Engineering Management for the Rest of Us

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Drasner suggests that engineering managers should not only accept change but also strive to be change catalysts, leading their teams through transformations effectively.

If you're really new to a software engineering Team Lead or Engineering Manager role and don't have access to training, mentorship, or a supportive direct lead, this can be worth reading and building a further reading list out of. Additionally, the advice provided is often oversimplified and fails to address the complexities of managing teams in a rapidly changing technology landscape. She also provides tips and tricks for how to reduce the risk of running into the problems that she has had to deal with in her career. KlappentextA lot of Engineering Managers and leaders studied for years and years to become the best Engineer they possibly could be.I had the chance to have a leader position and to be honest, looking back at that time, I totally ruined it. You can never be prepared enough for managing and leading people, but if you give it a good try, you'll be one step ahead of yourself. There's quite a bit of advice too that isn't really specific to engineering managers, such as: believing in yourself, prioritizing your work, scope down PRs, setting boundaries etc. I like that it explains different psychological concepts of management and how to be a better servant leader.

Join us at the next edition of Bookmarked where Suzan Bond will be joined by Sarah Drasner, who has 10+ years of experience in engineering management at all levels, from Lead to VP, to discuss her newest book ‘Engineering Management for the Rest of Us’. Initially, the book seemed more like a leadership therapy session than a traditional read, as it openly discusses failures.It's not just important, it's crucial that we iterate on our own skills as managers so that we can properly support everyone around individuals, peers, leadership, and the business. Experienced managers can skip this book, but might find it useful to recommend to others just getting started. I've been in my software engineering manager role for a couple of years only, yet it feels like it's been much, much longer than that.

I was hoping for heavy nugget of wisdom or war stories on the topics I'm struggling with in my few months acting as EM but it's hard to get there on a book covering so much. The book goes from the macro to the micro- with topics ranging everywhere from “feedback” to “scoping down PRs”. The book can both provide as guidance for engineering managers and it can guide developers to how they can understand, help, and of course get support from engineering managers. While it might benefit from a deeper exploration of diverse management styles, the practical insights it offers are invaluable for those new to the field. Even though the author makes some assumptions about the reader — they work in tech, are engineering managers, and look forward to making themselves better — it never underestimates or overestimates the reader.

Overall this book can be valuable to someone new to leading people and/or software projects and thus probably delivers on the promises of its title. Sarah Drasner has more than 10 years of experience in Engineering Management at all levels, from Lead to VP at Netlify, Microsoft and Trulia/Zillow Group. Engineering Management for the Rest of Us” is an excellent primer for engineers looking to transition into management roles. Nonetheless, the author’s choice to stick with what she knows best and her extensive experience does lend credibility to her arguments. It's not just important, it's crucial that we iterate on our own skills as managers so that we can properly support everyone around us: individuals, peers, leadership, and the business.