97 Things Every Engineering Manager Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts

by Camille Fournier

Start defining the problems and goals Any decision that doesn’t have a good set of goals and problem definitions attached to it will likely not get the buy-in you might be hoping for. There are decisions for which this isn’t possible due to confidentiality reasons. But for most decisions, be clear on the goals. This helps avoid bikeshedding, where people argue about the implementation or a detail rather than first reaching agreement on whether they really need a shed. Collect information from multiple sources Talk to several people in your company to get a fair overview of what people think about the problem at hand. Don’t stretch it out for eternity though. Set yourself a time limit or list out the people who you think would have the strongest opinions and would be affected the most. Outline the options Outlining more than one option that you’ve considered in your decision making makes it clear to people that you’ve tried to make a fair decision that considers multiple angles, including theirs. Be cognizant of the risks Think about what consequences the decision might have and what risks you associate with it. This is a good way to go beyond your fears and gut feeling and really think about the best and the worst that could happen, and anything in between. Consider doing experiments instead of making decisions Decisions seem more difficult to make because they tend to appear valid for an infinite amount of time. You can reduce this by considering a decision as an experime...