Become a Great Engineering Leader: Build Effective Skills to Lead and Grow

by Stanier James Dr

Genres: Leadership, Management, Technology

402 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2024

Reviews

[Aliaksei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from the chapter on strategy, this book serves as a solid introduction to concepts relevant to senior engineering management. The chapter on strategy, however, seems to conflate the concepts of corporate mission, vision, strategy, and plan.

For example, the author uses the phrase

'Their strategy is to "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy." Note that this isn't about selling cars. It's about the outcome. This is a grand vision'

, which takes Tesla's mission statement and labels it as both a strategy and a vision within the same paragraph. Furthermore, when providing example of engineering strategy, the author includes tactical decisions such as to "rewrite the search cluster from scratch, rather than optimise the existing one." This is a tactical decision that should be separate from strategy and instead be part of the plan detailing how a department will execute that strategy. A strategy should guide a department's decision-making and leave room for creativity, rather than provide prescriptive instructions on everything.

This command-and-control perspective is visible in other parts of the book as well, where the author doesn't seem to grant much agency to the engineering teams and mention, that 'tactics' is given to 'tactical' teams from the top.

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the guidebook to understanding what's next in your career as a manager and a natural progression in James's series. From strategy to budgeting passing through team formations, James will open a world to you as he explains in detail all the things you need to know to help you build your career. If you are a manager, no matter your intentions of growth, this is your book to learn more about the next level.

[Ralph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether you're a growing engineering manager or a new manager of managers, this book is for you. It will give you a holistic view over your job, the organization and your career with a lot of tools and tactics. Enjoy!

[Ines · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful introduction to what a Director+ role is like, yet there are things you can apply at any level. I highly recommend it