Book Image

Engineering Manager's Handbook

By : Morgan Evans
Book Image

Engineering Manager's Handbook

By: Morgan Evans

Overview of this book

Delightful and customer-centric digital products have become an expectation in the world of business. Engineering managers are uniquely positioned to impact the success of these products and the software systems that power them. Skillful managers guide their teams and companies to develop functional and maintainable systems. This book helps you find your footing as an engineering manager, develop your leadership style, balance your time between engineering and managing, build successful engineering teams in different settings, and work within constraints without sacrificing technical standards or team empathy. You’ll learn practical techniques for establishing trust, developing beneficial habits, and creating a cohesive and high-performing engineering team. You’ll discover effective strategies to guide and contribute to your team’s efforts, facilitating productivity and collaboration. By the end of this book, you’ll have the tools and knowledge necessary to thrive as an engineering manager. Whether you’re just starting out in your role or seeking to enhance your leadership capabilities, this handbook will empower you to make a lasting impact and drive success in your organization.
Table of Contents (24 chapters)
1
Part 1: The Case for Engineering Management
5
Part 2: Engineering
9
Part 3: Managing
15
Part 4: Transitioning
19
Part 5: Long-Term Strategies

Building strong relationships

Relationship building is core to working cross-functionally. Strong relationships in your cross-functional network help you get more done because you have trust, buy-in, and support from your partners. These things do not happen magically over time; they are the result of effort, attention, and investment in relationships.

Sometimes we may think relationships aren’t as important as being good at our functional jobs and conducting ourselves fairly. After all, we’re here to do work, not make friends, right? It is true that great work is the ultimate goal, but when we fail to invest in relationships, we miss opportunities to do our best work. This is because we are human and we cannot avoid our own social and psychological underpinnings. If we don’t take the time to connect and understand each other better, we don’t feel as comfortable or trusting, and we are less likely to take risks and share our true opinions. We make safer...