Building an Outstanding Engineer Team: Insights from Xiaohongshu's Technical Leader

On the eve of Programmer's Day (1024), Feng Di, the community technology leader of Xiaohongshu, was invited to speak at the China Computer Federation's "Second 1024 China Engineer Culture Day". He shared his thoughts on what constitutes an excellent engineering team and how to cultivate a strong engineer culture.

Feng identified three core cultural traits that an outstanding engineering team should possess:

Passion : enthusiasm for life, technology, teammates, and goals.

Freedom : information equality, peer review, and avoiding being slaves to rigid processes.

Efficiency : simplifying work through proper abstraction and high‑quality delivery, not merely cutting corners.

He emphasized that technology is the backbone of internet companies, regardless of whether the growth driver is business, product, or technology. In high‑growth firms, engineers often make up half or more of the workforce, underscoring their strategic importance.

The talk addressed several common challenges:

Infinite demand : In fast‑moving internet environments, product demands constantly queue, requiring prioritization and trade‑offs.

Team scaling : As teams grow, the number of people actually doing hands‑on work can shrink, leading to excessive process overhead and information bottlenecks.

Skill fragmentation : Over‑specialization (e.g., front‑end vs. back‑end, Vue vs. React) can hinder flexibility; a "T‑shaped" skill set is encouraged.

He also discussed the tension between product and technology, noting that while product demands often outpace engineering capacity, engineers must protect their core responsibilities and provide realistic technical assessments.

Regarding emerging roles, Feng compared algorithm engineers to traditional engineers, stressing that algorithm/AI work should be balanced with solid system engineering, as algorithmic gains can plateau after a few years.

On testing, he highlighted industry ratios (e.g., 1:3 to 1:5 test‑to‑dev) and pointed out that leading companies have moved toward automated testing pipelines, reducing manual test burdens.

Finally, Feng outlined practical steps to build engineer culture: leaders should be owners, decisions driven by data, meaningful overtime only when necessary, and fostering an environment where engineers can "do themselves‑2"—taking on responsibilities beyond their immediate tasks.

He concluded by encouraging all technical leads to strive for a team that solves real problems together, builds useful tools, and continuously improves efficiency.