Managerial Role of Applied Engineering

Well, I recognised 'power tool' and 'engineering' but can anyone offer a solution to the rest of the question?

Your question is a good one, but I am not sure if I fully grasp what you want. However, that won't stop me from trying. ;-)

One point you can consider is that a well grounded understanding of what the task(s) you are trying to manage can help you better understand the magnitude and criticality of the individual pieces of the puzzle and how they go together. Engineers seem to divide into two groups. Those that are focused on their specific task or area of expertise would be one. The others tend to have a holistic view of the problem space. The latter will grasp not only the details of each task (to some level), but also have an understanding of how each task relates to each other and what the goalposts are and why. These engineers tend to be lead engineers.

The transition to management adds leadership skills to that toolbox and expands their planning skills. As a manager, comprehending what the engineering challenges are at the trench level can enable you to do what managers should be doing best; that is, getting the obstacles cleared out of the way so that the engineers can do what they do best in their problem solving domains.

On the flip side, a manager with an engineering degree must resist the urge to micromanage or worse, get themselves into the engineering role. You have engineers to do that job. Your job is to light the path and clear out the brush so that the engineers can reach the team goals and for you to structure the development effort (layout the pathway).

Finally, having an intimate knowledge of engineering will aid you in resource assignment. If you understand what the individual tasks are that must be completed to drive a project to release, you will be better armed to assign the right engineers to the right tasks and maximize your resource usage.

All of this is just a very high level view of the managerial role. There are many, many, many, books on the subject that delve into the details far better than I could ever do here.

Good post!

"If you understand what the individual tasks are that must be completed to drive a project to release, you will be better armed to assign the right engineers to the right tasks and maximize your resource usage."

I would just add/stress that you get to know the engineers under you: How they approach tasks, their strengths and their weaknesses. And on the human side, get to know something about them personally too. Treat them with respect, and hear out their concerns and/or suggestions, because it could save you from committing a blunder or result in a better outcome. You always have the final say so don't be afraid to take some advice from your staff members if it makes good sense and don't worry about losing face, on the contrary it will only earn their respect. Try to create an atmosphere where they can exercise their ability and creativity; let them "soar" and they will work all the harder for you. Ultimately, your success depends on their success, so by helping them achieve success it helps you. When things go wrong, as they always do, shoulder the blame when possible, don't blame your engineers. (It's your responsibility anyway, and you will again earn their goodwill and respect.)

All to often management training stresses the "top down" management of resources, but your people are your biggest resource and they will perform much better if they want to than if they are pressured to.

Unfortunately the often heard remark that engineers tend to make bad manager's (of people) because they went into engineering since they felt more comfortable with machines than people (machines are predictable) has more than a little truth to it.

Yes. The lovely thing about engineers is that we know how to evaluate/implement technical ideas. Management is not about the ideas themselves, but about how to make the process flow usefully around the ideas. I recommend a book called "Good to Great" to provide you with the managerial process of successful examples that may be applied in any situation. After reading it, I have complete confidence that you will know how to apply the elegant principles it teaches to your own situation.

Mark