thatsamonad

Hi HN,

I manage a team of engineers that mostly handles internal systems development (ERP, billing systems, etc). Currently on my team if the business needs something from us we have people submit a wiki page with the business ask and requirements outlined. Then we take some time going through it, asking questions, clarifying the request, etc. We not only prioritize the requirements reviews we’re going though, but we also create tickets from those and then prioritize the tickets. Overall this process feels pretty clunky and gets bogged down easily if someone just dumps a bunch of text on to the page and we have to sort through it.

I’m curious to hear how others manage accepting requirements from users outside of engineering and whether they’ve found an intake/review process that works well. I’d be especially curious to hear about how you handle internal asks (e.g. from internal Sales Reps) vs external customer feature requests.

Thanks in advance for your insight!

Hi HN,

I recently made the move from technical lead to full-blown engineering manager about 6 months ago. I was aware at the time that I’d be using a different set of skills than what I was used to when I was doing technical work. That being said, I picked up some of my technical skills and knowledge by attending some quality trainings, online courses, etc, so I know those kinds of things are out there for technical topics.

Are there any good/quality training courses or learning paths for engineering managers out there that you would recommend? A lot of the things I’ve been exposed to so far are pretty “fluffy”, so I’m hoping to find some good resources that will aid me in building the skills I need to help my team succeed.

I currently work as a technical lead for a private tech company and I’ve been offered a job at a publicly traded tech company (non-FAANG). I primarily focus on the business systems side (things like back-end billing, etc) and not so much product development. The salary at the new gig is a bit higher and the team seems better and more supportive overall, but the current situation with the stock market is giving me some pause.

Is this reasonable to consider as a factor for a job change? Is there anything I should be considering as part of this move as it relates to the current drop we are seeing among numerous tech companies?