HubSpot’s Engineering Team Uses 15Five Status Reporting Software for Clear Communication

HubSpot is the world’s leading inbound marketing and sales platform. 21,000 customers in more than 90 countries use HubSpot’s software, services, and support to transform the way they attract, engage, and delight customers. HubSpot’s innovative company culture has helped redefine transparency and autonomy in the modern workplace.

BENEFITS

• Maintain visibility and connection on large engineering teams
• Quickly identify obstacles that managers can help solve
• Critical information passed up the ladder directly & immediately

“Different teams use different approaches for check-ins. Those who don’t use standups lose the communication vehicle to gather information. We needed a solution to provide perspective on what’s going on, that would otherwise be missing.”

Eric Richard
VP Of Engineering, HubSpot

Knowing the pulse of your team

Eric Richard is VP of Engineering at HubSpot, where he oversees HubSpot’s Cambridge and Dublin development teams and the development of all of HubSpot’s products. Eric brings more than 20 years of experience in the tech industry as a founder, CTO and engineering leader.

The primary problem for an engineering manager is that it’s effectively a project management role. How does Eric ensure that he knows where all the trains are going and keep them on track? 15Five software helps Eric identify obstacles and issues, so that he can step in to create a solution.

“Engineering leadership receives a bird’s eye view of everything occurring and can address inconsistencies or potential conflicts that would otherwise remain unknown.”

Eric Richard
VP Of Engineering, HubSpot

Top-down visibility

Beyond status updates, Eric creates a channel between individual employees and managers, where they can speak freely in a non-group setting. He asks these 3 questions across the engineering organization:

• What goals did you accomplish this week?
• What are your goals for next week?
• What challenges are you facing?

A cadence forms where conversations happen between employees and managers, and information is passed up the chain. Eric reads 15Fives from 6 directors who each review about 10 tech leads, who in turn each review 2-3 people. The engineering organization is 200 strong, and 15Five gives visibility at every level.

The power of peer recognition

Once each week, with the High Five feature, every employee on Eric’s team is asked to consider if anything happened that’s worth calling out. That has tremendous value. In 15Five, employees are already contemplating their week, so High Fives are very conceptually aligned. Publicizing the High Fives by printing them out or via the public dashboard aids with morale as well.

“Responding to questions is a release valve for people to know they can be heard and to shrink the balloon of a large company.”

Eric Richard
VP Of Engineering, HubSpot

Scaling the engineering organization

A scaling company is like an expanding balloon. As it grows, every point on it gets further and further away from every other point. As you scale, particularly for the people at the top, you are getting more disconnected from others. This means that engineering leads don’t know what’s going on, can’t provide support, and the employees also feel that their managers are removed.

All of those failures have negative impacts. In a scaling organization, creating a close-knit fabric and communicating are the keys to making the balloon shrink. A 200-person organization then feels much smaller.