Engineering managers face multiple problems, or "fires," at the same time - each demanding their attention. A key challenge and skill is being able to discern which fires to address immediately and which can be left to burn. Mastering this skill is essential for maintaining focus and ensuring the team's success. Below are a few ways to think about fighting fires and make you a more successful manager.
Urgent vs Important
The Eisenhower Matrix is a fancy tool (and chart) to help you prioritize. Urgent issues demand immediate attention. Important issues can have a significant impact on the longer term state of work - a project, a team, team member, a product, etc. When an issue comes to you, be very intentional whether this is urgent, important, or both.
One Way vs Two Way Doors
You need to make decisions that require tradeoffs when full context and information is not available. More often than not, these are reversible decisions (e.g. two way doors), and not irreversible (e.g. one way doors). Evaluating the potential consequences and realistically thinking through what would undoing this decision look like if you need to revert is a helpful exercise to show you this may be a two-way-door decision.
Active Fire Fighting
Using your Unimportant/Important and One/Two way door knowledge together can help you make decisions effectively and quickly - addressing the most critical need of your organization. By deciding to let some fires burn, you allow the team to focus on high-impact work, driving meaningful progress and avoiding burnout.
Nomon gives you leverage
Learning to let certain fires burn is a critical part of engineering management. Identifying critical issues, assessing their impact and urgency, and letting non-essential fires burn are key strategies for maintaining focus and driving success. Nomon integrates into where you already work and live as a manager - Slack, email, Docs, web, etc - to help you get and process the most important information. This saves you time and helps you make important decisions faster.
