![~ Patty McCord + Reed Hastings
[YouTube clip]
We’re not a family,
we’re a pro-sports
team](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/engmanagers-231027140111-a82dd680/85/Hot-Take-Engineering-Managers-Aren-t-Useless-32-320.jpg)
Hot Take: Engineering Managers Aren't Useless!
- 1. Droidcon London -October 27, 2023 Hot Take: Engineering Managers are actually useful! Parth Padgaonkar jvmname@androiddev.social 🌐 jvmname.dev
- 2. According to the internet,EMs are useless 😬
- 3. Caveat/Disclaimers All management (and engmanagement in particular!) is ½ art + ½ science https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/does-evidence-support-the-artistic-vs- scienti fi c-mind-stereotype
- 4. Nobody can give youa 100% clear path to success https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/best-way-to-become-android-developer-a-complete-roadmap/#
- 5. Meeting notes Part I TheDuality of Eng Leadership Part II Things Nobody Told You (about being an Eng Manager) Part III: Q&A
- 6. The Duality ofEng Leadership Part I
- 7. External Leadership Part I— The Duality of Eng Leadership
- 8. Managing Up (andsideways!) = wants vs needs External Leadership
- 9. Managing Up —wants vs needs • What the team… • can do / wants to do / needs to do • Di ff ers for type of team: product vs platform • Need to de fi ne business impact for that team •
- 10. Managing Up —a list of people who need things • Manager / exec • Peers • The team
- 11. What the teamneeds the EM to do • Create a plan (aka a roadmap!), socialize it, and advocate for the team • Every team needs a narrative — why this plan is the right plan • Say “no”… just often enough
- 12. Bonus: BusinessImpact • Thingsthat aren’t business impact • story points, team size, crash rate (usually) • Understand your company’s path to • Mercury | Slack | Facebook | Dell • Business impact is the only thing that matters to exec https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articles/covid-19-secure-business-impact- analysis
- 13. Internal Leadership (aka CommunicatingDownward) Part 1.5 — The Duality of Eng Leadership
- 14. The West Wing- S5E8 “Shutdown” Internal Leadership
- 15. Internal Leadership • Context •Mentorship • Course-correcting
- 16. Internal Leadership Context • Engineerswant to understand things! • “Why does this matter?” • Visibility/transparency**
- 17. “good” transparency answers morequestions than it raises; “bad” transparency does the opposite
- 18. Internal Leadership • Context •Mentorship • Course-correcting
- 19. Internal Leadership Mentorship • Coaching •soft skills, perspective • Career development • leveling, promotion, compensation • Leveling up the team • junior ICs vs senior ICs
- 20. Internal Leadership • Context •Mentorship • Course-correcting
- 21. Internal Leadership Course-correcting • Givingfeedback is an obligation (+ growth!) • Manager Feedback doesn’t have to be an o ffi cial performance conversation — nuance is important! • …but sometimes it’s an O ffi cial Performance Conversation • Operate from a place of care ❤
- 22. Internal Leadership Hiring (bonussection!) Hiring managers are responsible for building and maintaining diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams. Non-contributing factors: “the pipeline”, “lowering the hiring bar”, the sun was in your eyes, etc.
- 23.
- 24. Things Nobody ToldYou (about being an EM) Part II
- 25. Things Nobody ToldYou • You always have a choice! • You’re not an engineer (anymore) • 3 quotes on being an engineering leader
- 26. You always have achoice https://medium.com/tuitech/we-built-a-dual-track-engineering-career-ladder-heres-why-cc41c72e30ed ＾ *should
- 28. You have achoice, cont. • Recognize leadership is a skill, just like writing code • “What got you here won’t get you there” ~Marshall Goldsmith
- 29. You ain’t anengineer anymore
- 30. “But I stillwant to write code!” Manager-Parth Engineer-Parth
- 31. 3 quotes onEng Leadership
- 32. ~ Patty McCord+ Reed Hastings [YouTube clip] We’re not a family, we’re a pro-sports team
- 33. ~ Kirk Kaiserparaphrasing Peter Drucker (“The E ff ective Executive”) A manager’s job is to prepare people to perform, and to give them tools and freedom to do so.”
- 34. ~ Brian, myformer manager Your job is to disappoint people
- 35. • Humans arehumans, not “resources” • External: • Needs vs wants • Business impact • Internal • ICs want to understand why their work is important • Feedback, coaching, mentorship • Becoming an EM • We’re lucky we have a split path; choice • We aren’t a family Recap
- 36. Q&A (And thank you!) StuffI Read • An Elegant Puzzle — Will Larsen • Engineering Management For the Rest of Us — Sarah Drasner • Jacobin — Book Review: Powerful (link) • MakeArtWithPython — Is Engineering Management Bullshit (link) • Reddit — Is Engineering Management Bullshit (link) • Stackover fl ow — What you give up when you move to eng management (link) • HBR — Your company is not a family (link) • LinkedIn — Do Engineering Managers Add Value (link) • Square Blog — Eng Manager Philosophies (link)