Rethinking Productivity of Engineering Managers

Is there a way to achieve more without the risk of burnout?

The productivity of engineering managers is a critical factor in the success of any tech company. Engineering managers play a key role in understanding business needs, setting goals, sharing context, delegating tasks, and ensuring that their team is working effectively and efficiently.

However, the definition of productivity for the engineering managers goes beyond simply getting things done. It also encompasses their ability to inspire and motivate engineers in their team, make informed decisions, take calculated risks and continuously strive for growth and improvement.

Effective engineering managers understand that their own productivity sets the tone for the entire engineering department, and as such, they work to continuously develop their skills, stay up to date with industry trends, and foster a positive and productive work environment. The true measure of a manager’s productivity lies not just in their ability to get things done, but also in their ability to cultivate a culture of excellence through learning and continuous improvement.

To achieve all of the above without the risk of burnout, engineering managers need to create a system that helps them optimize the use of time and resources. Such systems should enable engineering managers to easily prioritize tasks, create connections between multiple moving parts, delegate effectively, keep track of deadlines, and make informed decisions.

I have always leveraged some form of system in my management career. I truly believe having a well-designed system leads to better outcomes and improved performance. I find it hard to be creative, and effective and think clearly when my brain is holding too much information. So I make an effort to write things down and plan diligently.

When I found out about Tiago Forte’s book, Building a Second Brain, I resonated with it so much. In his book, Building a Second Brain, Tiago Forte argues that the modern world is characterized by an overwhelming amount of information and knowledge and that traditional methods of organization and memory are no longer sufficient to keep up with the demands of the job.

To meet this challenge, Forte proposes the idea of creating a “second brain” — a system for capturing, organizing, and leveraging knowledge that can help individuals stay on top of their responsibilities and make better decisions.

Every Engineering Manager Should Have A Second?Brain

There is no better audience for this kind of system than engineering managers. Engineering managers today face a number of challenges in their roles.

One of the most significant challenges is managing a rapidly changing and complex technological landscape. As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, engineering managers must stay up-to-date with the latest tools, techniques, and best practices in order to effectively manage their teams and deliver high-quality products. This can be a significant challenge, as it requires a significant investment of time and resources to stay current. For example, late last year, ChatGTP was announced and every tech company has to move fast to leverage AI in their offerings.

Another challenge facing engineering managers today is managing and motivating a diverse team. Engineering teams are often made up of individuals with a wide range of backgrounds, skills, and experience levels. Some may even be located in different parts of the world thanks to remote work.

This diversity can be a significant strength, but it can also present challenges in terms of managing communication, collaboration, and expectations. Engineering managers must be able to effectively communicate with and motivate team members, while also addressing and resolving conflicts that may arise.

In addition to the above, engineering managers must also face the challenge of balancing competing priorities, ensuring that they are shipping features as quickly as possible with limited resources to stay competitive in the market. This can be challenging, as engineering managers must often make trade-offs between competing goals such as technical architecture, quality of features, and speed. They also have to manage various stakeholders expectations and customer demands.

Lastly, engineering managers, today are also facing an increased expectation for agility, adaptability, and flexibility as the world has become more dynamic, uncertain, and complex. They must be able to respond quickly to changing customer needs, market conditions, and emerging technologies. This requires a highly agile management approach and a willingness to embrace new methods and processes.

So I decided to apply Tiago Forte’s methods of managing information on top of the current system that I have been using in my engineering management career and created a second brain for engineering managers. To put it in practice, I used Google Sheets instead of Notion as I wanted the system to be simple and easily accessible. The goal of this second brain system is that it allows engineering managers to better manage their workload and prioritize tasks while staying on top of it all.

By capturing all of the information related to a project or task in one place, engineering managers can quickly access the information they need to make informed decisions and plan their work. Best of all, they don’t need to rely on their memory and be worried about forgetting important tasks or information.

How To Create a Second Brain as an Engineering Manager?

There are two key concepts in Building a Second Brain book that I am leveraging for my second brain system for engineering managers. The first is the C.O.D.E method and the second is the P.A.R.A method.

C.O.D.E method

P.A.R.A method

My Engineering Manager’s Second Brain is created in Google Sheets for easy access and there are 8 tabs in total:

1/ Success Measures: Populate Measures of Success for your role according to your job description and in alignment with your manager

Using Tiago Forte’s P.A.R.A method:

2/ [P]rojects: For Projects, be specific and only list initiatives that you’re working on with clear start and end dates and well-defined outcomes. Example of projects: New feature project, Upgrade old library project.

3/ [A]reas: Know the main focus Areas for your role — the standard ones for an engineering manager are already populated and they should contribute to Measures of Success. Note that you can have more Areas than Measures of Success.

4/ [R]esources: For Resources, using Tiago Forte’s C.O.D.E method:

• When there is new information, add to Resources (Capture)
• Categorise entries in Resource into relevant Areas (Organise)
• Take time to review Resources at a regular cadence (weekly or monthly) and write down the key takeaways (Distil)
• Leverage the knowledge and put them into practice (Express)

5/ [A]rchive: When something is no longer relevant, move it to Archive.

6/ Tasks: Tasks are what you’d normally put in your To-do list. Try to fill in all the columns as this will help you in making sure you’re spending your time intentionally.

7/ Weekly Planner: The planner contains standard recurring activities, and can be adapted to the specific needs and schedule of the engineering manager.

8/ Best Practices: Refer to Best Practices to carry out your responsibilities effectively. Add to it as needed.

The following is a short screen capture of the system:

What People said about Tiago’s concept of Second?Brain

‘I’ve been using variations on Forte’s ideas for decades. When you’re ready to get out of your own way, you’ll discover that they really work.’

— Seth Godin, Author

‘Tiago’s changed the game with this book. Building a Second Brain completely changed my life and the book is a great distillation of the key ideas.’

— Ali Abdaal, YouTuber and Entrepreneur

‘What makes the biggest difference to people’s lives, their careers and their businesses is “completed creative projects.” To me, that is the unit of progress that is most relevant in today’s modern world.’

— Tiago Forte, The author of Building a Second Brain

Level Up your Engineering Management Craft with a Second?Brain

Building a second brain is an essential tool for modern engineering managers as it allows you to better manage their workload, prioritize tasks, keep track of important details and share knowledge with your team. By creating a centralized system for capturing, organizing, and leveraging knowledge, engineering managers can make better decisions, plan their work more effectively, priortize what matters for their people, product and platform, and improve the overall performance of their team.

Until that time when you can ask ChatGPT to tell you exactly what you need to know or do, a second brain system is going to be a helpful guide, stress reliever and wise mentor for engineering managers.