Team Handbook

👥 Roles & Expectations

💻

Software Engineer

You build the core products. You care about clean code, performance, and reliability.

Write maintainable, tested code
Architect scalable systems
Review code and share knowledge
Stack: React, Node.js, Python, Swift

🎨

Product Designer

You define how it looks and feels. You bridge the gap between user needs and engineering.

Create high-fidelity prototypes in Figma
Design design systems and UI components
Conduct user research and testing
Tools: Figma, CSS/Tailwind knowledge

🚀

Product & Ops

You ensure we ship the right things. You manage the roadmap and unblock the team.

Define product roadmap and specs
Manage GitHub issues and milestones
Coordinate releases and testing
Focus: Impact, Velocity, Users

🧰

Backend Maintenance

You keep our infrastructure healthy. You prevent breakage, fix incidents, and keep systems fast.

Maintain backend services and automation
Own deployments, caching, and reliability
Handle security patches and dependency updates
Stack: Python, Java, C++

🎯 Our Values

Ship It

Working software beats perfect plans. We bias toward action and iterate in public.

Quality Matters

Fast doesn't mean sloppy. We write tests, document our code, and fix bugs before features.

Team First

Help teammates before yourself. Review PRs quickly. Share knowledge freely.

Stay Curious

Try new tools. Read the docs. Ask why. The best engineers never stop learning.

📅 Weekly Cadence

Day	What Happens
Monday	Week planning. Set priorities for the week, assign tasks, sync on blockers.
Wednesday	Mid-week check-in (async). Quick status update in Discord — what's done, what's next.
Friday	Demo day. Show what you shipped. Code freeze for main branch after demos.
Daily	Async updates in Discord. Share progress, ask questions, help teammates.

🔍 Code Review Rules

All PRs require at least 1 approval
No exceptions. Even small fixes get reviewed.
No direct pushes to main
Branch protection is on. Use feature branches.
Review within 24 hours
Don't let PRs sit. Quick feedback keeps momentum.
Be constructive, not critical
Suggest improvements, don't just point out flaws. "What if we tried X?" > "This is wrong."
Tests must pass
If CI fails, the PR waits. Fix tests before requesting review.

✅ Quality Standards

README First

Every project starts with a README. If you can't explain it, you can't build it.

Test What Matters

100% coverage isn't the goal. Test critical paths, edge cases, and integration points.

Accessibility Required

Semantic HTML, keyboard navigation, screen reader support. Not optional.

If It's Not Tested, It's Broken

Assume untested code has bugs. Manual testing counts, but automated is better.

💬 Communication

Discord is home base
All async communication happens in Discord. Check it daily.
Over-communicate, don't under-communicate
When in doubt, share more context. "I'm blocked on X" is better than silence.
Respect async
Not everyone is online at the same time. Write clear messages that don't require immediate response.
Use threads
Keep conversations organized. Reply in threads, not in the main channel.

🛠 Tools We Use

GitHub Code, PRs, Issues

Discord Team chat, async updates

Figma Design, prototypes

VS Code / Cursor Primary editors

Vercel / GitHub Pages Deployment

Notion Docs, specs, notes

📚 Docs & Policies

Code of Conduct
How we treat people. Be kind, be constructive, be professional.
Contributing
How to propose changes, open PRs, and keep projects maintainable.
Security
Found a vulnerability? Report it privately through the form (no email exposed).
Release Notes
Monthly updates: what shipped, what broke, what’s next.