Engineering management lessons (2014)

517 点作者 mzehrer将近 8 年前

20 条评论

biztos将近 8 年前

Having just spent a couple weeks on a pretty hard engineering problem, after having done more "architecture" stuff for quite a while, I would definitely add one thing to the Do's:* Protect your engineers' attention.As a manager you are the primary firewall between the world of distraction and the world of getting shit done. Most places these days have institutionalized some amount of distraction -- the various recurring "ceremonies" -- but anything beyond that, it's essential that the manager can protect the engineers from being distracted when they're working on hard problems.(I've been pretty lucky in this regard throughout my career, but now that part of my job is to live among the distractions it's really been driven home.)Also:> You’re the one who makes hiring and firing decisions. Everything that happens on your team is your responsibility.This is, to put it gently, not quite true in larger organizations.

评论 #14383857 未加载

评论 #14382038 未加载

评论 #14382146 未加载

theprop将近 8 年前

The single most important thing in engineering management is hiring only the best. The best have two key characteristics: strong technical skills primarily in aptitude but also in technical knowledge, and a great ego-less attitude. It's at least as important to test for ego than for technical skills.Most of our "engineering disasters" were related to lowering our bar for hiring. Some "engineering disasters", though, i should note were related to inexperienced product development - so if you're a first-time product leader, get an experienced mentor.

评论 #14383462 未加载

评论 #14383622 未加载

评论 #14383378 未加载

评论 #14384099 未加载

评论 #14385113 未加载

评论 #14383401 未加载

评论 #14383353 未加载

评论 #14384789 未加载

评论 #14386094 未加载

评论 #14383718 未加载

评论 #14383073 未加载

siliconc0w将近 8 年前

Managers should get good at RTS games. A lot of the same principles apply -* production vs process - you can spend resources on improving process(usually tooling) to improve production but this isn't always an easy knob to tune and can have diminishing returns. "Automate all the things" is how I know you don't know what you're talking about.* DOTs - damage over time can be brutal, question every meeting and email that hits your team. Similarly- Engineers need large blocks of time to find flow and be effective(aka void rays). That 15 minute 2pm weekly check-in may seem trivial but you're pretty much nuking an afternoon's worth of productivity.* macro vs micro - you generally need to spend time on both. Even Sr. engineers can benefit from occasional guidance because you should know more than them(see below). (knowledge != intelligence)* bottlenecks/'stage III' production - you can have too many resources on something.* Some resources are much better at certain tasks than others.* situational awareness - know the executive roadmap, your roadmap, your internal customer's roadmaps, know 'the theory of how engineers are working in your org' and the reality. Know every project in your code repository. Know about most other possibly relevant open source technologies. Mostly this is just a lot of listening and reading. Be Omniscient* 'strats/build-orders' - similar to the above, know how the industry/competitors solve the same problems your org has (but don't necessarily seek to copy them)That said, treating people like RTS units is also a good way be disliked and ultimately be ineffective so you have to do the whole empathetic human thing.

exelius将近 8 年前

It's pretty simple: engineers are professionals. Professionals make mistakes, but are most effective when allowed to own up to them without consequences and learn from them.In a good software team, a single developer's "big mistake" gets fixed by the whole team. I guarantee nobody on that entire team will make that same mistake; nor will they hold anything against the offending developer unless there's a pattern.But in short, empowerment is the most effective leadership style in this environment. It's not appropriate for all employees (specifically newer folks who need a bit more hand-holding at first) but for professional workers like engineers, it's really the only way to go -- especially if you have senior technical employees who have decades more experience than their manager.

alexchamberlain将近 8 年前

Strongly disagree that an engineering manager shouldn't code; that is the shortest way to lose the respect of the team. Don't get me wrong; you need not be the "best" or the expert in all areas, but you do need to stay on top of technical developments both within and outside your organisation.

评论 #14381468 未加载

评论 #14381597 未加载

评论 #14381616 未加载

评论 #14381769 未加载

评论 #14381636 未加载

评论 #14382356 未加载

评论 #14382411 未加载

评论 #14383014 未加载

评论 #14382309 未加载

评论 #14381774 未加载

评论 #14381442 未加载

jkovacs将近 8 年前

Question: It says at point 8:> Don't supervise the quality and volume of people’s work.And I agree with the argument following that sentence. On the other hand, 2 points above that it says:> Do enforce behavioral and performance standards. Fire bullies and underperformers.So how else do I recognize underperformers without taking note of quantity and quality of people's output? Surely I can't just take someone else's word for it (and by the point a peer complains about this it's probably too late already anyway?).

评论 #14381902 未加载

评论 #14381886 未加载

评论 #14383202 未加载

评论 #14381846 未加载

评论 #14381856 未加载

bmsleight_将近 8 年前

"Don’t make decisions unless you have to. Whenever possible, allow the team to explore ideas and make decisions on its own."Spot on, a good leader does not make all the decisions. It is counter-intuitive to popular culture, but this is stop on.I would go on to say minimising your decisions, also helps to spend more time on a key decision when it is really necessary.

评论 #14381622 未加载

joshuaswaney将近 8 年前

The emotional side of management goes so much deeper than what's covered by this list. Develop a vision and a strong sense of purpose in your engineers and they'll develop a mindset of building the future instead of maintaining the present. Foster a "we're all in this together" atmosphere and your engineers will develop a fanatical drive for success - either we all succeed or we all fail, it's not every man for himself.The deep emotional drive is also what causes startups to succeed where big companies fail, despite their massive resources.

kator将近 8 年前

I always say management is they easiest job because you only have four things to do, and I'm sure your team has more than that to do:1) Provide Air Cover2) Provide resources3) Provide direction4) Get the F* out of the wayDon't over think it. Empower your teams, trust them. They'll make mistakes just like you do. It's not how bad you F* Up it's how well you recover.Originality in mistakes is the best I can ask for. Let's learn, progress and do better together.I've been in tech for 35 years, if you think you've seen it all, you haven't and neither have I, so let's figure it out together and get some S*t done.

评论 #14383431 未加载

评论 #14383700 未加载

Bahamut将近 8 年前

I am learning a lot about engineering management through turmoil, and I think the most important lesson for me is to avoid doing too much.There are many things that can often use improving, especially at smaller companies. Process, architecture, deployment system, reduced meetings of team, optimizing the SLM software...it's easy to get overwhelmed, especially if you have a large team, or in my case, doing the job of a tech lead and engineering manager. It is a lot to swallow. Prioritizing the most important points on what is being tackled and communicating why is very important.

jasode将近 8 年前

This is a fine list and there's nothing too controversial that people would disagree with.That said, I only counted 6 items out of 44 that's specifically "engineering" related. (5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 15)The other 38 bullet points are universal lessons that also apply to non-engineering managers such as a director of a creative team in an ad agency, or project supervisor of a construction crew, or a showrunner in charge of scriptwriters for TV episodes, etc. Empower your team and make decisions when necessary, etc.

pacaro将近 8 年前

Did I miss something? I see nothing on this list that touches on mentoring or growing. I do see a line about firing underperformers. I've heard a metric that it costs between 2.5-5 time annual salary to replace someone. Sometimes an under performer is just in the wrong role, or on the wrong team; when this is the case they probably know it. Ask them!

AlexCoventry将近 8 年前

I read this recently and found it very insightful because whereas most software management essays seem to have an agenda of advertising the author as a great person to work with, this one seems like a pretty straightforward dump of lessons learned.

tempz将近 8 年前

Sadly, exactly 50% of engineers are below average, so hiring the best all the time is unsustainable. Thinking that you hired the best, however, is sustainable.The art of managing relies on the capability to get work done by all kinds of engineers. The talent is rarely universally allocated. Some very 'bright' ones will never properly finish the work. Some 'slow' engineers may have remarkable attention to details.

评论 #14384306 未加载

tootie将近 8 年前

I guess it varies by company, but my job is more about managing the team's exposure to outside forces. I work with product and client teams to make sure we're delivering the right solution and we're promising something achievable. That's at least half my job.

boltzmannbrain将近 8 年前

+ a meta-point: Learn these through experience, not in a classroom. Having managed engineers in industry and also gone through a masters program in engineering management, 90% of what makes me a decent manager/leader/coach today can be attributed to the former.

评论 #14382554 未加载

mratzloff将近 8 年前

"When you do X, it makes me feel Y."I saw this phrase several times in this article and the linked article on "non-violent communication," but I don't think it's a particularly productive phrase.Consider the possibility that no one can "make you" feel anything, and that you are ultimately responsible for your own emotional state. For example, you can't command me to feel happy or sad. My emotional response is something I'm a party to, in combination with my own unresolved fears and insecurities.Instead, I suggest phrasing it in the present tense: "When you do X, I feel Y." That is observational and avoids any accusation or blame, so you can focus on the core issue at hand.

kuharich将近 8 年前

Prior discussion: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406507" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406507</a>

guilt将近 8 年前

Big Companies have management who cash in at the expense of young exploitable engineers.Personally I'd like to see the top management get fired.

gcatalfamo将近 8 年前

Number 11: you are probably talking about authoritativeness and not authority