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

Introducing team emergent states

In the past few decades, researchers have sought to shed light on some of the underlying factors contributing to team performance and outcomes. Marks, Mathieu, and Zaccaro (2001) introduced a taxonomy for describing teamwork and team processes that identifies team emergent states along the way. Their definition of team process can be summarized as interdependent acts to produce outcomes in taskwork and achieve collective goals. Team emergent states are distinguished from processes as dynamic and contextual states of being that are reflected in members’ beliefs and behaviors.

Further studies (DOI:10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012218-015106) have suggested that the primary factors that predict performance and outcomes for teams include the following:

  • Compositional features: Who is on the team—their skills, traits, and tenure
  • Structural features: How work is structured—tasks, interdependence, and virtuality
  • Leadership...