Engineering Management Project Management

Project Management information and process to follow for Engineering Managers at GitLab.

Product is responsible for guiding the direction of our product, and technical leaders are responsible for guiding the technical architecture to meet those requirements. Engineering Managers should participate in both of those conversations. In concert with those conversations, Engineering Managers primary responsibility lies in project management: making sure their team is best positioned to meet both goals as effectively and efficiently as possible.

  • Capacity tracking/planning - while heavy methods of estimation don’t fit well with our approach to work, it’s your responsibility to keep an eye on the capacity of your team. This allows you to predict capacity, which helps with product planning, and also detect problems earlier if an important schedule is likely to slip.
  • Collaboration with stakeholders - in addition to Product Managers and members of your team, you are the primary point of contact for any other stakeholders for the work your team is doing. You should expect to spend time communicating clearly and thoroughly about the state of your ongoing projects.
  • Be aware of your team’s status. Change can happen quickly - the more you know about what your team is working on and how it’s going, the better you’ll be able to make the best decisions.
  • Balance engineering initiatives - make time for engineering-led initiatives balanced against product’s needs for your team. You should also consider your team members’ extra responsibilities such as project maintainerships or their involvements in other company wide projects.
Last modified December 5, 2023: Move managment pages into place (a799a36f)