About

The Engineering Manager is written by James Stanier as a collection of thoughts, stories, and resources on the subject of engineering management. It is intended to inform and entertain, providing hands-on tutorials for new managers, along with occasional book reviews, interviews, and articles that explore both the art and science of being an effective manager.

Years ago, when first becoming a manager in a technology company, James found the lack of resources alarming: how should he be doing his job? How will he know that he is succeeding? Just what exactly is a manager meant to be doing all day? That spawned the site, which in turn spawned the books.

This site exists to serve the engineering community: from those that are managers or are wanting to become one, through to those just interested in the profession. We hope that it can have a positive impact on the day to day lives of the millions of engineers worldwide.

Core values

The site shines a spotlight on the human side of the technology industry: the relationships that in turn build amazing software. We exist to strengthen the bond between managers and their reports by providing engaging, entertaining and educational writing. This information should be freely available to everyone, regardless of race, creed, gender or colour.

We are passionate about creating quality content that makes a measurable impact on the lives of software engineers worldwide.

Our core values are:

  • Information should always be free: Our articles should always be available for free online, as we aim to reach as many readers as possible with no barrier to entry.
  • Sympathy before bravado: We write with a sympathetic tone that is understanding to the complex technology and relationships involved in building software.
  • Quality content before revenue: Articles will only be posted if they serve to educate, entertain or inform. We will not sell or endorse any products that we do not believe fulfill these needs.
  • Light-hearted seriousness: Writing will maintain a respectful and serious undertone when being playful and humorous. No humans will be defamed or in any way harmed in order to create content.
  • Being a talisman for the vocation: We wish to celebrate management in the software industry and demonstrate the positive impact it has on the lives of millions of software engineers worldwide.

If you’re just getting started with this site, check out Management 101. It’s our quick-start guide to getting going on the management track. After that there’s Leveling up and Managing managers.

Support this site

The best way that you can support this site is to buy a copy of one of my books. I think you’ll enjoy reading them. Failing that, you can sign up to the newsletter to get new articles into your inbox. Share them around if you find them useful.