Engineers moving into leadership shouldn't see it as abandoning their technical identity. Instead, they should reframe their role as "elevating engineering." They can stay connected to their roots by using their experience to constructively challenge their teams, brainstorm solutions, and help others solve problems faster and more effectively.
To predict a project's success, move beyond lagging indicators like schedule and budget. Instead, monitor leading indicators like the rate and "stickiness" of decisions, the stability of interfaces between subsystems, and how proactively risks are surfaced and addressed. These day-to-day factors determine the ultimate outcome.
Talented engineers often over-engineer solutions beyond what is required. To combat this, coach them to constantly ask if they've reached the "point of diminishing returns." Frame the extra time spent on perfection not as diligence, but as a direct opportunity cost—time that could have been spent solving other valuable problems.
The primary bottleneck to organizational speed isn't how fast individuals work; it's decision latency—the time it takes for decisions to be made and flow through the organization. This stems from unclear decision rights, poor communication, or lack of empowerment. Reducing this latency is the key to accelerating engineering and overall business velocity.
A powerful engineering motivation is the fascination with how complex systems fail. By studying failure modes, especially in safety-critical devices, you can design more resilient and fail-safe products. This perspective treats engineering as a "language" for understanding and improving system behavior, rather than simply building things.
The true value of early R&D isn't hitting a precise, long-range target, which is often based on an outdated business case. Instead, measure its value by how effectively it preserves and creates future optionality. Each step should intentionally reduce uncertainty and narrow down choices, rather than just following a rigid path.