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Jeremy Berg's avatar
Really a great article and insights. You said it well when referring to it as the "non-obvious" advice. Thank you for writing it.
I've seen the aphorism "Trust, but verify" used to describe engineering management many times and I cringe a little every time I see it. Ronald Reagan famously said this when discussing nuclear disarmament with the Soviet Union. I'm not sure this is a statement that should guide the engineering manager's relationship with employees whom they should trust already. I prefer the term "inspect what you expect" by Louis Gerstner and W. Edwards Deming because it implies the manager has a role in outcomes. It is very difficult for engineers, especially early tenure engineers, to know what to focus on. If they did everything they were told, they often wouldn't get much done. This statement tells the manager, "if it isn't important enough to follow up on, then consider not telling your employee to do it." I'm curious what you think of this statement.
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