Several years ago, I was recruited for a role in engineering leadership at an established software company. This was curious, because although I’d w

Leading engineers when you aren't one yourself

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2021-05-22 14:30:03

Several years ago, I was recruited for a role in engineering leadership at an established software company. This was curious, because although I’d worked in many roles in tech organizations and had been leading people for a long time, I was not a programmer. But the company needed somebody with solid management experience and an ability to lead a young satellite office; plus, in an org with separate tracks for individual contributors (ICs) and managers, I would be expected to work with senior engineers, not be one. I thought I could probably bring useful skills to the team, but I was actively concerned I’d be laughed out of the company by the actual programmers.

In fact, I wound up developing some of the most mutually satisfying internal partnerships of my career. I’m no longer at that company, but I’ve stayed in engineering leadership. Here are some of the things I learned in that role that might be helpful if you, too, find yourself leading people with more technical expertise than you have.

This is beyond obvious. You also need design chops! Product vision! Somebody has to sell the stuff! But beyond all those key functional skills, you also need people who have seen the common mistakes software companies make – and some of the possible paths to success. That perspective is key, and surprisingly rare, when it comes to organizing people so that you actually ship things customers want.