[erikpukinskis]

A Project Manager is a non-executive role. They facilitate the flow of information that keeps a project on track, including reporting progress up.

A Technical Lead, Design Lead, and/or Product Lead is the final arbiter of executive decisions about how a project will be completed.

A Coach meets regularly with ICs to help debug workflows and interpersonal issues.

A Manager signs paychecks, and takes responsibility for the work actually getting done professionally, reporting to HR when it’s not and taking action on behalf if The Company when needed. They are the legally responsible person for the things happening underneath them in the org chart. In an ideal week they do nothing at all.

Engineering Managers tend to do some combination of all of these things, usually most of them poorly since that’s way too much work for a single individual.

[bumby]

Thanks, that's an good breakdown. I'm curious, is this an ideal or a pragmatic approach? At first blush, I understand the distinctions but it feels more like a theoretical organization rather than a real one. I've personally never worked in an org with all those roles so, as you say, they tend to get mashed together.

It does seem like there would be a naturally pressure to lump together the roles. I suspect that if your ideal week happens too much (where the manager does nothing at all), executives would question why they're needed.

[erikpukinskis]

In my opinion it’s a pragmatic approach. When these roles get lumped together it creates conflicts of interest that have materially adverse effects on productivity.

That said, you’re right most companies will hire 50 engineers and 10 managers before they hire a single coach or project manager. Or allow IC leads to make their own decisions. So for those companies it’s theoretical. :)

But these roles all exist. You’ll find job listings on LinkedIn for all of them. So they’re happening somewhere!