Async Work & Daily Targets Matter

Lecture 50 What Kills Daily Flow?

Lecture 51 The Perfect Daily Target Format

Lecture 52 Rolling Out Async Daily Updates

Lecture 53 Coaching with Daily Target Data

Lecture 54 Daily Feedback Beats Annual Reviews

Lecture 55 Putting It All Together – Your Async Flow

Section 10: Managers Are Coaches, Not Wizards

Lecture 56 You Don’t Need to Cast Spells — Just Ask Better Questions

Lecture 57 Why “Expert Managers Only” Is a Myth

Lecture 58 The Secret Weapon: Coaching Questions That Actually Work

Lecture 59 Coaching Without Code: How to Guide Without Jumping In

Lecture 60 From Master to Multiplier — Leading Without Doing

Section 11: Feedback & 1-on-1s That Actually Work

Lecture 61 The Human Interface – Turning Data into Real Conversations

Lecture 62 Why Daily 1-on-1s Beat Weekly Firefighting

Lecture 63 A Simple 1-on-1 Agenda That Just Works

Lecture 64 Start with Units, Not Individuals

Lecture 65 What to Bring into the Conversation

Lecture 66 Prep, Structure & Follow-Up for Coaching Sessions

Lecture 67 The Four Common Pitfalls That Break 1-on-1s

Lecture 68 Protect the Ritual

Section 12: Rankabunga – Measuring Developer Performance (Without Causing Mutiny)

Lecture 69 Welcome to Rankabunga

Lecture 70 Why Ranking Is a Double-Edged Sword

Lecture 71 What to Rank (and What to Ignore)

Lecture 72 From Signal to Story

Lecture 73 Ranking with Transparency & Care

Lecture 74 From Judgment to Empowerment

Lecture 75 Rankabunga in Practice

Lecture 76 Wrapping It All Together

Section 13: Thinkabunga – Proactive Problem Prevention

Lecture 77 Thinkabunga: Your Sixth Sense as a Manager

Lecture 78 The Triforce of Prevention

Lecture 79 What Proactive Looks Like in Real Life

Lecture 80 Thinkabunga Is Not Paranoia – It’s Pattern Recognition

Lecture 81 Build a Culture of Thinkabunga

Section 14: Root Cause Analysis – 5 Whys Without Losing Your Mind

Lecture 82 The 5 Whys (Without Losing Your Mind)

Lecture 83 What Is 5 Whys, Really?

Lecture 84 Common 5 Whys Pitfalls

Lecture 85 When to Use 5 Whys

Lecture 86 When 5 Whys Isn’t Enough — Switch Tools

Section 15: Consensus vs Command – When to Lead, When to Facilitate

Lecture 87 Consensus vs Command

Lecture 88 When Consensus Wins

Lecture 89 When Command Is Required

Lecture 90 The Facilitator-Then-Decider Model

Lecture 91 Use the Right Tool for the Moment

Section 16: Improvabunga – Continuous Process Improvement

Lecture 92 What Is Improvabunga?

Lecture 93 Foundations of Continuous Improvement

Lecture 94 How We Actually Do Improvabunga

Lecture 95 Leading the Improvabunga Culture

Lecture 96 When Do We Improvabunga?

Lecture 97 TL;DR – Make Improvabunga Real

Section 17: Maintenance vs Product Teams – Split the Work, Save the Flow

Lecture 98 Why Splitting Maintenance from Product Work Saves Teams

Lecture 99 What Counts as Maintenance? More Than You Think

Lecture 100 The Cost of Not Splitting Work

Lecture 101 How to Structure the Split

Lecture 102 Firefighter Rotation for Small Teams

Lecture 103 Making the Split Visible with Dashboards and Backlogs

Lecture 104 Respecting Maintenance as Real Work

Section 18: Continuous Flow & Elimination of Waste

Lecture 105 The Bottleneck Olympics

Lecture 106 Flow is Fragile

Lecture 107 The 7 Wastes (Lean, but Make It Software)

Lecture 108 Rituals That Keep Work Flowing

Lecture 109 Automate Away the Bottlenecks

Lecture 110 Your Team is a Factory (But Like… a Nice One)

Section 19: Always Be Interviewing – Developer Draft Mode

Lecture 111 Welcome to Developer Draft Mode

Lecture 112 Why Last-Minute Hiring Fails

Lecture 113 Building Your Developer Draft Board

Lecture 114 The Weekly Interview Habit

Lecture 115 How Your Team Benefits from Draft Mode

Section 20: Remote Work Mastery – Setup, Schedule & Sanity

Lecture 116 The Remote Triforce

Lecture 117 Setup Isn’t a Café Table

Lecture 118 Schedule Like It’s Your Job (Because It Is)

Lecture 119 Sanity Is a Team Sport (With Cameras On)

Lecture 120 Async Is the Backbone of Remote

Lecture 121 The New Normal Is Designed, Not Default

Section 21: Putting It All Together – Your Cowabunga Plan

Lecture 122 Weekly Schedule & Ongoing Practices

Engineering managers,Team leads,Anyone in a leadership position who is eager to optimize team performance and streamline remote workflows