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

Summary

In this chapter, you learned the foundations of engineering team design and how to adjust your team to suit your needs:

  • Engineering team design refers to how you structure your engineering team, its roles, and how those roles operate
  • The three primary engineering team structures are functionally aligned, product aligned, and matrixed:
    • Functionally aligned teams are built around a particular skill area with an engineering manager who is knowledgeable in that skill
    • Product aligned teams are organized according to product areas rather than functional skills
    • Matrixed teams incorporate both functional and product structures
  • Communities of practice help to maintain skill-based conventions and communication in product aligned organizations
  • Team characteristics to consider in team design include organizational tenure and personality traits:
    • Teams with a mix of different tenures help each other to learn about the organization and new approaches
    • Belbin’s personality...