This Is What Effective Engineering Management Looks Like

50 Insights Into How To Succeed In An Engineering Leadership Role

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Having been a Technical Lead for many years before transitioning to Engineering Manager and then Director, I am compiling this list as a reminder of all the skills and behaviours that I had to consistently develop and exhibit to help me achieve the jump, as well as the realisations I came to while in the role, with the hope that it encourages my readers too.

Having solid grounding in engineering fundamentals is a must, but there are a multitude of other skills necessary for being a successful Engineering Leader.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor is it sorted in any particular order, but it certainly draws a good picture of a manager’s skillset:

1. Becoming a manager is not a promotion but a totally different job, that in fact takes you further from your functional area of expertise.
2. Getting comfortable with being in back-to-back meetings, even if it feels like you do not accomplish much at the end of the day.
3. Accepting constant context switching and being interrupted, but also securing some thinking time during the day (or night).
4. Transitioning your mindset to becoming an enabler…