The Engineering Manager’s Areas of Responsibility by Francisco Trindade Jul, 2024 Level Up Coding

The Engineering Manager’s Areas of Responsibility | by Francisco Trindade | Jul, 2024 | Level Up Coding #

Excerpt #

In previous posts in this series, we discussed how an Engineering Manager (EM) could define their goals and what tools they have to steer their team. While that information is helpful, an important…

What exactly do they have to do? #

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This post is part of a series on Engineering Management Basics.

In previous posts in this series, we discussed how an Engineering Manager (EM) could define their goals and what tools they have to steer their team.

While that information is helpful, an important question is missing. Where do they apply these tools? In other words, what are the areas where EM should focus?

In other roles, this might be a simple question. However, it is easy to get lost when it comes to managing a software team. Between reviewing code and technical documents, coaching their direct reports, thinking about the team’s long-term vision, and many other responsibilities, an EM has a plate full of options for where to spend their time.

To add to the complexity, while an Engineering Manager manages, somewhat obviously, engineering, they are also one of the leaders of a cross-functional team involving product management, design, and other disciplines. In that sense, the EM has to focus on the engineering aspects of the team and collaborate effectively with their peers in managing the broader team effort.

Product, Engineering, and People #

In Systems Leadership, the authors present the idea that for any team to be successful in the long term, three areas need to work well: Technical, Social, and Commercial. In simple terms, the team needs to be competent in its technical activity, provide an environment where people enjoy working, and provide a commercially successful service.

That is similar for software teams. They need to succeed in:

• Product: The team needs to deliver features or a product that are well adopted and overall successful in the market.
• Engineering: The team needs to deliver software that is fit for purpose, of the necessary quality, and at a sustainable pace.
• People: For a team to succeed in the long term, people need to be fulfilled and growing in their careers.

In this context, it is useful for an EM to understand the nuance of responsibility in the areas above. To clarify, we will use the terms responsible and accountable, as defined by a RACI model.

The Engineering Manager is accountable for Engineering. In that sense, they are the owner of everything that happens within the engineering practice. They are also accountable for their reports, the engineers, ensuring they succeed within the team.

Apart from that, while companies have different perspectives on team leadership, Engineering Managers are (at least) responsible for the success of the broader team. What that means in practice is that EMs should focus on cross-functional collaboration with their peers, feel responsible for all areas, and ensure they are involved and aligned in broader decisions.

Ultimately, if a team succeeds, it’s very likely the EM is succeeding. If a team is struggling, well, then it’s quite likely the EM is not thriving.

How do you do this in practice? That’s the topic of the next posts.

If you have found this content interesting, this post is part of a series on Engineering Management Basics. More broadly, I write about leading effective software engineering teams. Follow me if you are interested in the area.