September 2016 Summaries

Awesome engineering managers focus on building and empowering their teams to become awesome, rather than just managing tasks and projects. They use various habits, including smiling, telling their team they're awesome, taking time to get to know each team members, being present in the workplace, and delegating authority to their teams. These habits help create a positive and productive environment that fosters creativity, engagement, and results. By adopting these habits, engineers can transition into management roles and build high-performing teams that make other teams around them more awesome.

Many engineers question the value and role of management, but engineering management can be a rewarding blend of technical leadership, project management, and psychological understanding, with the primary goal of building effective teams. To transition successfully into management, aspiring managers should adopt key habits observed in successful engineering leaders: maintaining a positive demeanor through smiling, regularly affirming their teams' strengths, fostering psychological safety by understanding team members personally, being present and observant of team dynamics, and empowering teams by delegating decision-making authority. These practices not only enhance team morale and productivity but also encourage creativity and engagement, ultimately contributing to the delivery of high-quality software.