You should learn about management as an engineer! There. I said it. I don’t want to become a manager; I’d rather evolve in technical positions. Nonetheless, I’ve been reading books and attending training sessions on management and leadership for a few years now. These training sessions and books have taught me a lot and have proven useful in my work as a software and data engineer. Here’s why:
TL;DR
The article covers few reasons why Software, Data and other IT engineers can benefit from teachings about management and leadership.
- There are technical positions, like Tech Lead, that require informal leadership. The lead behavior will influence the team dynamics and success of projects.
- One key point of Management and Leadership training is communication, and communication is useful to every employee whatever their position.
- Being informed makes it easier to understand your manager, but also to notice things you like or not in a potential future manager (e.g., during a job application process).
- As a team member, you can propose and implement changes to make your team more efficient and working in a better environment.
- Soft skills are as important as technical skills on the job market and for your career evolution.
Informal leadership
As a developer, one possible evolution on a technical track is to become a Tech Lead. I had the opportunity to take on this role during a project, and that’s when my interest in leadership really grew. I collected information and advice on how to lead a project to become a better Tech Lead.
I had assumed that getting a new title would make me more legitimate, but it turns out this is not true most of the time: the way you behave is what makes you legit in that kind of role.
I wish at the time I had already learned about teams’ dynamics, the roles of the manager, leader and coach and when to apply them, some communication good practices that I wasn’t aware of, how to convince people without forcing them, but also when to make firm decisions…
Even if you never become an official Tech Lead or something of the sort, you’ll probably end up informally leading initiatives or projects, even for a limited time. Those management techniques can really help make it a smooth experience!
Management is a lot about communication
What is management really about anyway? If you set aside the budgets, strategical decisions and validating team members’ holiday requests, it’s a lot about effective communication. Turns out communication is a really important skill, whatever your job is. It can take you to greater heights or keep you stuck in a place you’re not happy.
Managers have to use different communication styles, techniques and strategies, depending on the topic at stake, the audience, the situation, the urgency… Those techniques can be used by anybody in the right situation to make the best of it.
There are books dedicated to communication alone, but management books might be the most complete ones, also encompassing questions like adapting your communication to your audience, mediation and conflicts management…
But they also teach you other things, like strategic thinking (even if you don’t want to apply it yourself, it helps understand a lot about your company and the decisions made), influence, prioritization, time and resources management.
Understanding your manager
Reading those books or attending trainings can certainly make you realize what your manager has to face and handle, and how complicated it can be to become a great manager. When we might get angry at our boss for their decisions that seem silly to us, this can help develop some empathy towards them.
If your manager is cool about getting feedback and recommendations (which I hope), you might even find tips to give them on how to handle a certain situation in the future (just don’t brag about having read a book they should have read themselves, make the proposition subtle…).
Notice red or green flags during job interviews
Knowledge about management helps you notice how your manager could do differently. When applying to a new job or joining a new team, it would also help you raise important questions about the leadership style during the application process. If you know way more about good management practices than your future boss, it might be a red flag…
Think about situations where you faced a bad management decision in the past. Reading about management might reveal different ways of dealing with said situations, and discovering some that you would prefer. It might be interesting to know how your potential new manager would act in such situation, so you don’t face the same disappointment in your new job.
Improve your team dynamics
Many pieces of advice in those trainings and books about management can be applied in your team to improve organization, relationships, communication, but also understand some blockers.
Management books about software and engineering companies talk a lot about the dynamics between high-performers and low-performers, and the impact of the composition of a team on delivery and members satisfaction. This topic alone can help understand why the mood or motivation in a team is low. If your boss is not the one to notice it, you have the opportunity to raise the subject. But to notice it yourself, you have to be aware it exists.
Managing yourself
Reading books written by inspiring leaders can also teach you how these people learned to better organize their work while reducing their stress, handle some touchy situations, grow professionally while also adopting a good work-life balance, being confident and feeling legit…
Nowadays, more and more companies encourage their employees to develop some sense of ownership and empower them to lead their own work and career. Developing those management skills for your own professional growth is always a plus.
Having strong so-called “soft skills” is what sets you apart from the average candidate on the job market. A great engineer is someone with strong technical skills and soft skills at least as good.
Recommended reads on leadership and management
Here are some books I read recently on the topic:
Radical Candor – How to get what you want by saying what you mean. (Kim Scott) I absolutely LOVED this book, if you’re to read only one book on such topic, please pick this one!
No rules rules – Netflix and the culture of reinvention. (Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer) It gives interesting ideas but is less relevant to non-managers, you should read it only if you’re curious about the Netflix culture and/or innovative company management.
If you have some books to recommend, please leave a comment!
You might also be interested in the article: Software Engineering at Google
