Hello from the other side: effective collaboration with backend engineers
summary
Starts with a concrete practice: write an RFC/proposal that states the goal, options considered, metrics and rollout plan, not vague ideas. Use an OpenAPI contract in a shared repo to generate client stubs and prevent silent API drift. Consider a backend-for-frontend layer to return UI-shaped payloads and drive feature toggles from the server. Run a cross-discipline testing party, publish nightly CI builds and simple install tools so everyone can exercise and break the feature before release.
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chapters (24)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:04Engineering collaboration evolution
- 3:10Siloed teams to cross-functional squads
- 6:00Intention and behavior in collaboration
- 7:25Balanced and T-shaped engineer
- 8:27Proposals and RFCs for collaboration
- 13:46API design with client needs
- 16:58Backend for frontend benefits
- 19:05Deep linking and URI usage
- 21:17Pairing sessions and skills
- 23:03Polished onboarding documentation
- 24:48Shared tools and CI pipelines
- 25:09Testing parties and shared ownership
- 26:57Feature flags and rollout strategies
- 31:31Version duplication for cleaner code
- 32:13Internal app distribution and testing
- 34:03Internal CLI tools for collaboration
- 35:29Breaking engineering barriers
- 36:10Q&A: Scaling RFC feedback
- 37:59Q&A: Backend for frontend
- 40:07Q&A: T-shaped skills balance
- 41:31Q&A: Sharing tools and dependencies
- 43:57Q&A: Open sourcing tools
- 44:39Q&A: API versioning
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