Hey, it’s Collin. Welcome to Engineering Echelons, a newsletter full of ideas and insights to help engineers excel at management.

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week.

• New and noteworthy news

• A management perspective to consider

• Leadership insights to delve into

• And more…

First time reading? You can subscribe here.

Alright, let’s get into it.

Noteworthy Headlines

U.S. unemployment rate rises, a warning sign for economy (NYT)

Highlights:

• The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.6%, the highest level in four years

4Q2025 Construction Economic Insights (McCownGordon)

Highlights:

• Falling interest rates and improving consumer confidence are fueling strong markets, setting the stage for robust construction growth in 2026

Consumers power strongest U.S. economic growth in two years (WSJ)

Highlights:

• U.S. economy expanded at a 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, the highest growth in two years

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Management Perspective

Have you heard this common phrase?

“Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions.”

Maybe you’ve said it yourself.

There’s a reason this mindset exists: you cannot come to the rescue for every little thing that pops up. Individuals and teams have to have a reasonable degree of self-reliance. Pushing the team for a first pass at a solution is one way you maintain boundaries around individual and shared responsibilities.

But there is a hidden cost to this policy.

When you demand a solution for every reported problem, issues can fester and become critical because they are stuck with an individual or team that may not be the best equipped to solve them.

Some issues need to be elevated, and some of those need to be elevated quickly.

There’s nuance—not all problems are equal.

That means you and your staff need to have a system to prioritize issues and discernment to understand the level of criticality each issue presents.

One tool to help with this is the Eisenhower matrix. It’s a 2×2 table with the x-axis denoting urgency and the y-axis denoting importance. Therefore, the categories become:

• High urgency, high importance

• High urgency, low importance

• Low urgency, high importance

• Low urgency, low importance

High urgency, high importance issues should be elevated quickly.

Low urgency, low importance issues can be tackled by the individual/team.

The middle categories can be divvied up as you and your team see fit.

Another way to balance self-reliance with elevating issues is by setting a time boundary. Tell your team to tackle something themselves and after a certain amount of time (e.g. one hour) to come to you if they are still stuck.

Regardless of the methodology, it’s up to you and your team to devise an effective way to keep responsibilities on the team and its individuals while also ensuring critical issues are elevated before they become dire.

Management Insights

James Clear (author) on the importance of systems:

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

—

Derek Sivers (author) on a team-building perspective:

“Never forget that you can make your role anything you want it to be. Anything you hate to do, someone else loves. So find that person and let them do it.”

—

Tony Hsieh (former CEO of Zappos) on the role of a manager:

“The role of a manager is to remove obstacles and enable his/her direct reports to succeed. This means that the best leaders are servant-leaders. They serve those they lead.”

Management Resource

Not burnout but ‘boreout’ (Korn Ferry)

Boredom is starting to rival burnout in terms of its financial cost to firms and employee mental health. This article dives into what boreout is, some potential causes, and ways leaders can prevent it.

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Get in Touch

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Or…

• Let me know if you’ve found something worth sharing.

• Let me know what challenges you’re having as a manager.

• Let me know what challenges you see other managers having.

Send me an email at [email protected]

Looking forward to hearing from you. See you next time.

Collin

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