What a Senior Engineer Reveals About Effective Tech Management

1. Compete with Upstream Products

The author likens technical management to the three levels of Chinese medicine: treating "already sick" bugs (online incidents), "want‑to‑be‑sick" bugs (issues found in code review and testing), and "not‑yet‑sick" bugs (potential problems identified during product design). By arguing with product managers early, teams can surface risks before code is written and choose better product solutions.

2. Manage Projects Effectively

The core of project management consists of three elements: cost, schedule, and quality.

Cost : allocate development tasks, estimate effort, assess milestones, and consider resource investment; aim for high value at low cost.

Schedule : control overall rhythm through daily stand‑ups, synchronize product, development, and testing, and monitor for delay risks.

Quality : ensure thorough code reviews, comprehensive unit‑test coverage, high smoke‑test pass rates, and timely bug verification after testing.

After release, hold a project retrospective to record successes and shortcomings for the next iteration. Leaders often mentor new managers by walking them through a full project lifecycle.

3. Manage Downstream Testing

Testing is the final guard before code goes live. Testers focus on requirement quality, code quality, schedule, and delay risks. Once handed to testing, the project manager must set daily bug‑clearance targets, report progress, identify whether delays stem from requirements or code, and resolve issues quickly.

4. Manage the Team Internally

Understanding each team member’s strengths, weaknesses, and career direction is essential. The manager should ask:

What are each member’s basic information and pros/cons?

Who is best suited for which type of work?

Who should develop toward management and who toward deep technical expertise?

How to select a successor?

After gathering this information, allocate tasks according to strengths, delegate routine work, and grant information and decision‑making authority. Empowering members to own simple requirement reviews, technical designs, or project coordination raises the overall team capability, because a strong team outperforms any individual.

5. Manage Your Super‑iors

Managing upwards is as critical as managing downwards. The key is clear, focused reporting of important work. The author recounts a miscommunication with a VP about a dynamic payment‑channel switch caused by insufficient information sharing during code review. To avoid such errors, he created an online document tracking online issues, resolution steps, and risk mitigation. Beyond reporting, managers should actively seek resources from leaders—decision authority, information access, and cross‑team coordination support—leveraging the leader’s influence and experience. Reflecting on these five points, the author visualized a five‑dimensional capability map and set personal improvement goals for 2022, emphasizing continuous learning, staying hungry, and avoiding complacency.