Chapter 10. The Moments

A small number of recurring moments decide how your work is perceived. Each one has a HERON pattern you can prepare in advance.

Engineers keep writing some version of the same sentence: "My writing gets good feedback, but I can't speak with conviction in technical discussions." Written work gives you time to structure. Live moments don't. This chapter turns the five moves into templates for the moments that matter most. Templates are applied guidance C built on the graded principles in Chapters 3–8. (In the online edition, each moment has its own page.)

1. The standup update

2. Objecting in a design review

3. Explaining a tradeoff to non-engineers

4. The incident update

5. Thinking aloud in a coding interview

6. The behavioral story

7. The promotion conversation in a 1:1

8. Decoding "improve your communication"