Everyone knows — good engineers are not necessarily good managers.
In fact, some great engineers turn out to make terrible managers.
So, how do we know if an engineer is tracking to a leadership role?
We use the following questions to help assess whether an engineer is ready for a management or team leadership role:
- How does the engineer provide leadership from their current position as an individual contributor?
- Is the engineer recognized as a leader among peers on the team and on other teams?
- Prioritization - Do they have a good sense of what is critical vs what is somewhat important. Do they cut through the noise (non issues) to focus on the critical issues? (vs they are distracted by less important issues)
- Do they dispatch obstacles effectively and efficiently?
- Time management - Are they using their time effectively?
- Organization - Do they know how to organize and plan?
- Peer relationships - Are they collaborative? Do they have good working relationships with their peers and managers? Do they help others succeed?
- Self aware - Are they aware of their weak spots? Do they know their strengths?
- Learner - Do they know what they don’t know? Do they listen and learn from others?
- Driving for results - Do they effectively balance focus on objectives and results with engineering and technical considerations?
- Dealing with ambiguity - Are they flexible? Do they handle incomplete direction or information effectively?
- Judgment / decision skills - Do they make good decisions? Do people ask for their opinion?
- The drama factor - Do they operate without creating distractions and disruptions on the team?
Identify your future leaders. Develop them to do these things well.
-Donny
