Continuing Education for Technical Professionals

   THE LEARNING PROFESSIONAL^TM

           Project Performance and Career Advancement Tips

                                                                                                      Volume 5, Issue 1

In This Issue:

AuxTips^TM

Five Things You Need to Know About Engineering Management

Important points for engineering staff and executives in support of their Engineering Managers.

The Negotiation Mentor

What if you have no leverage?

Featured Course

Managing Many Priorities

Now available at amazon.com:

by Steve Trautman

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AuxTips^TM

Quick tips you can start implementing immediately.

Managing Email

Email swamps many of us to such an extent it's considered one of the
top four Productivity Pillagers by efficiency and "time management" experts.

Reading the same email more than once without responding, forwarding, deleting or taking some other action squanders valuable time. So instead of re-reading and pondering over each email, try this: Read it, decide, move on.

The same applies to paperwork. Some call it the "one touch" rule. On the surface it may not seem as bad to let email pile up as you might let paper on your desk accumulate. A thousand email messages don't take up the physical space of 1000 paper documents. But it's not the physical volume that really matters. It's the time wasted when email doesn't trigger action.

Of course it isn't always the case you can handle every email the moment you get it. "Please write a detailed 20-page report on your findings following our new formatting standards" isn't something you can just whip out before you move on to the next email!

But whenever possible: Read it, decide, move on.

Five Things You Need to Know About Engineering Management

by Gary C. Hinkle - President, Auxilium, Inc.                      Read Full Text

If you read surveys about the highest paying jobs in the U.S., you'll notice that the median salary for Engineering Managers ranks not too far behind doctors, attorneys, and CEOs (typical CEO base salary, not the extreme high end of the scale that often makes the news).  The reason good Engineering Managers are paid well is because it's a very difficult job that not many people with engineering backgrounds want − and even fewer are highly qualified for the role.

Michael Aucoin, author of From Engineer to Manager: Mastering the Transition found that most engineers are unhappy with the "promotion" to manager.  "Much of this frustration is the result of lack of preparation and training."

Outside of the technical challenges Engineering Managers face, three major issues make Engineering Management a difficult profession that takes its toll on many:

* An Engineering Manager needs soft skills to be effective.  Often, too much emphasis is placed on technical ability as a primary job requirement.  Without the ability to influence others, make good decisions and manage many priorities, top-notch technical skills aren't going contribute much to the management of the team.

* Expectations of an Engineering Manager are unrealistic.  It's rare to find an Engineering Manager who's a perfect package: technical, business and leadership skills all rolled into one, with a side order of interpersonal abilities.  Whether this balance exists or not, Engineering Managers need to delegate and their managers need to be supportive of that.  Expecting Engineering Managers to be superhuman is sure to lead to disappointment.

* The Engineering Manager role lacks P/L responsibility.  Without direct responsibility for profit and loss, Engineering Managers won't be fully recognized as strategic leaders.  They often don't receive the same level of support, recognition, raises, and promotions their peers in Sales or Marketing enjoy.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

1) Align resources well.

Encourage Engineering Managers to delegate and make the most of their existing strengths.  If their strength is leadership, they should delegate "management" functions such as scheduling, project planning details, etc.  The more experienced engineers should be serving as project leaders, maybe even taking on some of the "management" responsibilities.

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