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I've worked in organizations that promoted engineers into management, rather than bringing in outside managers or managers without engineering backgrounds. For
by mwfunk 8y ago
I've worked in organizations that promoted engineers into management, rather than bringing in outside managers or managers without engineering backgrounds. For highly engineering-driven orgs this can make a lot of sense, and depending on how it's done and the people involved, it can produce great results.
However: when those managers hold on to their engineering responsibilities, their teams suffer for it. There's a negative stereotype among engineers that managers don't do anything anyway, so maybe the team just needs a designated engineer to play manager in order to go to meetings, approve days off, etc.- the bookkeeping parts of management, but not the managing parts of management. There's a perception that the other engineers on the team are super self sufficient, what do they need a manager for anyway?
Often these managers would be allowed to continue doing engineering as a motivator- they didn't really want to be managers in the first place, let's just let them keep doing their thing and throw some more money at them and everybody will be happy. But it really feels like an antipattern.
Working on different teams where managers didn't do any coding was a breath of fresh air. I didn't know what I was missing. Managers can do the most good by focusing on things that allow their engineers to be as focused on their work as possible, and as unblocked and undistracted as possible. It makes a huge difference. It doesn't matter how incredibly self-sufficient an engineer is...if they get stuck doing a bunch of extra non-engineering stuff because their manager doesn't manage, their work and happiness will suffer for it.
So, at least based on my own experiences, I've come to see teams where the manager still has engineering responsibilities on their own team as a red flag. Anecdotal and highly contextual to where I've worked, but that's been my experience.
- vanadium 8y agoI've talked with several companies in the past 6-8 months where this tenure-based model of elevating engineers to management positions has broken down quite a bit. What generally happens is, once in management, they end up on a track of being more business-facing and the breadth of their role continues to expand (while reducing hands-on code time) to the point where the organization has to relent and hire from the outside anyhow when the promoted manager finally admits they'd have rather remained hands-on. I try to identify engineers on my team with an interest and early aptitude for management early-on, and mentor in that direction while mentoring those who wish to remain hands-on in the other. I always need a right-hand person to handle the higher-order organizational aspects while I'm away, and likewise, I need a left-hand person to lead the day to day technical execution. So usually I'm not lacking for support while at the same time elevating them to the next level (and without needing to hire someone from the outside).
- wasted_intel 8y agoCan you provide specific examples of things that you found the most useful when you finally had a full-time/non-coding manager? Having somewhat recently transitioned into an engineering management role, I'm curious if there's anything (or situation) in particular you'd highlight.
- mwfunk 8y agoThis is all in the context of large tech companies, so YMMV. Things like, going to high level meetings so engineers don't have to, and making an effort to keep engineers from getting sucked in to too many meetings period (at least, ones where their presence isn't critical). Helping with bug management and task prioritization, minimizing engineers' multitasking to maximize productivity, and guiding the team towards long term goals. Engineers tend to be super focused on their immediate and short term tasks- what they're supposed to be doing right now. That can make it hard for a team to collectively maintain trajectories towards long term goals over the course of months and years. IMO a good manager will be the ultimate maintainer of the long term goals, and can helpfully keep everyone on track as they individually focus on shorter term stuff. Also, enabling their engineers' professional development. Many engineers really thrive when they're tasked with something that involves learning and using some technology that they don't know, but are curious and excited about. As much as possible, if it aligns with team goals of course, it's great if people get a steady trickle of these kinds of tasks. Only if they'd want them, of course. It feeds their curiosity and creativity, and helps the whole team keep their technical edge. But these things are unlikely to happen unless the manager picks up on the interest and potential, and explicitly tasks someone to do it. Finally, it might sound silly, but making a point to do pleasant team building stuff like bringing in bagels or donuts for everyone once in a while, or having the occasional team lunch at a cool restaurant (assuming there are cool places nearby). Also t-shirts. :) Quality t-shirts provide a surprising amount of bang for the buck in terms of goodwill, at least in large tech companies.
- wasted_intel 8y agoThese are great; thanks for the insight!