At some point in their career, almost every engineer asks, “What does my manager actually do?” As an engineering manager, much of my work is what I call “invisible-important”. This invisibility can lead to mistrust, misalignment, and a lack of understanding about how a manager contributes to team success.

This is where the concept of observable management comes in. Observable management for me is about making my work visible, understandable, and relatable to the teams I support. It’s an approach that builds trust, alignment, and creates a stronger connection between my effort and the outcomes the team values.

What is observable management?

I got inspired inspired by the principles of observability engineering to think about “observable management” term:

• Transparency: Making inner workings visible.
• Clarity: Providing clear signals about what’s happening and why.
• Feedback loops: Using visibility to inform and improve.

In management, this means:

• Sharing not just what I do but why I do it.
• Defining and tracking the impact of my work in a way the team can see.
• Creating opportunities for feedback and collaboration on priorities.

Observable management in practice

Sharing priorities and focus

I maintain a living document called “What does Vardan do?” This document serves as a single source of truth for my responsibilities, goals, and how I allocate my time. Here’s a glimpse:

• 60% of my time: Planned meetings, especially 1-on-1s, which I prioritize to connect with and support individuals.
• 10% of my time: Broader initiatives like mentoring, process improvement, and company-wide projects.
• 30% of my time: Focused on team strategy, unblocking challenges, and supporting day-to-day work.

By making this allocation visible, my team knows where my attention lies and why certain priorities take precedence.

Defining success together

Observable management isn’t just about what I do—it’s about aligning my work with the team’s goals and defining success in observable terms. For example:

• For the team: Success looks like a high-performing unit with clear roles, strong dynamics, and measurable impact on the business.
• For me: Success means growing into a leader who empowers teams to thrive autonomously while driving long-term strategy.

Expanding observable management with metrics and dashboards

While I’ve primarily relied on sharing documents and open communication to practice observable management, I’ve been reflecting on how to take this concept further by integrating metrics and dashboards. What if management could be made as visible and measurable as engineering systems?

Team pulse

One example of this is the Team Pulse dashboard I’ve implemented. This dashboard surfaces data collected from quarterly surveys about team health, including metrics like confidence, morale, and alignment. By visualizing this data in Grafana, I can track trends over time and identify areas for improvement.

The dashboard isn’t just for me-it’s shared openly with the team, fostering transparency and sparking discussions about what’s working and where we can grow. It’s been a valuable tool for aligning feedback with action and creating a shared sense of ownership over our progress.

Beyond team pulse: a theory for future experiments

Building on the success of the Team Pulse dashboard, I’m considering how to extend the use of dashboards to other areas of observable management. For example:

1. Stakeholder alignment metrics: A dashboard that tracks how well the team’s work aligns with stakeholder expectations. Panels could include:
   • Frequency of roadmap updates and check-ins.
   • Stakeholder satisfaction scores from feedback surveys.
2. Managerial effectiveness metrics: A dashboard that makes my own work visible and measurable. Panels could include:
   • Time allocation across 1-on-1s, coaching, and strategy work.
   • Feedback scores from team members about my leadership effectiveness.

By expanding the use of metrics and dashboards, it will bring even more clarity and trust to my role and its connection to the team’s success.

Final thoughts

Observable management isn’t just a practice; it’s a mindset. It challenges us to make our work visible, measurable, and continuously aligned with the needs of the team and the business.

While I haven’t yet implemented all of the ideas around metrics and dashboards, I see them as the next frontier in making management truly observable.