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charlax/engineering-management

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TLDR

A curated reading list of articles, books, podcasts, and videos covering every aspect of engineering management, from one-on-ones and hiring to performance reviews and organizational design.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Eng Management List))
    Topic Areas
      One-on-ones
      Hiring and interviews
      Performance management
      Career ladders
    Resource Types
      Books
      Articles
      Podcasts
      Videos
    Key Themes
      Delegation
      Feedback
      Organizational design
      Remote teams
    Top Recommendation
      Turn the Ship Around
      Decentralized authority
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Find a book or article to help you run better one-on-one meetings with your direct reports.

USE CASE 2

Get a reading list when you're transitioning from senior engineer into your first engineering manager role.

USE CASE 3

Look up curated resources on a specific management challenge, like handling conflict or building career ladders.

USE CASE 4

Stay current on engineering leadership thinking via the linked newsletters, blogs, and podcasts.

Tech stack

Shell

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
License not specified in the description.

In plain English

This repository is a curated collection of articles, books, videos, podcasts, and other resources about engineering management and technical leadership. It is not a piece of software you run, it is a reference list for people who manage software engineers or who are transitioning into that role. The collection is organized into dozens of topic sections covering the full breadth of what engineering managers deal with day to day. Sections include one-on-one meetings, hiring and interviewing, feedback, performance management, career ladders, delegation, conflict resolution, onboarding, organizational structure, remote teams, and many others. Each entry is tagged to indicate its format, such as whether it is a book, video, presentation, or podcast. The book section opens with a strong recommendation for "Turn the Ship Around!" by L. David Marquet, a true story about a US Navy submarine commander who restructured his crew around giving decision authority to the people closest to the information rather than centralizing it at the top. The list author considers it the best management book available and explains why in a short summary. Other recommended books cover topics like organizational health, managing technical people, and what motivates people at work. Beyond books, the list links to newsletters, blogs, and podcasts that publishing new management content regularly, useful for staying current after you have read the foundational material. The list is maintained by a single curator and reflects personal experience and opinion rather than claiming to be exhaustive. The shell language label reflects minor tooling around the table-of-contents generator, not that this is a shell scripting project. The full README is longer than what was shown.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I just became an engineering manager for the first time. Based on the charlax/engineering-management list, what are the three books I should read first and in what order?
Prompt 2
I'm struggling with giving constructive feedback to an underperforming engineer. Find the most relevant resources on feedback and performance management from this list.
Prompt 3
I need to design a career ladder for my engineering team. What resources in the charlax/engineering-management collection cover career frameworks and leveling?
Prompt 4
Summarize the key argument of 'Turn the Ship Around!' by L. David Marquet and explain why the list curator recommends it as the best management book.
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