roadmap.sh: Engineering Manager

What it covers

The roadmap is a clickable diagram. Each node opens a short explanation and links for further reading. Its main areas include:

• People: hiring, onboarding, one-to-ones, feedback, performance, career development and team dynamics
• Process: planning, estimation, delivery, risk management and continuous improvement
• Technical leadership: architecture decisions, system monitoring and performance, technical debt and technical strategy
• Product and business: working with product managers, stakeholders and business goals
• Key focus areas such as communication, culture and change management

roadmap.sh is one of the most-starred projects on GitHub, with about 368,000 stars as of September 2026, and says it has more than 3.2 million registered users. Signing in lets you mark topics as done and use its AI tutor.

Its most useful function: deciding

Many engineers move into management because it looks like the only next step, then discover the job is mostly meetings, conflict, planning and writing, and that the route back is harder than the route in. Reading the full map of responsibilities is a cheap way to test whether the work appeals before committing. If most of the nodes sound draining, the staff engineer track may suit you better.

If you do want the job

Use it as a gap list:

• Mark what you already do: running a project, mentoring, interviewing, writing design docs.
• Pick two or three gaps you can practise while still an engineer, such as leading a planning session or onboarding a new teammate.
• Tell your manager you are interested. Managers are often chosen from people already doing part of the job.

Where it falls short

• Breadth over depth. Each node is a short summary. Real skill comes from practice, feedback and deeper reading.
• No context. It does not say which topics matter most at a small startup versus a large company.
• Link quality varies, since resources are community contributed.

Pair it with

• An Elegant Puzzle for management systems and frameworks
• Engineering Leadership or Refactoring newsletters for weekly practical ideas
• StaffEng to compare with the senior individual contributor path

Common questions

Is it free? Yes. An account is optional and free.

How long does it take? Skimming the whole map takes an hour or two. Working through the linked material is an ongoing project.

Is it for new managers too? Yes. New managers can use it to spot areas they have not yet dealt with.

Best for: senior engineers weighing the management track, and new managers checking for blind spots.