Inspired by What Engineering Managers Should Do (and Why We Don’t) • Lena Reinhard • GOTO 2019
How to shape the engineering culture is always been a fascinating topic to me. We can find the optimal and stable solution for technical challenges with given resources and constraints. It will perform consistently as long as the constraints are unchanged. In contrast, there is no such solution for management, because everyone is unique so do every team. Humans have desires and emotions, which makes us outstanding but also unstable in comparison to machines.
Lately, I have taken on a new role, which allows me to shape our engineering culture to a broader audience, but it also brings new challenges at a different scale. Therefore, I am researching how to be a good engineering manager. Lena's talk is particularly insightful and practical. As an engineer, it matches what I would expect from the management, and I wonder how much potential will be unlocked in her team.
The following is a list of notes that I want to keep reminding myself when I have doubts, and I hope it will also help you to rethink leadership in the line of creative business.
Challenges in Engineering Management
- What makes a good engineer?
- How does career growth for engineers work?
- What does the role of an engineering manager entail?
technology, product and process decisions
- What’s the impact of engineering manager roles on the managers?
- What’s the impact of engineering manager roles on engineers?
The main reason why developers left the company
- 12% Manager
- 28% Leadership
- 52% Development opportunity
Organizations often struggle with what makes a good engineer and how to grow them and to make sure their engineering managers support them well.
💡 We need to understand the people we are working with and to build an environment that they can thrive.
A Human-centric approach to engineering management
Focus on People’s need
Supporting engineers, teams, and organizations. Each of those has its different needs and it needs to be addressed in different ways.
The engineering manager is service and support role. We work on intersections of different areas.
What do humans need to thrive at work?
A framework for core needs by Paloma Medina
💪 BICEPS
- Belonging - Be part of the community. Understand and support each other.
- Improvement - Continues to learn new things.
- Choice - Be able to make decisions.
- Equality - Access to information to resource.allocation. Be treated equally important for the needs. Get fair opportunities
- Predictability - Look for certainty, safety, and stability.
- Significance - Seek meaning, importance, and status (in the hierarchy). Be appreciated for work by people whose opinion means something to us.
Failing to address core needs comes with height costs for organizations.
💡 We have to balance out the core needs for each individual. Since not everything matters to everyone equally, we need to find the answer of "What motivates you?".
How can we support engineers effectively?
- Get to know engineers and what motivates them
Ask open questions
- Make sure they feel understood and heard ( Inclusion and belonging )
- Get curious about different perspectives of how engineers perceive
- Connect everyone to the bigger picture ( Significance )
- Involve engineers in decision making ( Choice )
- Seek for feedback regularly ( Predictability )
- Invest engineers in growth
- Encourage coaching and sponsorship
Think back to when someone who was invested in your success, put your name forward and advocated for you. Be that person for someone else.
What makes teams high-performing?
Connecting individuals
- Psychological safety ➡️ #Belonging #Improvement #Choice #Equality #Predictability #Significance
- Dependability ➡️ #Improvement #Predictability
- Structure and Clarity ➡️ #Belonging #Improvement #Choice #Predictability #Equality
- Meaning ➡️ #Significance
- Impact ➡️ #Improvement #Significance
What can we do as managers to foster all of these aspects on teams?
Helping everyone do their best work by building structures, connecting, and filling gaps where needed.
People come first, then teams. Leave us at the last.
Build structure and improve the process so that individuals can
- Build relationships
- Collaborate
- Remove blockers
- Look for extra support
- Improve and learn continuously
The way we discuss failures on our teams will shape the culture that we have, and it will determine whether team members feel safe or threatened.
Nurturing alignments and involvement
- Communicate openly and transparently to help the team focus. *Finding a balance between predictability and choice.
- Set goals and expectations. *OKR is a tool for communication, not for measurement.
How can we support the organization?
Drive positive change
- Advocating for change
- Managing up - Making sure the concerns that engineers and our teams have been heard at the higher level and that we use our power to make sure that our engineers have a voice in the rest of the organization
- Building frameworks and standards for long-term value with engineers
Stay aligned and connected
Staying aligned and Balancing needs consistently.
What kind of leader do I want to be?
- Create an environment in which people can thrive.
- Lead with humbleness, empathy, and lots of curiosity.
- Handle ambiguity with integrity.
- Be open for challenges and take take failures gratefully
Thanks for reading. Do you feel resonated? What kind of leader do you want to be? Please leave the comments below. 🙏