visibility and collaboration
Software engineering requires collaboration by nature.
Consider the classic split: one engineer builds the backend while another builds the frontend. They can work in parallel, but only if they know what each other is doing and they know what to do. The moment they don't, progress slows.
Two methods address this. Management-enforced process with agile techniques like daily standups and bureaucracy. Or software engineering culture born from the team itself. They serve different goals. Management wants visibility to control, monitor and "check in." Good software engineers want to get the work done and do it well. The latter is the foundation of good team culture.
How good teams coordinate
The best teams don't need daily standups or weekly syncs. They share what they're doing: clearly, continuously, asynchronously.
The mechanism is simple: write like someone else will need to understand and use what you're building. From day one.
Three practices that work
Start with pull requests on day one. Empty is fine. Commit small, often. Let CI run. Link the Jira ticket. Drop comments. Paste a failing test. Leave notes. Write what you're thinking, messy or not.
Create documents on day one. Name it. Share it. Call it a draft. Wrong is fine. Half-empty is fine. What matters is visibility.
Write continuously, not more. Clear. Honest. Readable. Collaboration is not about talking more. It's about making your work visible so others can move with you — or around you — without friction.
Collaboration
Good engineering culture succeeds when work is visible, not when meetings are frequent. Write like someone else depends on understanding what you're building — they do.