Adapted for Software Engineers

Rarely are software engineers working in the same room at the same time. Often, software engineering teams are distributed, working in different states, timezones, and even continents. When pairing on a project, different timezones becomes a silent contributor to the workflow. An engineer logging on in Belarus at 9am, is outpacing their pairing partner in San Francisco where it is only 10pm the night before. There is an approximate 11 hour difference between their work days.

The Origins

The Change of Shift report is adapted from the medical field. EMS teams use the EEESS mnemonic during patient handoff. Patient handoff has been identified as a frequent failure point in medical care by virtually every health agency. It is considered the most dangerous part of a patient’s journey. To mitigate this, hospital staff use EEESS to imbue the handoff with added safety.