The Engineering in

Engineering Manager
@patkua
 Training Coaching
e.g. TLs, EMs, Staff+ e.g. CTOs, VPs of Eng

@patkua techlead.academy
 20+ years experience

thekua.io/evolarch thekua.io/twtl thekua.io/retrobook

#Architect #Developer #Coach #Leader #CTO

#Life-long learner #Author #Speaker
@patkua techlead.academy
 Podcast Newsletter

http://managingmanagers.tech http://levelup.patkua.com
@patkua techlead.academy
 THE EM EM QUESTIONS
SCOPE PITFALLS THE E IN EM

@patkua techlead.academy
 THE EM EM QUESTIONS
SCOPE PITFALLS THE E IN EM

@patkua techlead.academy
 What is an Engineering Manager?

@patkua
 What is an Engineering Manager?
‣ A role responsible for people
‣ A role accountable for the outcomes of one (or
more) technical team(s)

@patkua techlead.academy
 Technical Team Process Product

1. Tech Lead EM 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟🌟 🌟🌟 🌟

2. Team Lead EM 🌟🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟🌟 🌟

3. Delivery EM 🌟🌟 🌟🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟

4. Product EM 🌟🌟 🌟 🌟🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

5. Lead of Leads EM 🌟 🌟🌟🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟🌟

https://www.patkua.com/blog/5-engineering-manager-archetypes

@patkua Exploring the EM role techlead.academy

 THE EM EM QUESTIONS
SCOPE PITFALLS THE E IN EM

@patkua techlead.academy
 The “Perfect” Line Manager

@patkua techlead.academy
 Technical Team Process Product

EM Anti-Pattern 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟 🌟
🌟🌟🌟

@patkua techlead.academy
 The “Perfect” Line Manager
‣ Goal: Make every team member happy
‣ *Only* invested in team member’s growth
‣ Team runs their own meetings
‣ No strong technical opinions
‣ No strong opinions on product

@patkua techlead.academy
 The Senior IC as EM

@patkua techlead.academy
 Technical Team Process Product

EM Anti-Pattern
🌟🌟🌟 🌟🌟 🌟 🌟
🌟🌟🌟

@patkua techlead.academy
 The Senior IC as EM
‣ Goal: Stay as hands-on as possible
‣ Prefers technical discussions over others
‣ Still does people duties (but because they
have to, not because they want to)

@patkua techlead.academy
 Two Major Traps
The “Perfect” Line Manager The Senior IC as EM

No E in the EM The Wrong E in the EM

@patkua techlead.academy
 THE EM EM QUESTIONS
SCOPE PITFALLS THE E IN EM

@patkua techlead.academy
 (Software)
Engineering Manager

@patkua techlead.academy
 (Software)
Engineering Manager

“Engineering the System”

@patkua (which produces outcomes) techlead.academy
 Engineering

A High Flow
A Quality System
Performing Team
 Engineering

A High Flow
A Quality System
Performing Team
 What is Quality?

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 What is Quality?
‣ Easy to read
‣ Easy to change
Developer
‣ Performant

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 What is Quality?
‣ Useful
‣ Explainable
Product
‣ Makes money

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 What is Quality?
‣ Does the job
‣ Easy to use
Customer
‣ Delightful

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 “Quality is a multi-faceted
and intangible construct”

- Charantimath (2011), Zhang (2001)

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 What has agile/lean taught us?

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 “You can not inspect
quality into a product.”

- Harold F. Dodge

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Trends
Quality Engineering over Quality Assurance

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Quality Engineering
Getting rid of testers

Getting developers to do testing

Not just about testing

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Quality Engineering
Building quality in (early)

Stronger collaboration

Enabling team

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Trends
Quality Engineering over Quality Assurance

Shift Left over Quality Gates

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Shift Left
Test Driven Development

User
Dev Test Deploy
Story

“Three Amigos”

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Shift Left
(To) Pair Design/Programming (From) code review

User
Dev Test Deploy
Story

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Shift Left

User
Dev Test Deploy
Story

(To) Threat (From) Penetration

Modelling Testing

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Trends
Quality Engineering over Quality Assurance

Shift Left over Quality Gates

(Automated)
Fitness Functions
over Manual Processes

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 (Automated) Fitness Functions

https://community.chef.io/tools/chef-inspec

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 (Automated) Fitness Functions
# Server only with HTTPS port (not HTTP)

describe port(80) do
it { should_not be_listening }
end
https://community.chef.io/tools/chef-inspec
describe port(443) do
it { should be_listening }
its('protocols') {should include 'https'}
end

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 (Automated) Fitness Functions
# Disallow unsafe packages/utilities

describe package('telnetd') do
it { should_not be_installed }
end
https://community.chef.io/tools/chef-inspec
describe inetd_conf do
its("telnet") { should eq nil }
end

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 (Automated) Fitness Functions
# Disallow unsafe packages/utilities

describe package('telnetd') do
it { should_not be_installed }
end
https://community.chef.io/tools/chef-inspec
describe inetd_conf do
its("telnet") { should eq nil }
end

@patkua Engineering a Quality System techlead.academy

 Engineering

A High Flow
A Quality System
Performing Team
 What is a high-performing team?

@patkua Engineering a High-Performing Team techlead.academy

 What is a high-performing team?

“More than the sum of the parts.

It’s a product of the interactions”

@patkua Engineering a High-Performing Team techlead.academy

 What is a high-performing team?

“More than the sum of the parts.

It’s a product of the interactions”

@patkua Engineering a High-Performing Team techlead.academy

 “The Best”

Ego
Competition
Individualistic

@patkua Engineering a High-Performing Team techlead.academy

 Project Aristotle

@patkua Engineering a High-Performing Team techlead.academy

 Project Aristotle
1. Psychological safety
2. Dependability
3. Structure & Clarity
4. Meaning
5. Importance

@patkua Engineering a High-Performing Team techlead.academy

@patkua techlead.academy
 Engineering

A High Flow
A Quality System
Performing Team
 Flow

How much ow does my

team have?

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

fl
 Flow
Who’s
calendar looks
like this?

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Flow

Being helpful Getting stuff done

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Flow

Planned Fire ghter Permission to

Focus days
interrupts role disable noti cations

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

fi
fi
 Flow

How well does work ow

through the team?

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

fl
 The “Ideal” world

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Reality (is messier)

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

PM: Can you work on

that other task? It’s
more important now

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

PM: The third task is

really urgent now

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

QA: We found
some bugs!

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

Dev: OK.
It’s fixed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

PM: That’s not what

I wanted built

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

Dev: I’ve made those

extra changes

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

PM: Looks good.

Let’s release it

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

Dev: Where was I

with this again?

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Backlog Planned Development Testing Deployed

Cycle time can be useful

Dev: Where was I
As is the amount of reworkwith this again?

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Key Question

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Key Question

“What do we do to improve our

work system (i.e. process)?”

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 Bonus Question

“What’s slowing the

team down?”

@patkua Engineering Flow techlead.academy

 THE EM EM QUESTIONS
SCOPE PITFALLS THE E IN EM

@patkua techlead.academy
 Engineering

(Software)
Engineering Manager

@patkua techlead.academy
 Engineering

A High Flow
A Quality System
Performing Team
 “You lead people. You
manage things”

- Admiral Grace Hopper

@patkua techlead.academy
QUESTIONS
The Engineering in
Engineering Manager

@patkua TechLead
A C A D E M Y