Brainstorming Strategies for Cultivating Successful and Collaborative RSE Teams

Introduction

Research software engineering groups face unique challenges in functioning effectively and smoothly together. Technical skills and development, project management, and collaboration methods both within the group and also with researchers and domain experts all need to be taken into consideration. RSEs often have diverse backgrounds and skill sets with regard to these various aspects of the profession, and it can be a challenge to balance these competing concerns. How do RSE groups address these challenges to work well together as productive, collaborative, and satisfied teams?

We held a "Birds of a Feather" (BoF) session at US-RSE'24 as an opportunity for anyone involved with RSE work as part of a group to come together and share experiences and ideas that have helped their teams work well together better, and also lessons learned about what has not been effective for teamwork. We solicited ideas for discussion via a poster board in a common area of the conference posing the question, "What is the biggest challenge facing your RSE team?" Attendees used sticky notes to respond, and on the morning of our session we grouped these challenges into five overarching topics:

• Project management and resource allocation
• Group management
• Funding
• Career paths
• Job isolation

During the BoF session, participants broke into small groups based on which topic they'd like to discuss. Two discussion sessions took place, with each lasting about 30 minutes, and each group took notes on their discussion. This document is a summary of the challenges and potential solutions identified during these discussions.

Project Management

Challenges	Solutions
Increasing or changing project expectations by PI	Work with the PI to develop and document an agreed-upon list of project requirements before starting any development work on the project. When new requests or expectations arise, have a conversation with the PI about how this may change the project timeline and cost (if applicable).
Getting PI input/expertise, especially with regards to prioritizing tasks	Do scrum or use a project board if time is limited. Integrate multiple tools if needed. Have regular check-ins with PI and use project management tools with which they are comfortable.
Choosing project management tools	Use whatever is closest to the project, and train people in those tools. Additionally, limit the PM tools within an organization to reduce complexity managing multiple projects. Integrate tracking tools, when possible (e.g. JIRA-GitHub, JIRA-Slack).
Keeping project files organized	Have a monthly file organization party 🎉 with RSEs and PIs/scientists.
Inefficiency of context switching when working on multiple projects	Dedicate time to projects by chunks or days to minimize task switching, especially prioritizing no-meeting days.
Multiple RSEs sharing tasks on the same project	Communicate using a group chat or on a version control system.
Determining when a project is done	Define Milestones and have regular releases.
Need for RSEs to be self-managed	Recommend tools or techniques to help tracking progress and schedules (GitHub Projects, Trello boards, calendar scheduling techniques, etc.)

Group Management (General)

Challenges	Solutions
RSEs feeling isolated and not supported	Hold 1:1s with RSEs (relationship deposit),act on what you're hearing from the RSE - show you intend to help based on their needs, tailor management approach to individuals, shield the RSEs from unnecessary burdens, understand the pain points and help to improve them.
Especially in remote or hybrid groups, RSEs don't feel part of a cohesive team	Group management means building a compelling vision. Collaboratively discuss and define as a group the questions of who we are and where we are going.
Unproductive collaborations between RSEs and PIs	Make your process transparent, and PIs will appreciate it.

Group Management (Hybrid/Remote Work)

Challenges	Solutions
Keeping RSEs with departments they work with	Colocate in those departments, if possible, which may require doing some in-person work. Join department get-togethers or events when possible.
Losing people to industry jobs, or having a hard time hiring because of expensive housing costs in institution location	Be willing to hire remote or hybrid employees.
Institution limits remote / hybrid working	Collect data on efficiency and productivity in remote vs in-person, such as number of projects completed and amount of code.
Building community among remote teams	Regular (and useful) team meetings, in-person retreats with community building activities, camera-on requirement / culture, having dedicated space for casual conversations about non-work topics (e.g., regular coffee/tea hour).

Funding

Challenges

Solutions

Institutions/PIs don’t always see the benefits of investing in RSEs

Publish and share benefits of RSEs:Highlight long-term benefits, illustrate how an RSE can take a user need and convert it to a solution, emphasize the retention of institutional knowledge with RSEs, introduce RSEs to new staff/researchers during new hire fairs or events.US-RSE can be a great resource to find reports or talking points on these benefits, either on the website or by asking on our general Slack.

Career Paths

Challenges	Solutions
Lack of career paths	Work with your institution's HR to build career paths. This can require substantial resources; collaborating with others in the RSE community who have already gone through this process can be very helpful.
Enabling RSEs to grow in their career	Create an individual contributor track to allow promotions for those who don't desire to go into management.
Difficult to get grants due to institutional limits on who can apply	Hire someone who is allowed to write grants, or identify and build a relationship with someone in your institution who can do this. Libraries or other technical centers on campus can be a good resource for this.
Most grants focused on scientific outcomes as opposed to software	Find solicitations that do, and push on funding orgs to do more.
Institutions undervalue RSEs	Build stronger communities with louder voices; compare to other valued research support units like libraries.
RSEs feel the only way to progress in career is to move into management	Have a formal system and paths for advancement, including checklists for what each level requires.
Retaining RSEs	Pay appropriately and give appropriate job titles. Give a path for promotions.
Job descriptions are often vague	Write clear definitions of job activities and responsibilities, and review job postings and descriptions across the broader RSE community to ensure your job title and description match community standards.
Professional development can be difficult	Peer programming and code reviews are great ways for everyone in the group to learn from each other.
Institutions make it difficult for RSEs to move up in positions and pay	Have clear definitions for jobs and track where individuals are at, especially if they’re doing work above their official job duties.

Job Isolation

Challenges	Solutions
RSEs isolated in various labs / departments	Create centralized RSE group(s), either formally or informally. Use US-RSE resources such as Slack, Community Calls, and Working Groups to connect with other RSEs.

Next Steps

Our hope is that by sharing some common challenges and potential solutions, RSEs will be able to take some of these ideas back to their own teams, follow up with the community via Slack or future conversations on how these ideas worked, and build our collective knowledge base of tools and practices for cultivating successful RSE teams.

We recognize that many of these solutions, such as "Create an individual contributor track" and "Pay appropriately and give appropriate job titles" require substantial resources. They often haven't been carried out yet by groups or institutions because people lack the time, funds, or administrative support to do so. Many of these major solutions need to be supplemented by more tractable and immediately implementable actions. If you have suggestions or ideas, please share on the US-RSE Slack!

Contributors

Thank you to everyone who participated in our session and contributed to this document!

BoF Facilitators:

• Kristina Riemer
• Abbey Roelofs

BoF Participants:

• Ian Cosden
• Rosa Diaz
• Patrick Diehl
• Gregory Lemieux
• David Luet
• Daniel Madren
• Kevin Murray
• Adam Rubens
• Maria Guadalupe Barrios Sazos