“Why is this important”?
Good senior engineers always ask “why” this feature, or function or even project is necessary.
Understanding “why” allows them to make decisions on “what” to do, “how” to do it and even how to take shortcuts to get there.
They also understand “why” target users would want these features in the first place.
Clear communication
Good senior engineers always strive to be good communicators.
They document everything, from code to the decision making process and agreements between people involved in a project.
This I find to be really useful because sometimes decisions happen in a 1-to-1 teams meeting without anyone knowing.
They also aim to be as precise, verbose and clear as possible.
Done must mean done.
Not 80% done, not 95% done, done must mean 100% done. If not, be honest and clear to your team and management about the state of the work.
No
They prevent management from making bad decisions by saying No to “bad” decisions.
Continuous improvement
They balance moving a project forward with the maintenance required for fix technical debt.
They create a flow of work where new features are mixed with fixing technical debt to avoid creation “tickets” for improvements, thus avoiding management from not prioritizing this kind of work.