computer engineering 203 r smith management skills 02/2008 1 what are engineering management skills?...

Computer Engineering 203 R Smith Management Skills 02/20081

What are Engineering Management Skills?

Engineering Management requires a combination of both technical skills and “soft skills.”

– Technical skills: designing software, testing, writing code– Soft skills: team building, communicating, decision making,

improving the skills of your team– Activities that are both: gathering requirements, planning

Other activities and skills


Soft Skills are a Foundation for successfully using the Technical Skills.

Developers are often given the job of manager based on their technical skills.

Attributes for managers– What makes a good manager?– Good leadership/just being loud?

Managers responsibilities– In broad terms what does a manager do?

Specific Skills – What skills are needed to be a successful manager?


What are the skills of someone you would work for?

What is important for the project? What is important for you to work for them? What is important for you to be successful? What is success in your organization?


Attributes of Managers

Capable of evaluating risk and uncertainty– Being able to live with risk and uncertainty

Honesty and integrity Understanding of personnel problems Communicates clearly and completely Alertness and quickness Versatility


Attributes of Managers

Energy and toughness– If you have no energy then why expect your team to?

Decision-making ability Pro-active

– You can not wait to be told.

Cool headed– Know when to get mad.– Is being mad all the time effective?


Manager’s Responsibilities

Interface Management– Project Interfaces– Management Interfaces– Customer Interfaces– Information Flow

Resource Management– Time (schedule)– Manpower


Manager’s Responsibilities

– Money– Facilities– Equipment– Information/Technology

Planning and Control– Reduced risks– Identification of alternatives– Resolution of conflicts– Running the project core team


Specific Skills for Managers

Team building– Getting team members committed– Clearly defining goals and objectives– Good working relationships– Being aware of the project’s culture

Planning skills Conflict resolution



Organizational skills Entrepreneurial skills Administrative skills Resource allocation skills Decision making skills Technical skills



Leadership– The process whereby one individual influences

other group members toward the attainment of defined group or organizational goals.

– Non-coercive influence Coercive influence takes constant energy



Leadership/Management– Leadership is where to go

Leadership motivates

– Management is how to get there Management implements


Useful Team Skills

There are many team skills, the following skills are useful across a broad range of activities.

– Communicating– Team building – Facilitating – Making deccisions– Postmortems/Retrospectives– Principled Negotiation– Inspections

These skills will be practiced in team exercises through out the semester.


Useful Team Skills

In Software Development and especially in the valley, lower level management’s role is often accomplished through influence and facilitation rather than direction.

Why?– Lack of formal procedures and policies.– Strong technical contributors, often more senior than

management.– Many groups at the same level with conflicting priorities.


Communications

Communication is critical to all management activities.

Tools for effective communications– Removing ambiguity– Resolving Cultural and Frame of Reference

differences– The role of metrics in communications


Team Building

What is a team?– “A small number of people with complimentary skills who

are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”

– Identity, membership, roles and responsibilities Clear vision, objectives and purpose

– Management must make these clear if team members are to know what they are doing.

– Allows teams to have some level of self direction.


How Teams Function Using a Learning Cycle

Understand and frame the problem– Do not accept the problem at face value.– Look for root causes.

Plan– Challenge assumptions, decide on actions

Act– Follow the plan!

Reflect and Learn– What can we do better?– Involve the team in reflection


Team Building

What happens when there is no clear identity or direction?– Priority conflicts happen– Lack of focus– Easy to sit around and wait to be told what to do.

In some sense management’s goal should be to eliminate the need for management.– Self-organizing teams


FacilitatingGetting the Job Done

Facilitation is a useful skill in getting teams to meet objectives.

Facilitation gives guidance as required and is non-interfering.

Facilitating– Keep focus, single topic at a time, quality discussion

Everyone needs to know why they are there– Allow everyone to speak in a safe environment

Avoid name calling, excessive joking– Make good use of time

Avoid discussion loops, side tracking


Postmortems/Retrospectives

Postmortem, Latin for “after death” Regardless of what it is called successful

management learns form the past. Being conscious of what you are doing and

have done. The facilitator’s role is to create a safe

environment in which to get honest feedback.



Study both failures and successes Define the purpose of the retrospective

– Define success Decide who should attend Create a safe environment

– Establish ground rules Establish the timeline and mine it.

– What actually happened and when.



What worked and what did not work. Capture the data. Determine what you are going to do about it.

– Conducting a Retrospective and doing nothing about it is a pure waste of time and undermines any future retrospectives.



When we do not learn from our mistakes we are forced to repeat them.


Reaching Decisions

An important skill is helping teams reach decisions.

Making progress without knowing the entire process.

Getting support for decisions. Lack of a perfect plan.


Principled Negotiation

Soft Negotiation– Searching for agreement– Avoiding conflict– True buy in?

Hard Negotiation– Looking for victory– Wanting to win– True buy in?


Principled Negotiation

Ensure that everyone understands everyone else’s objectives and positions.

Separate people from the problem.– Keep emotions out of the equation.

Develop win-win solutions.– Look for alternatives.

Use objective data– The need for metrics.


Inspections

A method for improving both understanding and quality of all work products.

Inspections can be done at any stage of the development process.

Inspections are a formal/disciplined review of work products with set roles for those who participate.


Benefits from Inspections

Detection of defects at an earlier stage– Finding defects at an earlier stage lowers the cost

of correction.

Expanding the understanding of the code– This means we have multiple developers able to

contribute to the improvement of the work product.


Inspections

Inspection roles; moderator, reader, scribe, reviewers

Focus is on detecting flaws not correcting them on the spot.

Materials are reviewed individually before the inspection meeting.– This helps reduce both meeting time and group

think.


Inspections

During the inspection each line is read.– A disciplined approach is used to ensure

everything in the work product is covered.

Flaws are corrected following the meeting.– Only those defects that will be corrected should

be checked for during the inspection.


Issues with Inspections

Detecting problems that never need to be corrected wastes effort.– Not following through– Picking at details

Inspecting too much– 80/20 rule

Solving problems rather than identifying them

computer engineering 203 r smith management skills 02/2008 1 what are engineering management skills?...

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skills technical skills

engineering management

specific skills

r smith management skills

code soft skills

computer engineering

managers team building

attributes of managers