Building Great Software Engineering Teams: Recruiting, Hiring, and Managing Your Team from Startup to Success

CHAPTER 11

A Manager’s Most Important Deliverable

Management work, as compared to engineering work, is abstract and challenging to define precisely. In this chapter, we’ll discuss the ways in which a manager adds value to an organization and how to assess a manager’s performance.

People moving toward management in their careers often develop a sense of unease about their contributions. This is natural.

While it’s fairly straightforward to see and understand your output as an individual, a manager’s work product is harder to define. Making peace with this ambiguity, and understanding the subtle ways in which you have impact, are critical steps in becoming an effective manager of people. In many ways, what you’re delivering—to your team, your ...