I often wonder if I’m being effective at my job. Might be related to my impostor syndrome, but in engineering management, the signals of effectiveness aren’t always clear. I have some basic, high level criteria I try to think about monthly, or so, to provide some insight.
Providing a clear direction
Lack of clear direction can sometimes be seen when teams are doing medium-term/quarterly planning. If the objectives aren’t aligned with upper management, it’s probably my fault for not creating clear direction and expected outcomes. Try not to be too prescriptive, but make sure the goals are clearly defined.
Try to have a good narrative for each of these levels:
- Vision: How the team(s) create impact
- Mission: Role the team(s) within the company
- Objectives: Think about the next year
Shipping what matters
Do the same problems keep coming up? Make sure we are prioritizing the right work. Make sure we are completing the work. Talk to senior engineers about problems that seem to be holding us back.
Focus on capabilities. Keep improving the operational capabilities of the company. Feature projects are built on capabilities.
Maintain a healthy mix of project sizes. Big projects can stall shipping momentum. Make sure big projects are broken into smaller milestones and iterations. Small projects might feel like low impact, but sometimes are just what people are asking to see.
Helping people grow
Have honest conversations about expectations and performance, and providing actionable feedback.
Make space for other people by getting out of the way. For projects and meetings where I’m getting invited as a point-of-contact, look for other people I can delegate the role to.
Surveys and Feedback Loops
Workplaces typically have company-wide engagement surveys to get feedback on many aspects. Those usually have a management section, and this feedback can be a gift. Interpreting feedback in a positive a way and not a personal attack might be a learned skill, but worth learning.
Thanks to Nick DiStefano for a reminder that manager surveys are also a useful way to get regular feedback on how things are going. Manager surveys can happen more frequently than company-wide engagement surveys and are usually more focused at the team-level.