The secret of Meta’s most productive engineer

The most productive engineer I worked with at Meta joined the company as a staff engineer. This is already a relatively senior position, but within three years he was promoted twice, making him one of the most senior engineers in the entire company.

Interestingly enough, what made him so productive was also often a source of annoyance to many of his colleagues. Productivity comes from prioritizing, and that meant he often said no to ideas and opportunities he didn’t think were important.

He regularly turned down projects that did not align with his priorities. Every day he was focused on the top project that the organization had to deliver. He skipped status meetings, technology debt initiatives, and team bonding events. When he was in focus mode it was difficult to contact him.

Compared to his relentless focus, I realized that most of what I spent my time on didn’t really matter. I thought having a ten-item to-do list meant I was being productive. Ultimately, he accomplished much more than I did with a two-item list, even if it meant being a painful collaborator at times.

This is what the vast majority of engineers misunderstand about productivity. The biggest productivity hack is simply working on the right things.

Figure out what’s important and remove everything else from your day so you can move forward on it methodically. In many workplaces, this is surprisingly difficult, and your calendar is full of team lunches, maintenance requests, and leadership reviews. Audit your day and examine how you spend your time. As an engineer, if you spend most of your day emailing and coordinating between teams, you’re clearly not as productive as you could be.

My colleague was promoted so quickly because of his great performance. That output comes from reducing the number of priorities rather than expanding them. It is much better to fully deliver on the most important priority, rather than be pulled in all directions and then fail to deliver anything of value.

—Rahul

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