Engineering management after the cost of code collapsed
An engineering director explores how the falling cost of code generation via LLMs necessitates a re-evaluation of traditional management practices. The author argues that while some 'old rules' are now obsolete, those based on human coordination and trust remain essential.
Why it matters
It provides a framework for tech leaders to adapt management strategies in an era where AI significantly lowers the barrier to software production.
I have been a director of engineering for a bit over three years now, and I still hear and read what I call the "old rules" repeated over and over: a director should not spend time coding, good work takes time, protect the team from the business, get consensus before you commit, etc.
For a while I thought the people repeating these lines were behind. Then we introduced LLMs in my org and the cost of producing code dropped, and I started checking each rule against the assumption underneath it. The surprising realization was that about half of the old rules were resting on assumptions that broke and the other half were resting on assumptions that did not, and a few of those matter more now than they did before.
What follows is a cleaned-up version of notes I accumulated over the past year. Gemini 4 helped with the editing.
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