The Engineering Leader

Software startups make global headlines every day. As technology companies succeed and grow, so do their engineering departments. In your career, you'll may suddenly get the opportunity to lead teams: to become a manager. But this is often uncharted territory. How can you decide whether this career move is right for you? And if you do, what do you need to learn to succeed? Where do you start? How do you know that you're doing it right? What does "it" even mean? And isn't management a dirty word? This book will share the secrets you need to know to manage engineers successfully. Going from engineer to manager doesn't have to be intimidating. Engineers can be managers, and fantastic ones at that. Cast aside the rhetoric and focus on practical, hands-on techniques and tools. You'll become an effective and supportive team leader that your staff will look up to. Start with your transition to being a manager and see how that compares to being an engineer. Learn how to better organize information, feel productive, and delegate, but not micromanage. Discover how to manage your own boss, hire and fire, do performance and salary reviews, and build a great team. You'll also learn the psychology: how to ship while keeping staff happy, coach and mentor, deal with deadline pressure, handle sensitive information, and navigate workplace politics. Consider your whole department. How can you work with other teams to ensure best practice? How do you help form guilds and committees and communicate effectively? How can you create career tracks for individual contributors and managers? How can you support flexible and remote working? How can you improve diversity in the industry through your own actions? This book will show you how. Great managers can make the world a better place. Join us.

A human-centric guide to solving complex problems in engineering management, from sizing teams to handling technical debt. There’s a saying that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. Management is a key part of any organization, yet the discipline is often self-taught and unstructured. Getting to the good solutions for complex management challenges can make the difference between fulfillment and frustration for teams—and, ultimately, between the success and failure of companies. Will Larson’s An Elegant Puzzle focuses on the particular challenges of engineering management—from sizing teams to handling technical debt to performing succession planning—and provides a path to the good solutions. Drawing from his experience at Digg, Uber, and Stripe, Larson has developed a thoughtful approach to engineering management for leaders of all levels at companies of all sizes. An Elegant Puzzle balances structured principles and human-centric thinking to help any leader create more effective and rewarding organizations for engineers to thrive in.

At most technology companies, you'll reach Senior Software Engineer, the career level for software engineers, in five to eight years. At that career level, you'll no longer be required to work towards the next pro? motion, and being promoted beyond it is exceptional rather than ex? pected. At that point your career path will branch, and you have to decide between remaining at your current level, continuing down the path of technical excellence to become a Staff Engineer, or switching into engineering management. Of course, the specific titles vary by company, and you can replace "Senior Engineer" and "Staff Engineer" with whatever titles your company prefers.Over the past few years we've seen a flurry of books unlocking the en? gineering management career path, like Camille Fournier's The Man? ager's Path, Julie Zhuo's The Making of a Manager, Lara Hogan's Re? silient Management and my own, An Elegant Puzzle. The manage? ment career isn't an easy one, but increasingly there are maps avail? able for navigating it.On the other hand, the transition into Staff Engineer, and its further evolutions like Principal and Distinguished Engineer, remains chal? lenging and undocumented. What are the skills you need to develop to reach Staff Engineer? Are technical abilities alone sufficient to reach and succeed in that role? How do most folks reach this role? What is your manager's role in helping you along the way? Will you enjoy being a Staff Engineer or you will toil for years to achieve a role that doesn't suit you?"Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track" is a pragmatic look at attaining and operate in these Staff-plus roles.

This book is a must-have resource for those engineering professionals seeking out best practice in engineering leadership and innovation. It is underpinned by years of applied experience in engineering settings, and is designed to develop and prepare engineers as leaders to accept the technical and managerial challenges that they will face as professionals At a time when engineering and innovation in technology is of importance on so many fronts, this text encourages engineers and technical professionals to become effective, socially conscious leaders and innovators. The text and course material is designed to create an environment of interactive, high-engagement learning that will produce lifelong skills. Some of the many benefits of this book include: Accompanying notes, instructor’s manual, sample syllabi for qualifying textbook adoption; A complementary website with a wealth of ancillary resources; Case studies in STEM contexts; An international approach, underpinned by years of experience in US settings; Practical advice on how to distinguish yourself as an engineering leader; A solid grounding in ethics and professional responsibility. Drawing together best practice in engineering leadership education, and current research in the field, this book is an essential read for those wishing to develop expertise in engineering leadership. Current professionals in the field, educators as well as students of engineering wishing to excel, will all be particularly interested readers.

Managing Humans is a selection of the best essays from Michael Lopp's popular website Rands in Repose(www.randsinrepose.com). Lopp is one of the most sought-after IT managers in Silicon Valley, and draws on his experiences at Apple, Netscape, Symantec, and Borland. This book reveals a variety of different approaches for creating innovative, happy development teams. It covers handling conflict, managing wildly differing personality types, infusing innovation into insane product schedules, and figuring out how to build lasting and useful engineering culture. The essays are biting, hilarious, and always informative.

Part I Exploding the Myths Chapter One: Myths about Ourselves as Leaders Chapter Two: Myths about Leadership Chapter Three: Organizational Influences Chapter Four: Societal and Family Beliefs Part II Finding Your Inner Leader Chapter Five: The Truth about You Chapter Six: Assessing Your Leadership Potential Chapter Seven: Creating a Vision for What You Want Chapter Eight: Growing Your Leader Self; Seeking Support Part III Making a Difference Chapter Nine: Be the Change You Want to See Chapter Ten: Action Learning Chapter Eleven: Drawing Your Road Map Chapter Twelve: Relationships Are Key Part IV Why the World Needs You Chapter Thirteen: The Call to Leadership Chapter Fourteen: Broadened Perspectives Chapter Fifteen: Collaboration Across Borders Chapter Sixteen: Sustainable Leadership Conclusions Appendix Bibliography.

The continuously growing list of technological, economic, and social challenges in today’s world has made it imperative for higher educational institutions to equip students with the necessary knowledge, skills, and competences to seek employment and work in such a challenging global context. Specifically, within the engineering field, today’s businesses now seek innovative engineer-managers who can design engineering systems and also handle projects/design and development; create strategic plans; handle financing; and recognize, engage with, and evaluate market opportunities. This has created a need for current research on effective engineering management education that focuses on technical people, projects, and organizations and prepares engineer and science graduates to become future industry leaders and be successful long term. Cases on Engineering Management Education in Practice explores the crucial role of innovative and effective education that helps graduates develop critical leadership, negotiation, and communication skills in specific engineering disciplines. It presents the latest scholarly information on curriculum development, instructional design, and pedagogies of engineering management learning initiatives focusing on a range of topics that fall under the scope of engineering management education practices including management, marketing, finance, law, leadership, organizational behaviors, and human resources and statistics. While highlighting topics such as curriculum reform, student motivation and engagement, and innovative learning and education practices, this book is ideal for teachers, administrators, instructional designers, researchers, practitioners, stakeholders, academicians, and students who are interested in the management of engineering education practices.

James O. Pennock has compiled 45 years of personal experience into this how-to guide. Focusing on the position of "lead in charge," this book is an indispensable resource for anyone, new or seasoned veteran, whose job it is to lead the piping engineering and design of a project. The "lead" person is responsible for the successful execution of all piping engineering and design for a project, technical and non-technical aspects alike. The author defines the roles and responsibilities a lead will face and the differences found in various project types. Incorporates four decades of personal experience in a How-To guide Focuses on the position of "lead in charge" Includes coverage of topics often ignored in other books yet essential for success: management, administrative, and control responsibilities