Think Like a Software Engineering Manager

Unlock your full potential as an effective, efficient, and inspiring leader, and be the software engineering manager that your team deserves!

Most development teams are only as good as their leader. In this practical guide, you’ll explore all aspects of the software engineering manager’s job, from operational practices to the core skills of handling humans.

Think Like a Software Engineering Manager is full of all the skills you’ll need to thrive in software leadership, including:

• People and performance management
• Empathy and feedback
• Delegation and learning to let go
• Hiring amazing engineers and handling attrition
• Collaborating with cross-functional partners
• Managing expectations at all levels
• Implementing engineering and operational excellence
• Time and organizational change management

Experienced team leader Akanksha Gupta helps you explore whether software engineering management is the right move for your career, guides you through preparing for the position, and gives you all the tools you need to thrive in the role. Thought-provoking exercises help you apply what you learn to your daily professional life, and prepare you for making the big decisions about software.

About the technology

A software engineering manager needs to be an amazing communicator, an effective decision maker, and a thoughtful mentor. Your success depends on your ability to evaluate and manage projects, motivate and lead your team, and coolly handle whatever crisis each new day brings. It’s a big transition, and this book will guide you every step of the way.

About the book

Think Like a Software Engineering Manager teaches you how to hire, train, and lead a successful development team. You’ll start with building and managing your team to maximize performance. You’ll then quickly progress to strategies for delivering large scale projects, cultivating excellence in your projects, and managing change. Author Akanksha Gupta’s battle stories and industry anecdotes from her work at Amazon, Audible, Robinhood, and Microsoft reveal how the experts handle the biggest engineering management challenges.

What’s inside

• People and performance management
• Hiring amazing engineers and handling attrition
• Collaborating with cross-functional partners
• Practice for success with insightful exercises

About the reader

For new and aspiring software engineering managers.

The technical editor on this book was Bruce Bergman.

Table of Contents

PART 1 Start with the people

1 Exploring the engineering manager role

2 Individual contributor to engineering manager

3 Managing people, teams, and yourself

4 Managing performance

5 Delegation: Learn to let go

6 Rewards and recognition

7 Hiring

8 Handling attrition

PART 2 Projects and the cross-functional world

9 Working with cross-functional partners

10 Project management, execution, and delivery

11 Managing expectations

PART 3 Learn the process

12 Engineering and operational excellence

13 Organizational change management

14 Time management

15 Beyond this book: Grow yourself

About the Author

Akanksha Gupta is an experienced Engineering Manager currently leading full stack teams with Amazon AWS. Prior to AWS, she has worked for Robinhood, Audible, and Microsoft. She is an Amazon Bar Raiser, helping with hiring initiatives and calibration of potential candidates, and has been a mentor to early and mid-career developers, and is a huge advocate of Women in Tech.