An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management
by Will Larson
Why It Matters for Leaders
This resource is crucial for Engineering Leaders as it addresses the challenges of managing organizational debt and risk, emphasizing the importance of emotional engagement in resolving systemic issues. An actionable takeaway is to create an explicit plan with your manager to address a few key areas of risk, allowing for focused progress while acknowledging the presence of other unresolved issues.
Who Should Read This
Engineering managers at growing companies dealing with team sizing, organizational design, and technical migrations. Best for managers with 1-3 years of experience who need systems-level thinking.
What's Inside
1. Organizational Debt: Represents systemic issues that prevent organizations from reaching their full potential.
2. Organizational Risk: A volatile subset of organizational debt that includes problems like toxic team culture and ineffective leadership.
3. Management Approach: Focus on stabilizing teams and addressing solvable risks while maintaining responsibility for more challenging issues.
4. Team Sprint Evaluation Criteria:
5. Clarity on team tasks and their value.
6. Ability to assess task completion.
7. Understanding of future work priorities.
8. Transparency for stakeholders on current and planned tasks.
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