The Work of an Engineering Manager: How to Become the Manager Your Team Needs is a book that discusses practical methods for making a team function effectively as an engineering manager. It provides prescriptions for specific challenges faced by EMs, such as designing 1-on-1s, giving feedback, hiring, and shaping team culture. The book carefully explains points where managers from technical backgrounds often stumble (delegation, evaluation, relationships), making it a useful reference for both new and experienced EMs. In delegation, it is important to separate accountability from execution responsibility and to delegate execution responsibility. The performance evaluation of managers needs to be understood in a multifaceted way, considering team output, member satisfaction, retention rates, etc. It also describes that excellent managers often collaborate across the organization beyond their own teams.
Notes
- A carpenter's proverb: Measure twice, cut once. Communication should not happen when you want to, but when it is necessary.
- Delegation involves understanding accountability and execution responsibility. Delegate execution responsibility.
- Questions to understand manager performance:
- What characteristics do high-performing managers have? What behaviors do they exhibit?
- How do you measure the success of the team under a manager? Team output, satisfaction, retention, all of these?
- What do successful managers do in between their management tasks?
- How should managers within the organization collaborate? Do they only care about their own teams, or do they collaborate across roles and departments?
