Managing Up: Working Effectively with Executives

Managing up—proactively communicating with leadership—is critical for technical leaders. Here's how to work effectively with executives and get support for your initiatives.

Why Managing Up Matters Executives make resource allocation decisions: headcount, budget, priorities. If they don't understand your team's work, you won't get support. Good managing up: accelerates your projects, protects your team from thrash, aligns technical work with business goals, advances your career.

Speak Their Language Executives care about business outcomes, not technical details. Translate technical work into business value. Don't say: "We need to refactor the authentication service and migrate to OAuth 2.1." Do say: "Security vulnerabilities in our current auth system pose compliance risk ($500K fines). Upgrading will also enable single sign-on, improving user satisfaction." Frame requests in terms of: revenue impact, cost savings, risk mitigation, competitive advantage, customer satisfaction.

Executive Communication Style Executives have limited attention. Optimize for clarity and brevity. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): Start with the ask or key message. "We need approval for $50K cloud spend increase." Context second: Brief background if needed. "Our user base grew 40%, infrastructure costs increased proportionally." Supporting details third: Detailed analysis available if they ask. "Here's the breakdown by service..." Aim for 1-minute verbal updates, 1-page written updates.

Regular Sync Meetings Schedule recurring 1-on-1s with your manager's manager (skip-level). Use time to: - Share team wins and challenges - Get feedback on your performance - Understand strategic priorities - Flag risks early Come prepared with agenda. Don't waste their time.

Written Updates Weekly or biweekly email updates to leadership: Accomplishments: What shipped? Quantify impact when possible. "Reduced API latency by 40%, improving checkout conversion by 2%." Progress: What's in flight? Any risks or blockers? Asks: What do you need from leadership? Decisions, resources, introductions? Keep it scannable: bullets, bold key phrases, metrics highlighted.

Framing Problems When bringing problems to executives, include solutions. Bad: "The deployment pipeline is broken." Good: "Deployments are taking 2 hours vs target 30 minutes, blocking releases. I propose $30K investment in CI infrastructure. Expected payback in 3 months via faster shipping." Three options framework works well: Cheap option (trade-offs), recommended option (balanced), expensive option (gold-plated). Let them pick based on priorities.

Building Trust Deliver consistently: If you commit to Q3 delivery, deliver in Q3. Executives have low tolerance for missed commitments. Be honest: Don't hide problems. "We're 2 weeks behind schedule on Project X due to Y. Here's the mitigation plan." Show business acumen: Understand P&L, customer metrics, competitive landscape. Executives value engineers who think like business leaders. Disagree respectfully: If you think a decision is wrong, say so—with data. "I see why we're prioritizing Feature A, but our data shows users want Feature B first."

Asking for Resources Executives say no to vague requests. Be specific. Vague: "We need more people." Specific: "To deliver Q2 roadmap, we need 2 senior backend engineers by March. Without them, we'll have to cut Feature X or delay by 6 weeks." Tie requests to company goals. If the CEO prioritizes growth, frame engineering investments as enabling growth.

Common Mistakes Too much detail: Executives don't need to know implementation specifics unless they ask. Complaining without solutions: Problems without proposals waste time. Surprising them: Bad news should never be a surprise. Flag risks early. Technical ego: "Executives don't understand engineering" attitude burns bridges.

Results After coaching engineers on managing up: Projects got funded faster (clear business cases), team morale improved (less leadership confusion), engineers advanced faster (visibility led to promotions). One engineer told me: "I used to resent 'business speak.' Now I see it as translation—helping non-technical leaders understand our impact. That got me promoted to Staff." Managing up isn't brown-nosing. It's effective communication that helps everyone succeed.