How to Lead Engineering Projects with Confidence

I've managed $500M+ in projects over the years. The successful ones were all built around the same 10 principles: Give me 3 min, and I'll show you how you can lead your next project with confidence. 1️⃣ Start with Why Most project managers think they’re paid to produce deliverables. That’s bogus. Every project exists to create value. What’s the driving reason behind yours? Dig deeper than the first answer. Your project's purpose becomes a compass for decisions—and a powerful narrative to align and motivate your team. 2️⃣ Define “Conditions of Satisfaction” If your client, architect, and field team aren’t aligned on the definition of done, you’ll never truly finish. Before diving into details, clarify what you’re building and how success will be measured. Get expectations on paper. Show sketches. Build mockups. Whatever it takes. Your goal: never have the “Wait—I thought we were doing XYZ” conversation. 3️⃣ Know the Constraints Every project is defined by five levers: • Time • Scope • Budget • Quality • Value Only one (maybe two) truly matter to the client. Know what you’re optimizing for so you can make smart tradeoffs. 4️⃣ Get the Right People Your project will never be better than the people on it. You don’t need warm bodies. You need the right people in the right roles. Build your team around functions, not names. Set expectations early. Give feedback often. 5️⃣ Big Goals, Small Steps Break your project into major deliverables—then smaller chunks. Boulders -> Rocks -> Pebbles -> Sand Use tools like product breakdowns, sketches, and process flows. 6️⃣ Build a Real Timeline Every construction job has key milestones. Use pull planning, Takt, & LPS to lay out each step with realistic durations. Validate your plan with your team. Then—and only then—negotiate. 7️⃣ Risk Management Something WILL go wrong. Build a Risk Register early. Review it weekly. Rank risks by impact × likelihood. Use the TAME framework: - Transfer - Accept - Mitigate - Eliminate Antifragile projects absorb shocks. Fragile ones shatter. 8️⃣ Dealing With Change A single change won't hurt you. 100 will. Standardize how changes are submitted, evaluated, approved, and communicated. Track every change in a central log and communicate it widely. 9️⃣ Tools & Processes Your tools exist to do 3 things: - Communicate - Coordinate - Document Don’t chase shiny features. Choose tools your team will actually use. Then build repeatable processes around approvals, onboarding, access, etc. 🔟 Stakeholder Communication Most projects fall apart because of miscommunication. Map your key stakeholders. Spend 80% of your time on the 20% who can make or break your job. Tailor how and when you communicate to meet their needs. - - - - - 📌 P.S. Interested in project leadership? Join 7,500+ construction pros who read The Influential Project Manager—a free weekly newsletter with 1 idea to lead people and predict outcomes. Every Tuesday.

As Chief Engineer of strategic ballistic missile submarine USS Kentucky, I felt I had to have every answer. I was in every action, every system, every repair. The stakes were too high for anything less. But here’s the truth: that approach was untenable. No single person can shoulder that weight forever. What saved me—and what made our team world-class—wasn’t my control. It was: ✅ Delegation — trusting officers and sailors to own their watch. ✅ Intent-based leadership — giving clear direction, not micromanagement. ✅ Trust-based communication — speaking up early, listening deeply. ✅ Transparent expectations — clarity about what “good” looked like. ✅ Deep but meaningful checking — not hovering, but verifying. Scaling your business is no different. Early founders often try to be in every decision, every hire, every customer interaction. But just like on a submarine, that weight will break you—and stall your team. The transition from “I control everything” to “we achieve everything together” is what transforms brilliant engineers and scientists into enduring leaders. 💡 Where are you in that journey—holding every answer, or scaling through trust? #Leadership #ScalingUp #Delegation #ExecutiveCoaching #EngineeringLeadership #CoreX #Trust #IntentBasedLeadership #focalpountcoaching

The fastest way to fail a massive, ambiguous project? Act like you know the answer. I see this all the time at work: a senior leader drops a vague, massive idea - the classic "future-of-X" project. The immediate reaction is panic. Teams scramble to produce a hundred-page one-pager ( 😉) defining every detail before the core idea is even solid. Why? Because we think defining the scope equals control. Here’s what I learned leading complex initiatives: You don't earn credibility by knowing the plan; you earn it by defining the right questions. Ambiguity is the universal signal that it's time to stop managing tasks and start leading thought. For years, I was the one trying to solve every vague ask solo. Now, I use a simple 5-point method to force the right conversation with senior stakeholders. This method shifts the focus from managing complexity to collapsing it down to the five critical decisions that unlock 80% of the project's path. It turns an impossible problem into five manageable, senior-level ownership points. 1️⃣ Stop Defining the Scope, Define the Exit Criteria: Agree with your principal stakeholders: what is the single, non-negotiable metric that if broken, forces the project to pause or pivot? 2️⃣ Translate the Vague into Team Trade-Offs: Never go to the team with an ambiguous question. Instead, frame the ask as concrete, strategic options. Your job is to facilitate the choice, not present the solution. 3️⃣ Find the Sacred Cow: Every ambiguous project is built on one risky assumption. Find it. Challenge it. Publicly. 4️⃣ Audit the Information Gaps (Not People): Do not ask, "Who owns this piece?" Ask, "Who has the data (or context) we need to move forward?" Then, make the introduction. 5️⃣ Secure One 'Yes': Your first goal isn't securing the whole budget. It's getting a key sponsor to agree to the next single question you must answer. This creates momentum without over-promising. This is the scaffolding that elevates your role from excellent operator to strategic leader. It shows you're not just executing the plan, you're architecting the path. – I share actionable frameworks and real-world stories for tech leaders. 👉 Follow me, Rony Rozen, to get them in your feed.

The data was perfect. I still lost the project because of trust. I was running a cross-functional initiative with board-level visibility. Where every step is scrutinized in executive meetings. Three months in, I got pulled into an unscheduled call. A stakeholder had escalated directly to the VP. That the project did not meet their expectations. I opened our tracking system. Every metric was hitting target. Our partners were happy with the progress. None of it mattered at the moment. The VP's tone told me everything. The real problem wasn't performance. It was trust. We'd made a critical decision without looping in one stakeholder. Not intentional, but it didn't matter. It was evident, when trust breaks, support vanishes. Here's what I learned the hard way: 1. Perception drives projects more than plans. → If the wrong person thinks you're behind, then you're behind. → Your job isn’t just delivering work, it’s maintaining confidence in the work. 2. Communication prevents escalations. → Silence breeds assumptions, and assumptions breed doubt. → Make sure updates are clear and reach the right people. 3. Stakeholder maps aren’t static. → They change as priorities and influence shift. → If you’re not updating your map, you’re missing someone who matters. 4. Trust is the ultimate accelerator. → Once we rebuilt it, everything moved faster. → Trust removes friction. 5. Great PMs manage expectations, not just tasks. → If your project feels stuck, don't just check the timeline. → Check if the team trusts it. You can recover from missed deadlines. But not from lost trust. P.S. Have you had a moment like this? Share in the comments below.

When I first transitioned from individual contributor to engineering leader, I thought my job was to have all the answers. To always know the right path. To solve every problem myself. 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴. Here’s the truth no one tells you: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿. As an engineer, success is clear: you write the code, solve the problem, ship the feature. As a leader, success becomes fuzzy. It’s no longer about what you deliver—it’s about what your team delivers. Here are 3 lessons that hit me hard during this shift: 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴—𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴. Instead of jumping in to fix every issue, ask: “What do you think we should do?” You’ll build confidence and unlock potential in your team. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹. A great leader doesn’t micromanage; they set clear goals and trust their team to figure out the “how.” 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆. Your wins are no longer about code or tickets—they’re about growth, trust, and outcomes. The moment I embraced this mindset, my team thrived. And honestly? So did I. Leadership isn’t about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about creating a room where everyone feels empowered to bring their best. If you’ve made this shift—or are navigating it now—what’s been your biggest lesson? Let’s learn from each other. #Leadership #EngineeringManagement #CareerGrowth