The changing expectations from first line Manager

In the last two decades, there has been a shift of expectations from first line manager. During the early years of IT growth (1990-200), when India used to get work from outsourcing across the globe, the major skill required from manager was the project execution. In addition to the people management skills, which individuals acquired becoming lead, they also had to sharpen skills of formal project management.

After this first phase, instead of just outsourcing work, the matured products started getting outsourced to India. Managing matured products and continuously reduce costs to maintain them put the focus on improved process and quality. So, you will see the wave of CMMi and Six Sigma went through their peak demand during the 2000 and 2010 period. Both the services companies and also the product companies had to display their process maturity. The first line managers had to focus on process and quality during this period.

The current phase and demands from first line manager are in the new dimension of product management and business acumen. For the success of the manager, it is essential s/he has edge in carving out a roadmap (even for a product in decline phase!) for better market share or adoption.

While all dimensions of people, project, process and product are important focus areas for engineering manager, we should watch out for the industry trend and your current project stage to show larger impact for your organisation.