Author seems to lose the distinction between project managers and engineering managers. The tricky thing is that some engineering managers do perform project ma

Author seems to lose the distinction between project managers and engineering managers. The tricky thing is that some engineering managers do perform project management functions, but that will make for one overworked manager. In mainstream FAANG-type companies what you will see is: Project management - manage scheduling, deadlines, track progress, day-to-day or low-level interteam collaboration, resolve blocking issues. They'll usually use a bug tracking system and ensure that it's state reflects reality. They may also need to build out or modify various processes such as new releases or deployments, work with QA on a validation process, or when should code be considered good-to-merge into the repo. (Has there been code review done, CI testing, validation, etc). Engineering management - HR functions (promotion, performance management), assignment of tasks or larger projects, working with project management on realistic schedule, working with product / business on requirements, interfacing with other teams on high-level matters, strategic work related to the team, and most importantly work that no one ever wants to or has any time to do. (This includes technical work.) IMO you can have a small org without these two functions if everyone is a has extensive experience/willingness to managing themselves, but if it grows past that things will break very quickly. Modern large organizations deal with unfathomable levels of non-technical complexity.