So You Want to Be an Engineering Manager? by Marc LeVine

Think a moment of the type of people you most admire. Jot down the traits that make them so admirable. Look at your list. What typical characteristics came to mind - at least, initially? "Traits" like: humility, decisiveness, communication, organized...?

The traits listed above are like the relationship between tactics and strategies. They can't stand, alone. They are part of a smaller picture that must be combined with all the other traits to form a BIG PICTURE - a total package and holistic view of a person being described.

Being a stand-out engineering manager means you must be equal to the sum of all parts and measure up to some exceedingly ambitious standards. We're surely not anointing anyone’s role model status for displaying only a few admirable managerial traits. We are talking about filling categorized "buckets" with a number of individual traits that add up to understanding of skill sets most successful manager’s evidence. Being "humble" alone does not make a successful people manager. Nor does knowing "Ohms Law" (by itself) make anyone a complete engineering subject matter expert.

When groups of related skills are brought together, they should begin to form the picture of a holistic professional. Only then, might someone claim they are in the presence of a true leader and successful people manager. Which skills might fall into the people management "bucket?" How about these? Planning Communication, Organizing, Delegation, Empathetic, Public Speaking, Presenting, Leadership, Mentoring, Conflict Resolution, Team Motivation, Negotiation, Scheduling, and Hiring/Onboarding.

People management is only one of many buckets needed to define a strong engineering manager. Each bucket must be filled with several RELATED traits that support the overall description of a quality engineering manager.

So far, we've only looked at those traits filling the "people management" bucket. Be very aware that there are also buckets for personal skills; technical skills; company skills (company culture and politics); knowledge management; and project management. To be considered strong in math, doesn't one need to know much more than addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We all know this.

We really don't have the time to list all the traits for each bucket here, but you get the basic idea. Perhaps, the following is the proper analogy to end with. To bake a great cake, you need many, quality ingredients. The same can be said when it comes to developing effective engineering managers.

If you are to be a successful engineering manager, you must discover and develop the traits that fill all critical buckets. Your team will be good judges as they figure out which buckets are less filled than others and before they know that your best "ingredients" are already baked into your overall leadership ability.