How to Adapt to 4 Engineering Manager Archetypes as a Software Engineer

Over the course of my career I worked together with several Engineering Managers. A manager should adapt their management style based on the individual. One person might need close attention and clear direction. Another person might need lots of freedom and challenging tasks.

What happens when your manager cannot adjust her style based on what you need? Right, you might feel misunderstood, hanging in the air, feeling like you are not supported.

However, in a relationship there are always two people responsible they say. You manager might also feel not supported well cause you are not able to adapt to what she needs.

Let's look at some Engineering Manager archetypes that I experienced in my career. We will touch upon their characteristics and how to deal with them so that you get what you deserve.

The Tech Lead Manager

The Tech Lead Manager is usually a person who is pretty hands-on. She works with you on the backlog as a team member, often on lower risk tasks because she has other duties as well. Those could be 1on1s, team and individual development, planning, refinement, plus she will be involved in the hiring process.

She has a pretty good idea of what is currently being worked on. She knows what the challenges and risks are as she is part of all normal team ceremonies.

Therefore, this manager type sounds like an engineer on steroids. She does what an engineer does but in addition to that has much more insights into what each person on the team wants.

How to deal with them

The Tech Lead Manager's influence is very direct. She will need less input from you to get a feel of the team dynamics as she is heavily involved.

1on1s will usually feel less of a reporting meeting. There is not too much information transfer around the current state of the team and project necessary.

You might run into situations where the manager has "too much" technical knowledge and wants to influence details that you feel should be part of your circle of influence. You might even have less influence cause your manager has too much knowledge of the details. Having additional people responsibility makes her pretty powerful.

Your greatest luck or your greatest nightmare?

If she is on your side, you can leverage her combination of technical and people influence and drive your initiatives forward. It will also feel natural to you as a software engineer to work with her cause she is half a software engineer herself. You are living in the same world.

If she is not on your side, it can be hard to argue with her because of that deep technical and up to date knowledge. Arguing over coding details can be frustrating when you are of a different opinion than your manager.

The Laissez-Fair Manager

The Laissez-Fair Manager has no interest or is too busy/overwhelmed to look into technical details. She usually has someone in the team she trusts (like the Tech Lead) and tries to steer the team through that person.

This type of manager is more concerned around the inputs and outputs of the team as a whole. She gathers and distributes information solely through 1on1s and team meetings. She keeps away noise from the team and acts as a filter.

How to deal with them

The Laissez-Fair Manager's influence is indirect. Keep an eye on the subtle communication queues in 1on1s and team meetings. Make sure that expectations of you but also expectations for the project (inputs, outputs, stakeholders, requirements, etc.) are clear to you as there will be less interaction day to day with your manager. "Keep the interfaces clear." Having this type of manager can be a great experience if everyone is on the same page and the team delivers.

Similarly to how the manager goes about projects, she will most likely also proceed with your career. In any case, you should own your career. However, with a Laissez-Fair Manager you might need to pay close attention to setting goals and reviewing them as well as driving the discussion around your career growth. Don't expect your manager to do it for you.

A big relief for people that need freedom

The precondition for this relationship working out is that you align well. Then:

• You and the team will have lots of freedom.
• There will be barely any babysitting by your manager.
• You will be treated like adults.
• Discussions about raises and promotions will be easier cause the manager will judge based on the big picture, not on lots of tiny details.

The Newly-Made Manager

The Newly-Made manager has no formal people leading experience. She usually comes out of a Tech Lead role. Thus, you might feel insecurities around what good practices are. She will experiment a lot to find her path.

She might stick to their known technical field as long as they can, cause this is what they know well. It feels comfortable. Or she might try to distance herself from it as much as possible and make a clear cut.

How to deal with them

When the Newly-Made Manager asks you about their approach, be honest and give feedback. When you recognize big shifts in the manager's approach it is probably a sign of experimentation. Give the manager time to find their way.

She is missing experience

However, you have the chance to build the relationship and the approach together with her from the start. This can be a huge opportunity to have lots of influence yourself and use the manager as a leverage.

Your manager will be very open to try something else/new. There will be few prejudices if any. She will most likely be very motivated to come up with good results.

The Fearful Manager

The Fearful Manager doesn't trust your or your team's abilities by default. She mainly trusts her gut feeling of risk. Unfortunately, the threshold of risk is very low.

She needs to make sure the team has everything the manager thinks is needed to get going. This might mean she does not trust your transferable skills and mandates "learning time" prior to a project start. She needs validation to satisfy her mind that her team learned everything they can before the project even started.

Unknown circumstances make her feel uncomfortable. Hence, this manager type might delegate lots of "information gathering" and clarification tasks to you.

How to deal with them

Although you might think she overreacts, you can't change her. Better accept her. Reassure your manager by:

• Collecting necessary information in written form and sharing it with her.
• Asking specifically about risks she sees, assessing those risks and reporting back.
• Over-communicating.

Your risk perceptions do not align

Working together with a Fearful Manager feels like they don't trust you. However, it is not you but her gut feeling that requires reassurance again and again. Not giving this will make the situation worse, not better. Over time you will learn about the right amount of communication necessary to appease her.

Conclusion

Like every person on earth is different, so is every manager. Some are able to adapt according to the needs to a project and the different team members. But some are not.

In cases where a manager is not able to adapt, it will be a good idea to be aware of that and help as much as you can. All assuming that you want to stay in your position.

What other types of managers did you have in the past? What did you learn from it?