DevTalks 2024 | Decoding the Engineering Manager Role

Ever wonder what it takes to be a successful engineering manager? This talk decodes the role, exploring how to bridge the gap between product vision, technical leadership, and people management. We will delve into practical frameworks like user story mapping, RICE, RACI, along with real-life examples that showcase how engineering managers translate product vision into action and empower their teams to build robust systems. I will also provide valuable resources to fuel your journey as a product-savvy tech leader. This session is ideal for anyone interested in unlocking the secrets of this multifaceted role.

Transcript

1. Decoding the EM Role Magda Miu | @magdamiu Sr. Engineering Manager @Adobe
2. The Trident Model Management Management Activities EM, VP of Engineering, IT Manager Technical Leadership Leading people on tech topics Tech Lead, Principal Scientist, Architect Inspired by Pat Kua Individual Contributor Executing/Doing DB Specialist, Distinguished Engineer
3. Engineering Manager Product Management Technical Leadership People Management
4. Product Management ✅ Understand the Business & Flows ✅ Stakeholders Management ✅ Define the OKRs / Roadmap
5. User Story Mapping User Personas ⬇ User Journeys ⬇ User Stories
6. RICE Prioritisation • Reach - number of users impacted • Impact - level of user benefit • Confidence - certainty of positive outcome • Effort - development time and resources Feature Reach Impact Confidence Effort Score (RICE) Real-time Error Tracking Dashboard All developers (100) High (reduces development time) High (existing tools available) Medium (2 weeks) 100 * 0.8 * 1 * 0.5 = 40 Infrastructure Alerts Operations team (10) Medium (reduces time spent identifying issues) Medium (requires defining alert thresholds) Low (1 week) 10 * 0.5 * 0.5 * 1 = 2.5 User Behavior Integration Product & Eng teams (20) High (improves understanding of user experience) Medium (requires defining key user behaviors) High (3 weeks) 20 * 0.8 * 0.5 * 0.25 = 2
7. RACI Matrix • Responsible - the individual(s) doing the hands-on work • Accountable - the person accountable for decisions or delegations • Consulted - the people who should be consulted before decisions are made • Informed - the people who need to know what's happening Task EM Architect Dev Team Client Define the solution design A R C I Implement the new feature A C R I
8. Books
9. Technical Leadership ✅ Understand the Architecture ✅ Define the Tech Strategy ✅ Engineering & Operational Excellence
10. Define the Tech Strategy A Tech Strategy defines how you will leverage technology to support your business goals. A strategy should have three core pieces (“kernel”) by Richard Rumelt - “Good Strategy / Bad Strategy”: • The diagnosis - What is the essential or main challenge that you are facing • The guiding policy - What is your overall approach to solving the above challenge • Coherent actions - A list of initial, specific, short-term actions your org or team can take SOAR Analysis • Strengths - What can we build on • Opportunities - What are our stakeholders asking for • Aspirations - What do we care deeply about • Results - How do we know we are succeeding
11. Engineering & Operational Excellence • Software Craftsmanship - clean code, testing pyramid • Delivery & Deployment - CI/CD, IaC, on-call support model • Technical Architecture & Design - functional and non-functional requirements • Observability - instrumentation, monitoring, alerting, SLAs, SLOs • Team Culture, Processes & SDLC - mission, values, principles, Agile methodologies • Innovation and prototyping - Garage Week, POCs • Communication & Collaboration - docs, C4, ADRs, support model, office hours • Technical Debt Management - reframe it and make it a priority Inspired by Increment
12. Reframing Tech Debt as Tech Wealth Tech Debt implies a lack, Tech Wealth suggests abundance: an abundance of security and stability for your systems, and an abundance of time, increasing productivity, engineer happiness. Do an inventory & questions to consider: • What value do we get from spending time accomplishing a specific task? • What gains do we acquire as a result of that work? • What steps can we take to help our teams move faster and more efficiently? • What can we do to improve our systems’ scalability or stability? • What work could improve engineers’ experience maintaining those systems? Inspired by Increment
13. Books
14. People Management ✅ Hiring & Onboarding & Growing ✅ Performance Management ✅ Change & Conflict Management ✅ Re-orgs
15. Psychological Safety Psychological Safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. - Harvard professor Dr. Amy Edmondson Run effective 1:1s • Main topics: issues and concerns, give and receive feedback, career conversations • Listen to understand • When you receive bad news from your team members ◦ “Thank you for letting me know” ◦ “What could be done?” (look forward) Handle ambiguity • Frame the work as a learning problem (we run experiments), not an execution problem • Define together with your team processes, frameworks, plans and review them periodically • Recognize that new projects/initiatives have uncertainty and risk • Acknowledge your own failures, and the lessons learned A team with purpose is engaged, inspired, and psychologically safe • Define with your team the values, mission and team alliance
16. The Coaching Habit
17. Books
18. Lessons Learned So Far… • Model Curiosity: learn more about yourself, your team, your manager, your team’s purpose, your business area, your stakeholders and encourage them to do the same • Live by Prioritization: embrace the "Purpose-Driven Leadership" mindset and focus on making an impactful difference with your team. Don't be afraid to delegate and say no when needed. • Schedule Zoom-Out Time: regularly dedicate time to strategic thinking. Focus on analyzing trends, questioning assumptions, and anticipating opportunities and threats. • Lead by Recharging: a leader's well-being fuels team success. If you are OK, the Team is OK. • Cultivate a Culture of Celebration: regularly celebrate milestones, releases, and achievements. This fosters a positive, motivated team environment and reinforces the desired behaviors.
19. The Decoding Continues…
20. Thank You! Website: magdamiu.com X (Twitter): @magdamiu LinkedIn: /in/magdamiu/
21. Resources Staff Archetypes SOAR Analysis Software Architecture Books Tech Book Recommendations Top Challenges after becoming an EM About Feedback The Coaching Habit About Mentoring