In March 2015, Edmond Lau published The Effective Engineer: How to Leverage Your Efforts In Software Engineering to Make a Disproportionate and Meaningful Impact.

In this new book he explains his personal story in how he has come to understand what makes an effective engineer, explaining the mindset and tools that an effective engineer uses to get 10x results without working 10x hours.

What makes an effective engineer?

I extracted these from the introduction to the book:

• Effective engineers produce results
• Effective engineers get things done efficiently
• Effective engineers focus on value and impact–they know how to chose which results to deliver

An effective engineer, therefore, is defined by the rate at which he or she produces value per unit of time worked

Edmond goes on to explain the concept of Leverage.

Leverage = Impact Produced / Time Invested

… leverage is the return on investment (ROI) for the effort that's put in. Effective engineers aren't the ones trying to get more things done by working more hours. They're the ones who get things done efficiently–and who focus their limited time on the tasks that produce the most value. … Leverage is critical because time is your most limited resource.

This book is full of gems, great tips on where to focus your energy to maximize your leverage within your organization, big or small. I know I will be referring back to this book time and time again.

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http://www.theeffectiveengineer.com/

In what ways are you maximizing your leverage?

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