💡 Content for engineering leaders

To become an influential and successful leader, you must focus on multiple areas, not always technology-related. On this page, you can find all content ever published on Practical Engineering Management. Pick what you need the most at the moment, or open a few links randomly - I promise, each piece will help you become a better engineering leader.

The content is organized into four key categories:

• How-Tos - actionable articles where I share some ideas on how to implement the most important concepts of engineering leadership.

• Templates & Frameworks - materials that are ready to use in your work + some concepts and examples

• Reflections - food for thoughts that will inspire you to see your work from a different angle.

• One-bites - short articles with concepts that enrich your experience.

Templates & Frameworks

• (⭐️ Top pick) The Problem Solving Framework

• (⭐️ Top pick) Engineering Strategy Framework

• (⭐️ Top pick) First Ten 1:1s for Engineering Leaders

• (⭐️ Top pick) Leader's Week - how to maximize your weekly impact

• Non-Functional Requirements

• Lightweight RFC

• Lightweight ADRs

• Ten types of technical debt

• Engineering internship - checklists, templates

How-Tos

• (⭐️ Top pick) Key Insights for Engineering Leaders from DORA research

• (⭐️ Top pick) Top-down Leadership vs Center-out Leadership

• (⭐️ Top pick) Principles - Guidelines for Your Team

• (⭐️ Top pick) Product Analytics for Engineering Leaders

• (⭐️ Top pick) Mastering the Feedback

• (⭐️ Top pick) Practical solutions to track your goals

• Example Strategic Blocks for Engineering Strategy

• Safety Leadership and Neuroception

• MVP, PoC or Prototype

• Signals of Information For Engineering Leaders

• Leader's Well-Being

• Technical debt - what it is and how to deal with it

• Intro to Expectations Management

• Top Ten Factors of Developers' Productivity

• How to retain departing employee

• How to handle employee departure

• Work smart, not hard - facing the culture of busyness

Reflections

• (⭐️ Top pick) Do companies need fewer engineering managers or better engineering managers?

• (⭐️ Top pick) What Engineering Leaders Can Learn from Stripe's BFCM Product Dashboard

• Holiday Break for Leaders

• What Engineering Leader Can Learn from Product Model at Spotify?

• The future of engineering teams

• Navigating the Future of Productivity

• By 2030 tech talent shortage will reach 4 million unfilled positions

• 1 out of 3 IT students aspire to solve problems

One bites

• (⭐️ Top pick) Entropy and Inertia in Engineering Leadership

• (⭐️ Top pick) A crisis is an opportunity for change

• (⭐️ Top pick) Four Factors Essential to the Success of Any Product

• (⭐️ Top pick) 5 Characteristics of a High-performing Team Leader

• Value of business trips

• My first podcast interview on engineering management

• Paper vs mobile for note taking

• Assess accomplishments, not responsibilities

• Don't prevent risk, build ability to recover

• Perfection is the enemy of good

• Busy doesn't mean better: the role of a good manager

• 1000x "whys" from your kid and leadership

• I don't plan on Sundays

• 2 hours per week saved thanks to WFH

• Three levels of engineering teams engagement

• Staying Rational Under Pressure: A Simple Approach

• How to Plan Your Week as an Engineering Leader

• Weekend reset

• The Eisenhower Matrix - should I bother my teammates?

• The Value of Continuous Delivery

• Breaking the Myth of "No Release on Fridays"

• Notebook and meetings

• Leadership from a Dancing Guy

• Invest in Your Team's Growth: The Power of Book Gifting

PEM Blog

Here you can find long-form articles published on the Practical Engineering Management blog:

• (⭐️ Top pick) How to Be a Better Software Engineering Leader

• (⭐️ Top pick) How to lead a team of senior engineers

• (⭐️ Top pick) Engineering Leadership: Tools and Techniques for a Successful 2024

• (⭐️ Top pick) Go back to coding, engineering leader

• (⭐️ Top pick) Simple data tracking solutions for engineering leaders

• Grow your team, build your trust

• Focus on solutions, not problems

• Build team of missionaries, not mercenaries

• Software Engineering Management in 2023–2024

• Senior software engineer, these skills are expected from you

• Regular software engineer, these skills are expected from you

• Junior software engineer, these skills are required from you

• Assess your manager’s work, engineering leader

• The Unspoken Challenges of Engineering Leadership

• Being a leader is a lonely journey

• 1:1 - the essential tool for leaders

• When your direct report wants to leave

• AI solutions for engineering leaders

• How to prepare internship for software engineers

• Software Engineer Responsibilities

• 23 lessons learned after multiple years at IT start-up

• Things to keep in mind when working multiple years in a single company

• How to deal with technical debt

• Why you need vision and strategy for your team

• What tech leader can learn from direct reports’ performance reviews

• Tech leader self-assessment

• How to not hijack brainstorming meetings

• How to Tech Lead as former software engineer

• Building high-performing engineering team

• You need juniors in your team

• Who is (not) a Tech Leader