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About me
My name is Mauro Bagnato and for over 15 years I have been leading tech organizations.
When I first stepped into leadership, I believed technical expertise was the key to being an effective leader. However, I quickly learned that organizations are living and complex systems and that leading them demands much more than just technical know-how. I believe that curiosity is at the heart of effective leadership. This is what fuels learning and experimentation, both crucial for continuous improvement. This blog aims to explore engineering leadership in all its aspects and to provide insights in a tangible and pragmatic manner. It will also be a space where I will share insights, reflections, and personal takeaways from books, podcasts, and articles that influenced and keep influencing my journey.
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Having been an Engineering Manager myself, I can confidently say that it’s one of the most challenging roles in tech.
Here is why:
- Engineering Managers are no longer individual contributors but need to be very hands-on in different ways. This apparent dichotomy is sometimes hard to crack and can lead to a sense of “identity crisis”, but mastering it is key to success.
- Engineering Managers need to be very versatile. On any given day, they face a very diverse set of challenges that require a very wide range of skills. The ability to switch gears rapidly and tackle these diverse challenges is essential.
- Engineering Managers are the bridge between teams and senior management. They need to communicate, mediate, and translate asks and expectations from two worlds that are sometimes very distant and often speak very different languages.
- Engineering Manager role is open to many interpretations and flavors. Expectations can differ from company to company and sometimes even from department to department within the same company.
- Engineering Managers have the great responsibility of building and fostering a healthy and positive culture. Keeping people motivated and engaged while helping them grow personally and professionally is a truly demanding task.
Do you agree? Did I miss anything?
