"Engineering Management Thought of the Week" Jeff Glass

There was a very interesting article in HBR (Jan-Feb 2011 issue) titled “The End of the Middle Manager” by Lynda Gratton.   It notes that traditional middle manager roles are being automated such that technology is “replacing” the middle manager.  Roles and skills based exclusively on monitoring, providing feedback, and generally keeping things running smoothly are increasingly being taken over by technology coupled with self-managed teams.  So what’s a middle manager to do?  Develop what the author calls “signature” competencies that are rare and valuable.  In addition, develop new areas of proficiency or adjacencies throughout your career.  Right on!

This is consistent with Engineering Management education for engineers and with the advising we have provided to numerous students in our program.  One of the concepts we are constantly pushing with MEM students is that you are engineers expanding your education into engineering management.  So take advantage of the engineering skills you worked so hard to build.  Combine your engineering background with the newly acquired business, management and leadership training to become an expert in a unique combination of skills that can not be duplicated without your unique background.  This requires embracing your engineering training while understanding how a particular organization will value that background without pigeon-holing you into a technical niche that you are not passionate about.  This may take some time.  For example, I often hear students say “I do not want to be a programmer” and thus they avoid any company that hires into a programming role, even if the company is a great organization to work for and has all the right opportunities, products and processes of interest to them.  Bad move!  Getting into an organization that has this kind of potential and developing an expertise or signature competency while you rely on your core engineering skills is exactly the opportunity you should be looking for.  So starting as a programmer with the company while proving yourself and finding the right areas of focus for your expanded “engineering plus business” expertise is a good approach.  Microsoft is an example of this but I have heard the same story from alumni in many companies:  “I started out as a hands on engineer [a.k.a.: programmer, lab assistant, quality control technician, etc.] but within a year, my team leader was asked to move to a new area and the company asked me to coordinate the project because of the broader skills I had developed with the help of my engineering management education.”

I strongly recommend that you find the engineering and business areas you are passionate about and put them together.  Become an expert in something that the organization values.  Of course, you will still work your way up in the management hierarchy but you will do this with the added benefit, security, clout, etc. of also having an expertise.  For example, assume you are a biomedical engineer and have an interest in medical devices.  Perhaps you should become an expert in the medical device development process, including FDA approvals.  This requires a heck of a lot more than just engineering skills and is very transportable to different companies.  Or perhaps you have studied wireless communications as your technical area.  Learn the adjacency related to the licensing of wireless bandwidth, maybe focusing on developing countries.  This probably requires understanding some policy, some law and, of course, some technology.  You have just increased everything from your job security to your salary potential.

The HBR article goes on to mention that the areas which will be highly prized in the decade ahead include: the life and health sciences, energy conservation, advocacy, social and micro entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and coaching.  These resonate with me too but there are also hundreds, even thousands, of other areas in which companies will need expertise.  The key is to pick something you love and something you are good at; then work like heck to become an expert.  Add your management and leadership skills on top of this expertise and you can’t lose.