Management Tips for Software Engineering Managers

Working in software engineering is no mean feet, it’s complex and it’s competitive, but once you throw in people management it starts to become even more complicated never mind managing multiple projects and workstreams.

Many experienced engineers and tech leads naturally come to a point in their career when they have to decide whether they want to go down the route of technical leadership focusing on frameworks and code design, or people leadership focusing on delivery and resourcing, some organisations may even combine both roles.

Whether you are new to management or an experienced engineering manager, at MCS Group we have worked with some of the brightest and best over the past 17 years, so here are our top tips for Software Engineering Managers.

1. Actionable insights – All good managers whether technical or delivery-focused act as liaisons between engineers, internal stakeholders and customers and the best way to act with confidence and accuracy is through data. Through the use of dashboards, project plans and effective resource planning you will be on top of the detail in terms of projects, costs and timescales.

2. Real-time communication – Communication is critical in any business, using tools like Slack and Teams can great a central point for communication giving people the opportunity to ask questions, answer queries and share ideas in real-time.

3. Be people-focused –   Management is about people, if you are managing people directly or managing them as a resource good people management is a key skill of any manager. All people are individual so tailor your approach to different personality types to get the best out of people as it will build trust and help to establish the culture you want.

4. Continuous Personal Development –  Never stop learning! The technology industry is ever-changing so CPD is a top priority for any manager, as well as stay in touch with technology you’ll need to be upskilling on financial skills and performance management for example and by driving a culture of continual learning it will only benefit your teams.

5. Set expectations –   Whether you are new to management or an old hand you need to set expectations, these expectations when shown as goals, KPIs or metrics will show everyone what you are trying to achieve, how progress will be monitored and what success will look like. Setting expectations sets focus and drives performance.

If you are an Engineering Manager or Tech Lead looking for that next opportunity or curious about the market. Make sure to check out our IT & Digital opportunities or reach out to one of our Head of IT Recruitment Sarah McCann, on 028 96 935523 or email s.mccann@mcsgroup.jobs in confidence for a chat today.