To balance strategy with execution on his team, Engineering Manager Parth Patel relies on one simple philosophy: “If we can’t explain why we’re working on something, we’re probably working on the wrong thing.”
“My job is to make sure we’re building things that actually matter to the business and that every engineer understands why,” Patel said.
At Findigs, Inc., a rental screening and decisioning platform provider, Patel keeps teams aligned with this approach, which enables them to focus on their company’s North Star: the reliability of its property management system integrations. He shared that when these integrations are successful, they lead to less friction for clients, a lighter load for his team and greater bandwidth to onboard more customers.
“Every bit of reliability we win back is time we get to spend proactively tackling new challenges instead of reacting to the last thing that broke,” Patel said.
For Patel, a simple approach is key to achieving progress while maintaining alignment. It’s the same for Chris Hladczuk, who serves as CEO at Hanover Park, which offers an AI-native fund administration platform.
According to Hladczuk, his team members are focused on “building a customer base of ‘raving fans,’” which he believes is the key to success. And to achieve this, he’s relying on a straightforward yet effective leadership practice: clear, consistent communication.
Below, Patel and Hladczuk each share more about their company’s goals, the metrics they lean on to measure progress and the practices they use to keep teams aligned.
Findigs, Inc.’s rental screening and decisioning platform is designed to help property managers grow their communities safely and simplify the rental process.
What’s your North Star right now — and why does it matter?
Our North Star is the reliability of our property management system integrations. My team builds the connections between our platform and the systems our clients already use to ensure their data lives in one place, in the tools they work in every day, and the integration stability is a big part of what they’re expecting.
When it comes to integrations, a higher success rate means less friction for clients and a lighter load for my team and the teams that depend on us. It also frees up bandwidth to onboard more customers and start integrating with new partners to keep the business growing. Every bit of reliability we win back is time we get to spend proactively tackling new challenges instead of reacting to the last thing that broke.
What metric shows progress?
Our key metric is the integration success rate itself, which over the last six months went from 93 percent to 99 percent.
A year ago, we had no real way to measure this. Someone would report an issue, we’d fix it and then move to the next one. We couldn’t step back and spot systemic problems or see our success rate across the board. When I moved into the engineering manager role, that was the first thing I wanted to fix because you can’t hit a goal you can’t measure, and you can’t solve a systemic issue you can’t see.
We built the visibility first, and now we have short-term health dashboards for day-to-day monitoring, plus long-term success rate dashboards that track where we are and catch big issues before they blow up. We can break things down by partner and by operation, and we can monitor and alert on a per client basis so we can dig in and find the specific issues hurting us most.
Which recurring leader behavior keeps teams aligned week to week?
The habit my team relies on most is operational alignment. We take a top-level company goal and break it all the way down into problems small enough that any engineer can grab one and fix it and then connect it back up so everyone can see how their piece adds to the bigger picture. Seeing the impact of their work on the business as a whole is what keeps my team motivated and keeps us honest about whether we’re working on the right things.
“We take a top-level company goal and break it all the way down into problems small enough that any engineer can grab one and fix it and then connect it back up so everyone can see how their piece adds to the bigger picture.”
I tell my team all the time: If we can’t explain why we’re working on something, we’re probably working on the wrong thing. My job is to make sure we’re building things that actually matter to the business and that every engineer understands why. Whether it’s a team meeting, sprint planning or a one-on-one, I keep coming back to that question. Knowing what to build is one thing, but knowing why you’re building it is what ultimately keeps a team aligned.
Hanover Park offers an AI-native platform that unifies fund administration, portfolio intelligence, portfolio monitoring and Limited Partner experience.
What’s your North Star right now — and why does it matter?
Building a customer base of “raving fans.” Raving fans will deliver everything we want at the company.
“Raving fans will deliver everything we want at the company.”
What metric shows progress?
Number of referrals from customers.
Which recurring leader behavior keeps teams aligned week to week?
Bi-weekly all-hands with the full team with maximum transparency.
