Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager: How to Be the Leader Your Development Team Needs

One of the best books on management
If you are new manager, already doing it for some time or even long time manager – take the book and read it. This is the book you can read chapter by chapter when needed. I found ir very helpful when I started and also found multiple times it very useful when was going through difficult situations. Book is very practical and with almost zero bullshit. Very recommended.

A non-technical tutorial to managing software engineering efforts
Managing software engineering efforts is a difficult task. One needs a thorough knowledge of authoring software, which itself is a rare, time-consuming accomplishment. Almost all general managers do not have an in-depth knowledge of programming (though many assume they do!). A few of the best software developers are promoted into a managerial role and have to figure out what to do on the job. Much literature on general management topics exists, but few writings center on the notoriously fickle yet narrow job of writing code. James Sanier’s book attempts to provide one of the few guides in this domain.This book’s intended audience certainly lies on the side of those beginning with managerial tasks. In concept, it provides a comprehensive overview for the first year in the new role. Choosing to provide quick tutorials, it avoids going into details on specific topics. At times, it makes generalizations for the sake of simplicity and brevity, like when it describes simple career tracks. Those who already have advanced knowledge might find these simplifications a bit trite, but beginners will appreciate the sensitivity for orienting newbies.The book is relatively non-technical in that it fundamentally describes people-oriented tasks instead of, say, financial approaches that involve algorithms. It tends to divide programmers into sociological categories, like a cathedral constructor versus a bazaar browser. Again, these distinctions help, especially at the beginning, but they don’t provide a ton of nuance.The writing style is accessible to general readers, and endnotes are provided for further research. Not many IT-specific terms are used, but prior exposure to a team that produces software is assumed. I took away a couple of new concepts, such as a mentorship matrix and the Dunning-Kruger effect, but I will explore these in more detail through other writings since only overviews were provided here. This approach fits very much in line with what I’ve come to expect from the Pragmatic Programmer series. It helpfully fills a niche for people who want a non-theoretical approach to learning programming, a unique approach that’s both useful and needed.

Essential for new and less experienced EMs, useful for experienced ones
I’m an experienced engineering manager, and I manage frontline managers. This book is one of the two books I give as required reading for new managers in my team – together with the Manager’s Path. I’ve gotten several actionable ideas on the second part of the book on more advanced topics.What I most like about the book is that it is a “modern”, 2020 take on engineering management – with the focus being on the “hard to get right the first time” parts. I have yet to read a book on engineering management that covers 1:1s, performance reviews, hiring and laying off, diversity & inclusion, workplace politics, remote work, and the need for managers to relax. I have definitely not seen all of these in one place. As I read, I kept nodding along with the experiences and advice. It’s similar advice to what I’d give to anyone wanting to build a great team with a strong developer culture, being a thoughtful manager.I strongly recommend this book to people just starting – or about to start – their first engineering management role. There is a wealth of practical and genuinely good advice written. It is the kind of advice you get in your first two years as a manager – assuming you have one or two great mentors and are surrounded by multiple peers who continuously give you well-intended feedback. Which is not the case for many people. How do you manage your perception? How do you decide what information to broadcast? How do you do good 1:1s? Do perf reviews? Hire? Let people go? I also find myself looking these topics up when I am mentoring less experienced managers, drawing inspiration on activities to suggest for these managers to take on to grow.More experienced managers like myself can also take away good parts, especially in the second part of the book. How do you manage high-stakes “The Eye of Sauron” projects? How do you get the news through the grapevine? How do you make workplace politics work for you? What are ways to communicate well within a larger group? How should you design career ladders? What about diversity, inclusion, remote working and work-life balance?

Great book about engineering management but is too political in some chapters and content
This is a fantastic book about engineering management and is a must read for any software engineer who wants to become an engineering manager. But beware, some chapters and content is overly political and leans towards certain political group. Otherwise is a good book if you don’t pay attention to that.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the chapter about managing yourself, as a manager you’ll want to “delegate” many tasks, but if you do not know how to manage yourself will be a really difficult task.In general, this book can help you to understand what to expect from your day to day as an IT manager, and also gives you some tasks to start doing it properly.

I usually don’t write reviews. But I really had to say my big “thank you” to the author. I am a new manager who was failing with managing people. This book really pulled me out of the pit hole I was in and change my management tactics which lead to finding my own management style. It’s a must-read book for new software engineering managers. Thank you, I really felt I was managed and coached by the author solving my problems.