People leaders focus on the health and performance of a team and the individuals within the team. The output of the team is their responsibility. A healthy team has engaged, empowered, and motivated employees. People leaders encourage development, have honest conversations about performance, and have a dedication to quality work. We look to people leaders to have a long-term perspective and help manage through change within the organization. They are relationship builders within their team and beyond. Leaders are more visible stewards of company culture, values and attitudes. This includes keeping the good of the customer front of mind. Leaders are dedicated to honesty, integrity, and creating an environment of inclusion and value. Their level of transparency and clear communication inspire trust and understanding. Some of the skills for leaders remain the same at each level of leadership, but a leader should become more and more proficient with these as they progress along the management track.
There are different roles and levels within the leadership track:
There are many ways to categorize the attributes that make a people leader successful, but these four categories are particular to our organization's software development culture. These categories represent the key areas of development and mastery for R&D Leadership roles.
Have you been seeking to improve your craft? Are you retaining the level of technical competence necessary to understand and direct the work of your team and to communicate technical issues and resolutions between your team and program leadership?
How does your work align with overarching goals of AVEVA Operations Information R&D? Does your team or program consistently deliver complete features? Are your team and program processes and backlogs aligned with department guidelines to facilitate collaboration within programs and accurately track progress? Do you follow up on administrative tasks in a timely fashion and do you hold your team members accountable for doing the same? Are you contributing to department efforts in staffing, recruiting and hiring to find more talented people who can help us accomplish our goals?
How receptive are you to outside feedback on the work of your team or program? Do you foster a spirit of collaboration within your team and with other teams in a program? Are you working with others to achieve the goals of the program? Do members of your team (or program) step in to help other teams that can benefit from their experience, skillset or time?
How effectively are you communicating team and program goals? Do you help our teams stay focused on the right priorities and remove impediments quickly? Are your team members generally engaged and motivated to help the company reach our goals? Do you dedicate considerable time to the career development of individual members of your team and encourage others on your team to assist in mentoring new employees and interns?
The skills expressed in people leadership are similar across roles, so we will list them once with the understanding that they are exercised with more proficiency at higher levels.
Each description has two parts: a high-level description, and common attributes. Attributes are tagged by the categories described above: (T) Technical Skill, (P) Productivity, (E) Empathy, and (I) Influence. These attributes aren’t an exhaustive checklist but rather a guideline for behavior we would expect from someone in that role.
The Engineering Manager is responsible for a single team with a common goal. They focus on growing the skills of their team. They are role models and they instill an attitude and perspective that is aligned with AVEVA's core values. They are the primary resource for questions regarding process as well as work content. They are focused mostly on daily and weekly execution through standard processes. They help the team focus and execute against their goals. They keep the energy and standards high. Their decisions impact their immediate team and work product. While the focus of an Engineering Manager is on people and process, they must also maintain their technical competence in order to understand, explain and resolve impediments related to the technical work of their teams.
Attributes
Ideally an Engineering Manager has experience as a Senior Software Developer. Future career path could include Engineering Program Manager or Software Development Department Lead. An Engineering Manager reports to a Software Development Department Lead.
The Software Development Department Lead is responsible for a group of Engineering Managers and Staff Software Developers, and in some cases Guild Managers and Principal Software Developers. Software Development Department Leads typically represent one office or region but may represent multiple locations. They are familiar and proficient with the function of an Engineering Manager. They are responsible for the skill growth of the team and Engineering Managers in particular. The primary goal of the Software Development Department Lead is to help their managers build high-performing teams. They defer to Architecture to help with the skill growth of Principal and Staff Software Developers. They participate with other Software Development Department Leads to set people and performance vision and standards. They also translate that vision and standards to their teams. They are responsible for the output and growth of the team at a large scale. They are responsible for maintaining the collective skills and capacity of the software development teams and recruiting for the needs of the future. Specific duties include:
Attributes
Ideally the Software Development Department Lead has experience as a Senior Software Developer and Engineering Manager. The Software Development Department Lead reports to the R&D Vice President, Operations Information Management.
The main objective of the R&D Vice President, Operations Information Management is to provide consistency in approach across people and process management while providing career guidance and facilitating the growth of the Software Development Department Leads. Specific duties of the R&D Vice President, Operations Information Management may include:
Attributes
Ideally the R&D Vice President, Operations Information Management has experience as a Senior Software Developer, Engineering Manager, and Software Development Department Lead. The R&D Vice President, Operations Information Management reports to the R&D Senior Vice President, Operations Information Management.
The Engineering Program Manager’s main objective is to collaborate with product management and architecture to drive a specific program to completion by coordinating that program’s needs across the program’s R&D teams. While the product management team represents the customer needs and requirements (the “why”), and the architecture team provides the technical guidance (the “what”), the program management team focuses on the processes and procedures across the engaged R&D teams (the “how”). Specific duties of an Engineering Program Manager may include:
Attributes
Ideally the Engineering Program Manager has experience as a Senior Software Developer and Engineering Manager. Future career path could include R&D Vice President, Operations Information Program Management, Software Development Department Lead, R&D Vice President, Operations Information Management, and R&D Senior Vice President, Operations Information. The Engineering Program Manager reports to the R&D Vice President, Operations Information Program Management.
The main objective of the R&D Vice President, Operations Information Program Management is to provide consistency in approach across programs while providing career guidance and facilitating the growth of the Engineering Program Managers. Specific duties of the R&D Vice President, Operations Information Program Management may include:
Attributes
Ideally the R&D Vice President, Operations Information Program Management has experience as a Senior Software Developer, Engineering Manager, and Engineering Program Manager. The R&D Vice President, Operations Information Program Management reports to the R&D Senior Vice President, Operations Information.
The main objective of the R&D Vice President, Chief Technologist, Operations Information is to provide consistency in approach across AVEVA Operations Information technology platforms. Specific duties of the R&D Vice President, Chief Technologist, Operations Information include:
Attributes
Ideally the R&D Vice President, Chief Technologist, Operations Information has experience as a Software Architect and as an experienced technical manager leading a high-performance team. The R&D Vice President, Chief Technologist, Operations Information reports to the R&D Senior Vice President, Operations Information.