Triage work

Cat Hicks asks an important question: do we know that engineering managers do triage work? Her research suggests that we do not, or that if the information is known it is not often acknowledged. I’m more interested in a related question: how does triage work differ from other kinds of work? How does an engineering manager (or any manager, for that matter) recognize that the moment requires triage rather than, say, a strategic plan? What’s the equivalent of a bleeding head wound in a software org, or a school, or a nonprofit? I think that often just being able to ask that question—is this a situation that requires planning and prevention, or do we need to be in triage mode?—of yourself, your peers, your supervisors and direct reports, can be extremely telling. The first and most critical skill with triage is recognizing when it is needed.