An Elegant Puzzle
Systems of Engineering Management
by Will Larson
"Viewing engineering management challenges as system puzzles that can be modeled, controlled, and improved."
Overview
An Elegant Puzzle by Will Larson addresses the challenges of engineering management from a systems thinking perspective — seeing teams, organization, processes, and technology as an interconnected system rather than isolated pieces.
Book Structure
📊 Organizations
Team design, sizing, structure, and team states
🛠 Tools
Systems thinking, metrics, migrations, and technical debt
🎯 Approaches
Reorganizations, delegation, time management, and priorities
🌟 Culture
Building team culture, learning, and psychological safety
👥 Careers
Hiring, development, leadership, and succession planning
Global Mind Map
📊 Organizations
Card 1: Optimal Team Size
Card 2: Team States
Larson defines that teams go through different states based on their productivity, technical debt, slack, and innovation.
1. Falling Behind
Backlog grows faster than the team can complete. Low morale, high effort, little progress.
✓ Solution: Hire/expand the team
2. Treading Water
Maintains usual pace but cannot tackle new projects or reduce technical debt.
✓ Solution: Reduce WIP (Work in Progress), focus on fewer tasks
3. Repaying Debt
Dedicates substantial time to refactoring, improving infrastructure, and fixing technical debt.
✓ Solution: Provide additional time to complete improvements
4. Innovating
Has enough slack to undertake new projects and quality improvements. Ideal state.
✓ Solution: Protect slack - do not overload the team
🛠 Tools
Systems Thinking
The central tool of the book: seeing complex problems as a system of stocks (accumulations) and flows.
Migrations and Technical Debt
Key message: In large systems, the only way to significantly reduce technical debt is through massive migrations.
Playbook in 3 Phases:
Phase 1: De-Risk
Define plan in design doc, socialize with hardest teams first, implement pilot
Phase 2: Enable
Develop tools that automate 90% of work, provide clear documentation
Phase 3: Finish
Close the tap: nothing new in old tech, monitor progress, complete last stretches
🎯 Approaches
Saying "No" with Reasons
Saying no is explaining your team's limitations to others, one of the most important activities in engineering leadership.
🌟 Culture
Peers as "First Team"
One of the most valuable tips: treat your peer leaders as your primary team, not just your direct team.
👥 Careers
Roles over "Rockets"
In "Roles over rocket ships", Larson dismantles the idea that joining a hot company automatically grows your career.
Conclusion
Key Recommendations
- •Continuously evaluate team health (states: falling behind, treading water, repaying debt, innovating)
- •Address technical debt with well-planned migrations instead of patches
- •Communicate technical proposals in business language to gain support
- •Create communities and networks of trust among peers
- •Promote culture where quality of life and technical excellence go hand in hand
- •Make continuous improvement of people and processes a habit
"In practice, there will be iteration, adaptation, and sometimes improvisation; but with the strategies from An Elegant Puzzle in your arsenal, you'll be better prepared to elegantly solve the complex puzzles of large-scale engineering."
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