What makes a good engineering culture?

My ten commandments of efficient coding: http://sent2null.blogspot.com/2011/10/10-commandments-of-efficient-coding.html

We assess our engineers with several different measures. They're more or less the following: skills, aptitude, attitude and interest. Skills represent the knowledge that you have to accomplish various tasks successfuly. Aptitude includes not only an engineer's ability to acquire new skills but also the self-knowledge required to recognize when and where acquiring new skills would be valuable -- in other words, knowing what you don't know. Attitude are the kind of worker traits that lend themselves to a smoothly operating office: getting along with coworkers, being helpful, showing up on time, not complaining, et cetera. Finally, interest is the degree to which an engineer enjoys engineering.   Of these four attributes, aptitude, for us, is the one thing we specifically hire for because it's hard to control the other three. Thus, for us, building a good engineering culture has been about creating an environment that maximizes the remaining three attributes. To enhance skills, encourage engineers to help each other and to put the team benefit above personal gain, accommodate multiple modes of learning, and allow enough free time for engineers to "play."   Improving attitudes is more of an art, as it's very personality-dependent. Again, for us, while we don't blindly subscribe to the typical tech company "work hard play hard" mantra, we do like having an office where people can find comforts and where there's a loose playfulness that makes work a place you want to be. On the other hand, if there is a mantra that we repeat here, it's: own it. There's also a strong sense of team commitment here, because we make it clear that everyone needs to proactively take on responsibilities; otherwise, you're letting down your coworkers. It's a tough balance to maintain and it gets more complex with each new personality brought into the mix, but maintaining a fun atmosphere that's concurrently accountable and hard-working is certainly something worth investing effort into.   Finally, keeping people interested in technology is a matter of listening to your employees and finding ways to connect their personal interests to skills and knowledge that may directly or indirectly affect their work. Some engineers are easy: they'll play with any piece of technology plopped in front of them because tinkering is fun. For instance, we have engineers who just play around with digital circuits in their spare time. Knowing this, we come up with ways for them to work that into their responsibilities as a side task. For others, sometimes it's a matter of identifying something they like to do that requires technology. Some of our engineers play video games -- so we've had them building PC gaming computers to use in a lounge.   Managing creative types -- and engineers, in many ways, fit that description perfectly -- really is a matter of building interpersonal connections, listening to your people, and encouraging them in every way possible

Get the HELL away from the cult of personality.  Right now in North American culture leadership = good presentations (the loudest person is a good leader).  To be able to hold forth with conviction and certainty no matter what the situation.  At one point "group think" used to be a dirty word and now most companies want to replicate social cooperation in the real world.  It does not necessarily translate. If you spend most of your time in a group working together, you're not sitting outside under the apple tree waiting for the apple to fall on your head. Go read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352145/ref=la_B004XVMVYK_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337718791&sr=1-1

My company's engineering team has grown from 5 to 35+ people over the last 18 months. Read http://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/the-8-engineering-principles-of-smartrecruiters/.

#1 people at the top understand technology or passionate about it #2 they value the team/people more than anything else #3 enough freedom flexibility to engineers/team to let them run #4 provide the best tools to make engineers as productive as they can be, they are the asset. #5 engineers participate in business meetings and have a say/opinion #6 location, time flexibility. #7 hire the best, dont lower your bar period. this is not exhaustive list but at-least some of the important things I look for !!

Hire people smarter than you, be sure they tie into your vision and passion, let them run with it, give them responsible timelines to accomplish magic. In the meantime, don't lose your control.

We went in a bit of a different direction and looked for #AdventureEngineers - So far it has been working with unique, talented engineers coming our way that are interested in our offering.

Everything Edmond Lau said, what a wonderful answer. I would add that raw iteration speed can be complemented with lazy evaluation (eg Haskell, though it can be done in other tools too). Blinding execution speed is less important when great swaths of 'busywork' can be avoided by a savvy language (or culture).

As a consultant in Silicon Valley, I often hear phrases from candidates on why they are looking for new opportunities: "I am not learning anything new", "I have reached the ceiling in this position and cannot continue to grow", "I do not get along with my boss", "Management is out of touch with engineering", etc. Here are some engineering culture aspects that my current company put some forethought into: -Out of 150 employees, 80 are engineers.  Considered engineering centric, engineers hold high importance in the company.  -Engineers are humble and encouraged to leave egos at the door.  From junior to senior, everyone is encouraged to collaborate, help and teach each other something new. -Matrix Management style.  Engineers report to a specific engineering manager for project deliverables and another engineering manager as their personnel manager.  This person is responsible for meeting with them on a quarterly basis to make sure the engineer is content, learning new technologies and working on the projects he/she wants to be on.  Managers are held accountable if this is not met.  (most engineers have stayed with the company for 3+, 5+ and as long as 7+ years) -Engineers are hired not on number of years with a specific skillset or degree, but at the "potential" they bring to the org.  Company screens on general technical, problem solving, role related, culture, and leadership. -Every engineering candidate is screened for leadership potential regardless if a leadership role or not.  Company likes to hire and promote leaders within and screens for that potential up front. -Company are early pioneers in "Continuous Deployment".  Engineers push code 50-60 times a day into real time. -Company has no politics.  Company has a "no ******* hiring policy".  Ego, arrogant or potential troublemaker candidates and leaders need not apply. -All employees are told on their first day;  "Name....We want you to fail. We want you to make mistakes here, and learn from those.  Not to make the same mistake twice, but we want you to feel like you can take chances, take risks and be creative.  We celebrate failure as a unique learning opportunity" -Company execs recognize engineering individuals in front of entire company during bi-monthly all hands meetings, relating to specific project work contributions or doing something awesome to help company drive business. -Flexible work hours and work from home policies.    Company has been profitable quarter after quarter.  I don't remember the last time we did an exit interview.  Client has just received award for "Best Places to Work"....going on 4 years in a row.