How Engineering Standards Help You Build More Perfect Software Faster

New Relic formalized its institutional knowledge and best practices as "New Relic Engineering Standards" to help teams build more perfect software faster. The standards are focused on using the languages, frameworks, libraries, platforms, tools, and techniques that New Relic has invested in successfully in its production system. By codifying these standards, teams can avoid accidental complexity and focus on delivering customer value. The standards process is open, allowing anyone to contribute and view the standards through a GitHub repository. Ron Crocker, a distinguished engineer at New Relic, emphasizes the importance of writing down reality, being judicious in demands on teams, giving non-architects a voice, communicating widely and often, getting an executive sponsor, and continuously updating and improving the standards to achieve benefits such as improved reliability, scalability, consistency, and quality.