A significantly delayed project is way better than a wasteful project

Engineering managers love to get projects executed on time, but at certain levels in management the primary focus is not always about execution timelines.

A wasteful project is one where a number of engineers work on a product that no one needs or is outdated upon arrival. A 10 member project that delays by two months has significantly higher ROI than a similar project that is wasteful.

Here are the different perspectives as each level of engineering management when it comes project execution.

Engineering Manager

Plan and execute a given project without delays

Sr. Engineering Manager

Innovate all possible projects that can benefit the business. Plan and execute on them.

Director of Engineering

Decide which project NOT to do at this moment among the universe of all possible projects

Management

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Hello, I am Madan Thangavelu. Senior director of engineering @ Uber. If you'd like to hear from me, subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

I write about technical and management topics. 15 years of experience in engineering. Built many mission critical systems at Uber.