Engineering managers must be in the detail
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The tech industry has changed after the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) period ended. I want to talk about how these changes affect engineering managers (EMs). I became an EM before the end of the ZIRP period. I managed a single team of 5 engineers. I learned that coding was a hobby (or anti-pattern) for EMs. But, In 2025 we are in a different landscape and expectations have changed. I want to focus on two points:
James Stainier wrote a newsletter called “Being in the detail” in which he writes: In recent years companies have been flattening, creating fewer layers of management between the top and the bottom of the org chart. This is a reversal of the rapid growth during the zero interest-rate policy (ZIRP) phase during COVID-19, which created a glut of new managers under which to slot newly hired engineers. Efficiency is the play now. Tech companies are opting to keep their size fixed as they ride out the current economic phase that has higher interest rates and less cheap investment available. As a result, managers are now expected to have more direct reports, less layers, and to be more hands-on with their teams. I noticed this myself. When I read James's newsletter it perfectly encapsulated my experience. I wanted to understand more about how the industry was changing. So, I contacted other EMs and engineering leaders to understand their perspective. How many engineers should EMs manage? Companies have responded to pressure to increase efficiency in two ways. One is asking EMs to manage more engineers. The other is asking EMs to be more technical. On the first point, EMs are typically asked to manage two teams instead of one. They are increasing efficiency by reducing the number of middle managers. The other way to increase efficiency is asking EMs to manage the same number but also contribute as an IC. Companies aim to increase efficiency by increasing overall output. With this approach EMs typically manage a single team but are expected to write code. I spoke to a Head of Engineering at a mid size proptech company, he said: EMs code alongside engineers and are expected to contribute to the teams output Speaking about the industry as a whole, he said: The nice thing is that EMs have a choice. Depending on whether they want to lean into management or IC work dictates the companies they apply to work for. How technical should EMs be? Although many companies are perusing the first option - asking EMs to manage more people. It's clear to me that there's industry pressure for EMs to be more technical. This will spread throughout the industry. I spoke to a director at Meta who told me EMs are not expected to write code like ICs. However, managers must be technical: Pure “people managers” never did well here. In fact you always had to pass a rigorous technical interview just to get hired, which involved coding and system design. For other companies, the change may be larger. We will see more companies following suit. The job market is more competitive which allows companies to hold a high bar. Being in the detail An EM's IC output is not their primary value. The benefit of working as an IC is to understand the detail to make better decisions. Personally, I’m trying to make room for IC time whilst maintaining my manager responsibilities. I’m picking up low priority bug tickets and pair programming with team members. This improves my technical understanding and ability to make good decisions. Stripe encourage managers to do 'Engineerication'. This is where EMs take a week off from their management duties and work as an IC. Here’s what Stripe’s ex-CTO, David Singleton, said about it: We have found very consistently that managers and leaders who are in the details in some significant surface area that their team is working on are armed with much better context and they're better able to stear things in the right direction and help the team make better decisions. We have a tradition of doing what's called engineerication. Engineerication is where a manager will join their own team or folks building internal infrastructure and do some work with them for a few days. Like an actual atom of real production work that's going to go out to users so you've experianced the full end to end journey. When I first became a manager I felt pressure to step away from IC work but there has been an industry shift. James Stainier writes: there has been some cultural resistance to this trend from some managers, claiming that the job of management is to be strategic and to delegate all of the details to others. Getting close to the details has been seen as meddling or even as a sign of having a lack of trust in your team. EMs should be close to the details. Personally, the closer I am the better the quality of my decisions. I also gain more respect from engineers which helps me be a more effective leader. |
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