Becoming an Engineering Manager

Forged Managers Coaching

There are more and more resources now on how to be a development manager. Here are some good ones. I’ll be doing some reviews on them as part of my writing:

• The Manager’s Path

• Managing the Unmanageable

• Engineering Management for the Rest of Us

The fact that all of these have come out in the last 6 years is a sign that others see the need for resources that will help developers understand the management role. While I think these books are good, they all have one major flaw. They talk about how to be a manager, not how to become one.

You Need More Than the List of Ingredients

You might think that I am splitting hairs by making this distinction but I think it is very important. Imagine if you went out for dinner on a trip to Italy and you had the best meal of your life. You beg the chef for the recipe and he finally relents and gives you a piece of paper with the recipe written on it.

Once you return home and get settled into your routine you decide to make the dish. You open the paper only to discover that is just the ingredients and their quantities, there are no instructions about how to assemble the dish. You still can’t shake the memory of that meal so not to be deterred you experiment over and over, doing some of this first or some of that first. Finally after months of trial and error you make the dish exactly as it was intended.

A recipe is a list of ingredients AND the instructions for how to put them together. What I have found is that we are given the raw ingredients for how to manage well but there is no sequence to them. They are missing one of the key components of a good recipe. They tell you what the components are that make a good manager but give you a step by step on how to get there.

So the development manager is left to piece it all together themselves. They read a few books and through trial and error they create a skillset that works for them. I would say it took me 2 years to work this out my own recipe for how to manage.

You Also Might Need More Than the Instructions

Now image the chef sent you home with an ingredient list and a set of detailed instructions that give you the order by which you should assemble the dish.

This would be one step better. You would be able to create the dish much faster. You might have a few tough spots that need multiple tries but you would know the sequence of things. I would think that people who are comfortable with cooking could accomplish it. Likewise I think that given a goal of what a manager does and a plan on how to get there a lot of people could succeed as a manager.

Now to beat the analogy like a dead horse lets assume the chef also gives you the ingredients, the process and his phone number. Now you not only know what things you need to do, the order you need to do them in, but you also have someone who can walk you through it. You now have the complete setup for success. You know what things you need to do, the process to follow to get the best results and you have someone to coach you through it.

The Forged Manager Stack

I realized that, if I truly wanted to help people become managers, I needed to provide all three. I have spent a lot of time thinking and writing about how to shift to the management skillset and mindset. I am creating a course for how to sequence those skills to develop a system by which you can focus on the right things first. Now I am adding coaching so we can walk the path together if you need it.

I can be a lifeline that you can call to get feedback on how you should navigate this career shift you are in. My goal is that you not only succeed but you thrive and enjoy the ride.

I have a full time job and I am very much committed to that. I think this is an asset honestly. I would only feel good advising you if I was also in the game myself. As such spots are only in the evenings and are limited.

For 2023 I am offering one time coaching slots. In 2024 I will be launching a small cohort based coaching program for those that want to have a longer engagement with me. If you would like to book some time with me go to my website forgedmanagers.com. I have free 15 min discovery calls where we can talk about both options.

Check out my new website for all of the information www.forgedmanagers.com

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