Engineering leadership, in practice.
Practical writing on the craft of engineering management, and on what a credential in it should mean.
What an Architecture Decision Record Should Contain
You will read many more ADRs than you write. What to expect in each section, what a thin record is hiding, and why an accepted record should never be edited.
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What an Engineering Manager Needs to Know About Observability
Observability gets proposed as a tooling project. It is a decision about which questions your team must be able to answer in production without shipping new code first.
· 6 minStrategy & VisionWhat a Request Changes Count Cannot Tell You
Review tooling will happily count how often each engineer's pull requests get a request for changes. Before that number goes into a spreadsheet, decide what it would have to mean.
· 6 minPeople LeadershipArchitecture Decision Records as a Decision-Rights Tool
Most teams adopt ADRs to remember why they chose a database. The sharper use is to settle, in writing, who gets to decide what, and to keep the manager off the approvals list.
· 6 minCareer GrowthWhen to Get Certified as an Engineering Manager (and When Not To)
A certification confirms judgment you already have. It can't supply judgment you don't. How to tell which side of that line you're on before you sit the exam.
· 4 minCertificationEMA vs PMP: Which Credential Actually Proves You Can Lead Engineers?
PMP and EMA certify different things. A fair comparison of what each one proves, what it asks of you before the exam, and where each falls short.
· 4 minCareer LadderThe Engineering Management Career Ladder: EMA-I, EMP-II, and EME-III Explained
Three certification levels on one ladder, from leading a single team to leading an engineering organisation. What each one tests, which are open, and where to start.
· 4 minHiringHow to Evaluate a Candidate's Engineering Management Credential
A credential on a CV is only worth what it took to earn and whether you can check it. Four questions to ask before you give one any weight.
· 4 minLeadership PhilosophyWhy "Years of Experience" Is a Bad Proxy for Engineering Leadership Ability
Two managers with the same five years on paper can have very different judgment. Tenure is easy to check, which is most of why hiring leans on it.
· 4 minPeople LeadershipHow to Give Engineers Feedback That Actually Lands
Feedback usually goes wrong in the delivery. It arrives late, vague or padded, and the point never lands. A structure that fixes most of that, and the part no structure can fix.
· 3 minDelivery & ExecutionWhy Engineering Estimates Are Always Wrong — and What to Do Instead
Software estimates miss for structural reasons, so asking the team to try harder won't fix them. What helps is managing the uncertainty in the open.
· 5 minTechnical JudgmentStaying Technically Credible as an Engineering Manager
Your coding depth starts fading the month you stop coding full-time. Credibility survives that if you keep the right kind of technical knowledge and use it with restraint.
· 4 minStrategy & VisionTranslating Business Strategy Into an Engineering Roadmap
A roadmap that lists features without saying why is a backlog with dates. How to turn business goals into engineering work the team can still reason about when plans change.
· 4 minCulture & CoachingBuilding Psychological Safety Without Lowering the Bar
Psychological safety gets mistaken for comfort. In Amy Edmondson's research it is separate from standards, and the teams that learn fastest have plenty of both.
· 4 min