Comments for https://www.rubick.com/engineering-manager-vs-tech-lead/
Comments for: https://www.rubick.com/engineering-manager-vs-tech-lead/
- DKiril Popov @donuts
Great article.
It would also be useful to add "who reports to who" in the different models (e.g. does the TL and PM report to the Engineering Manager in the Engineering manager runs project model) as this is one major point of confusion
Thanks
- JJade Rubick @jaderubick
That's great feedback. I'll add that in. Thank you for commenting!
- LIn reply tosystem⬆:@lute14
Thank you for this summary of different approaches to development team roles and responsibilities. You provide a valuable framework and some helpful insights.
I'd like to know more about why you gravitate toward "EM runs projects?" I'd also like to know more about why you see so many aspects of Scrum as being done "poorly." I agree that there is no "right" way and that effectiveness probably has to do with the context, the people in the roles and their ability to execute (and continuously improve) individually and as a team. That said, explicitly picking one is important in that it helps clarify roles & responsibilities.
- JJade Rubick @jaderubick
The main reason I gravitate towards the EM does projects approach is that I have seen it work in so many different places. I believe it works well because it aligns incentives better than other approaches. The EM is close enough to the work (because they are doing project management) that they can effectively guide process and coach people. The power dynamics of having a leader responsible for technical decision making is avoided, which helps you avoid a failure mode where the EM makes decisions without getting good feedback.
The SCRUM approach can certainly work well. I just have never seen it. I have seen it work okay at many companies. It isn’t bad — SCRUM is set up to have decent incentives. But I haven’t seen it work as well as the EM does projects approach. Your mileage may vary. Incentive wise, I think that is because SCRUM overempowers someone to focus on process. So they do too much. And it undervalues project management. There was a lot of skepticism about project management with early agile. I think some of that is warranted, but using more modern, incremental, and lightweight approaches to project management, you can achieve better outcomes than using the SCRUM approach. That has been my experience at least. Few startups and few FAANG companies use SCRUM and I think this is why.
- RIn reply tosystem⬆:Richard M
I'm confused between the engineering manager vs product manager approach. In the former, you suggest "A Technical Lead oversees the quality of the team’s technical work." In the latter, you claim, "The Engineering Manager oversees the quality of the team’s technical work... Alternatively, you can have a Tech Lead handle this area. That can work okay, but has a disadvantage. The Engineering Manager will then be too far from the work. This will cause them to not be able to guide the team’s process or coach their team." What's the difference? Would the EM not also be too far from the work in the engineering manager approach?
- JJade Rubick @jaderubick
Really glad you asked this -- I'll look at the post and see if the wording needs improvement.
In the EM approach: they stay close to the work because they're doing project management.
In the PM approach: if the EM is not involved in the technical work, they're totally separated from the work. So if you do the PM approach, you should probably have the EM be a technical leader.Does that help?