Tag Archives: engineer

How Does a Non-Engineer Manager Bring Value to An Engineer Solving a Problem

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From the Ask Tom mailbag –

Question – 
You said yesterday, that a non-engineer can be a manager to an engineer.  How could that work?  I remember you said that one purpose for a manager, is to bring value to the problem solving and decision making of the team member.  How can a non-engineer manager bring value to the decision making and problem solving of an engineer?

Response-
I will assume that an engineer can make decisions and solve problems that are clearly within their defined level of work, or they wouldn’t be in the role in the first place.  Further, I assume the engineer may need managerial support for tough problems and tough decisions.

Your question is, how can a non-engineer manager bring value to an engineer attempting to solve a tough engineering problem?

The most effective managers are those that ask the most effective questions.

  • Describe the problem, what do you observe?
  • What are the possible causes of the problem?
  • Have we solved this problem before?
  • What are the alternative solutions?
  • Of those alternative solutions, which will most likely address the underlying cause of the problem?
  • How will you test the solution to determine if that will solve the problem?
  • If you test the solution and it doesn’t work, will it cause more damage?
  • How will you mitigate the damage so the problem doesn’t get worse?

A manager does not have to be an engineer to ask these questions.  Would these questions have been of value in the roll-out of a complicated website?

 

Can a Non-Engineer Manage an Engineer?

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From the Ask Tom mailbag –

Question:
We are having a discussion about one of our engineers and who he should report to?  The engineering manager says that all engineers should report to him, that a non-engineer doesn’t know how to manage an engineer.  Our plant manager says he needs the engineer on his team full time without going through the engineering manager to get things done.

Response:
First, let’s shift the question to get to the answer.  Every employee reports to lots of people.  Team members work on a project, contribute to a report, complete a routine task and then, work on another project.  In all of these activities, they report to many different people.  That’s normal.

But each employee can only have one manager.

The first question for every new hire into the company is, “who should this person report to?”  Wrong question.  This new employee will report to lots of people.  But each employee can only have one manager.

The central question is, “which manager will be accountable for this team member’s output?”  By definition, a manager is that person in the organization accountable for the output of other people.  Which manager will be accountable for this team member’s output?

Back to the engineer.  Which manager should be accountable for this engineer’s output?  Let’s ask some questions about the plant manager.

  • In the plant,does the plant manager know what tasks need to be completed, which will require engineering technical knowledge and skill?
  • For those tasks, does the plant manager know the reasonable amount of time it should take to complete those tasks?
  • In the plant, is the plant manager accountable for those delegated tasks being complete within the time frame?
  • Does the plant manager have enough engineering work to require a full time engineering role on his team?

If the answer is yes, then the plant manager should be held accountable for the output of this engineering resource.  And yes, non-engineers can be held accountable for the output of engineers.