The Enduring Principles of Engineering Leadership

I recently came across a Microsoft research paper( What Makes a Great Manager of Software Engineers) that was published in 2017. That seems like a long time ago in the tech world. But as I read it, I realized that the results were so accurate that they could have been written this morning.

The paper asked a simple question: What makes a good manager of software engineers?

Their answer is more important than we might think in a world where AI, remote work, and deadlines are getting shorter and shorter. It turns out that knowing how to use the tech stack isn't the key to being a great leader. It's about getting to know the people.

Your Best Coder Isn't Your Best Leader

Let's get right to the main point. The research showed that being good with people is much more important for a manager than being a technical genius. How much more? When given a choice, a huge

75% of engineers and managers said they would rather hire a leader with average technical skills and great people skills than the other way around.

Take a moment to think about that. For years, we put our best engineers in charge, thinking that their coding skills would make them good leaders. This study shows that teams don't really want or need that.

They don't need a boss who can fix every technical issue. They need a manager who can help them, listen to them, and make it easier for them to figure things out on their own.

The Three Things a Great Engineering Manager Does

The study found that a great manager has three main jobs. These aren't just words that sound good; they are the things that teams do every day to get better.

1. You are a gardener (growing talent)
   Your main job is to help your people get better. This means you're always looking for new ways to help them improve their skills and careers. It's about giving your team real ownership and trusting them to do their jobs. Letting them work on their own, giving them hard tasks that push them (grows talent), and asking them good questions instead of just giving them the answers (guides the team).
2. You are the team's coach (getting people excited)
   It's all about the team's mood and spirit. The study found that the most important quality was keeping the workplace a good place to work. You do this by making sure people know they're important (understanding what makes each person tick (recognizing individuality), and really caring about their well-being, not just their work (building a relationship).
3. You are the team's shield (you protect them).
   Keeping your team's focus is a big part of your job. You are the buffer between them and the chaos of the bigger organization. This means you - Remove any blockers and protect them from random, last-minute requests that kill productivity so they can get the job done. You also help them stay connected to the big picture (drives alignment and stands up for them with other teams and leaders (helps with communication with people outside the team).

So, What’s Changed in 2025? It became more complex

While these ideas are timeless, let's be honest: being this kind of manager today is very hard. The problems from 2017, like scattered data and poor visibility, have only gotten worse.

You want to be the coach who helps people grow, but you have to spend hours in spreadsheets trying to figure out who's blocked by putting together data from Jira, GitHub, and Slack. You want to be the shield, but it's hard to keep your team safe from unreasonable requests when you don't have clear data.

It shouldn't feel like you're also a part-time data analyst if you're a great leader.

How EvolveDev Can Help You Lead

This is why we made EvolveDev.io. We think that if you take the boring job of collecting data away from managers, they will have more time and focus to be the leaders their teams need.

We hook up to all of your tools and do the hard work for you, so you can concentrate on what's important:

Actually develop talent: Our dashboards show you where your engineers are doing well and where they might need help, so you don't have to guess. You can have more meaningful one-on-one meetings with them, backed up by real data, to help them grow.

Get your time back: Think about how much time you could save by not having to check for status updates. You can work on making the team culture better, celebrating wins, and making the kind of place where everyone wants to be.

Be a better shield: Our Investment and Project Dashboards make it easy to see where your team's work is going before you even go to a meeting. It lets you protect their time and make sure their great work is in line with business goals, all with data that everyone can understand.

The plan for a great engineering manager is still the same. They are still shields, coaches, and gardeners. With the right help, you can spend less time dealing with spreadsheets and more time being the leader your team needs.

Ready to stop managing spreadsheets and start leading your team? Try EvolveDev.