It actually takes quite a bit of learning to know how to be a good manager. First, understand that managing technical people and managing technical projects are two different things. Techinical managers (i.e. engineering managers) need skills in project planning, managing people, and tracking/measuring/improving process progress.
Also, there exist many management myths, mis-information, and incorrectly-applied and mis-understood techniques.
A good place start would be our list of suggested publications
on our "Publications" page.
Read journals from professional societies such as IEEE Engineering Management Society.
See also the references and management reading lists from our speakers
Randal C. Gaereminck
and also
Eugene Greenstein.
Extensive in-depth training for new managers is being offered in Central Texas. In their words:
[The Central Texas Chapter is] working with technology leaders to understand what they need to help new engineering managers (and those who are on track for leadership roles, such as architect or project lead) to make the transition more successfully. Our industry is full of cases of new engineering leaders failing because, although they have great engineering skills, they often lack the people skills and business skills to succeed in a leadership role.
After focus groups and many discussions, we’ve come up with a program that we think can benefit many people, the
Engineering Leadership Institute
. The program includes an initial intensive, boot-camp week of training, followed by additional programs every six months over a two-year period.
The program is described more fully on its website at
http://lifelong.engr.utexas.edu/shortcourse.cfm?course_num=1028
.
Manager Resources
