Engineering
Intro to Eng Management
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Our introductory guide to engineering management provides a map of not only all of the standard people management skills involved in engineering management, but all of the engineering-specific management skills involved as well.
What You'll Learn
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Engineering management is a field that combines engineering and management principles to lead technical teams and projects. It involves understanding the technical aspects of engineering while also managing people, processes, and resources. Engineering managers need to have both technical and management skills to be successful in their roles.
Advice for a New ExecutiveLara wrote up the advice she received from Etsy's CTO / CEO, Chad Dickerson, on how to perform well as a VP of Engineering, which covers 9 sections: • Find/create a peer support group • Partner absurdly closely with product and make sure you understand priorities and the head of product understands tradeoffs • Focus on delivery of the roadmap and everything else will follow • Ask your executive peers regularly what you can do to make their jobs easier – particularly the CEO • Take a stand when you need to • Always have a story • Read widely – offline! – about management and Leadership • Realize the impact your mood and demeanor has on people • Develop the right relationship with members of your company’s board
This 90-Day Plan Turns Engineers into Remarkable ManagersThis guide is written for engineering managers, but can also be helpful for managers in other domains. It covers topics including managing your team, peers, and boss, and determining if managing people is right for you.
How to Understand Engineering Team Capabilities
From good to great: A capability framework for building exceptional product engineering teamsAfter individual engineer capability frameworks gained popularity for the purpose of leveling and Career Development, Juan Pablo realized that a capability framework could also be written at the team level. He defines what "capable" and "not capable" look like for 17 capabilities: • Navigating ambiguity • Setting goals • Asking For Help • Broadcasting state • Negotiating dependencies • Escalating appropriately • Managing team capacity • Onboarding team members • Understanding its users • Understanding its levers • Telling the team’s story • Defining operating agreements • Adopting an operational cadence • Anticipating problems • Responding to incidents • Improving its processes • Tackling increasing complexity
Engineering Management Mistakes to Avoid
Engineering management mistakes can be costly and impact project success. Common mistakes include micromanaging, not delegating tasks effectively, failing to communicate clearly, and not adapting to change. Engineering managers need to be aware of these mistakes and take steps to avoid them to ensure project success.
How to Fail as a New Engineering ManagerBrad covers 8 traps to avoid as a new engineering manager: 1. Keep coding. 2. Focusing only on the work, not the people. 3. Measuring your value by your output 4. Expecting without expressing 5. Leaving the team out of commitments 6. Mistaking directing for leading 7. Avoiding hard conversations 8. Stop learning your craft
Mistakes I’ve Made as an Engineering ManagerSarah covers 4 mistakes for new engineering managers: • Thinking people give feedback the way they want to receive it • Trying to do everything yourself as a manager • Communicating something (only) one time • You have to have everything together all the time
Engineering Management Anti-PatternsRod names and shares some anti-patterns learned from his own experience as an engineering manager: the cloner, the decider, the buddy, the asshole, the joker, the wolf-cryer and the shit umbrella.
Detangling the Manager: Supervisor, Team Lead, MentorSean describes three sub-roles of management and explains how they can have conflicting goals and incentives, making the manager's role very difficult. He then gives strategies for effectively balancing these conflicting incentives.
Engineering Management Books
There are many books available on engineering management that can provide valuable insights and guidance. Some popular books include "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries, "The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim, and "High Output Management" by Andrew Grove. Reading these books can help engineering managers develop their skills and become more effective leaders.
The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and ChangeCamille steps through increasing levels of management complexity, from how to be managed and what to expect from a manager, to senior Leadership.
An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering ManagementWill shares his view of engineering management as a series of elegant, rewarding, and important puzzles, and advice for how to solve them.
Become an Effective Software Engineering ManagerThis book provides very practical advice across skills including One On One Meetings, hiring, performance management & reviews, letting people go, contributing to team motivation, Project Management, and more.
Resilient ManagementLara covers: 1. Meet Your Team 2. Grow Your Teammates 3. Set Clear Expectations 4. Communicate Effectively 5. Build Resiliency
Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering ManagerMichael (also known as @rands) covers: • How to handle conflict • How to hire well • How to motivate employees • How to manage your boss • How to say no • How to handle stressed people freaking out • How to improve your social IQ • How to run a meeting well
Engineering Management Process Examples
How Engineering Management Works at GitLabThe Gitlab team shares a training resource and operational guide for current and future managers.
Transitioning from Individual Contributor
Moving from an individual contributor role to an engineering management role can be challenging. It requires a shift in mindset from focusing on individual tasks to managing a team and projects. Engineering managers need to learn how to delegate tasks, communicate effectively, and motivate their team members to achieve project goals.- This Is What Impactful Engineering Leadership Looks LikeJessica discusses what it means to support a team day-to-day and year-to-year, technical and management growth tracks, and the inflection point for a manager from focusing on coding to empowering others with trust and the right tools and processes.
Things I've learned transitioning from engineer to engineering managerGergely summarizes what worked well for him as he transitioned from Senior Engineer to engineering manager: the importance of mentors, understanding the new role's priorities, deciding on a time and task management strategy, goal-setting, and taking the time to learn, experiment and reflect.
What you give up when moving into engineering managementKarl outlines some key differences between IC and management contributions and provides suggestions for new managers to frame the way they think about their new role. • Why is the transition to management so hard? • What engineers give up by becoming managers • What if you don’t like the tradeoffs you made?