Course overview
Start hereAI for Engineering Managers
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Ravi's Thursday, two ways

8 lessons · 26 prompts

A day in the life of an Engineering Manager: what changes with these prompts.

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Ravi, an engineering manager at a mid-size software company.

Ravi starts Thursday with a project slipping by two days because a vendor API changed. He opens ChatGPT and uses the Project Planning Basics prompt. He types the milestone list, the new dependency, and the risk that testing may move. The AI returns a revised timeline and a short risk register he can edit before the 9:30 stand-up.

At lunch, he needs a status update for his director. He uses the Status Updates and Reports prompt in Claude. He pastes bullet points about the payment service, the two open bugs, and the hiring loop for a backend engineer. Claude drafts a clear summary with next steps, and Ravi cuts one sentence that sounds too formal.

In the afternoon, he prepares for a one-on-one with a quiet but strong engineer. He opens Gemini and uses the Mentoring and One-on-Ones prompt. He adds notes about her interest in leading a migration and her worry about speaking in design reviews. Gemini suggests questions and a small growth plan, which Ravi adjusts to sound like their usual conversation.

Before logging off, he uses the Budget and Headcount Requests prompt in ChatGPT to shape a case for one more site reliability engineer. He includes on-call load, the new service, and the cost of contractor help. With the drafts done, Ravi leaves on time, coaches his son's soccer practice, and reads a novel before bed.

Before

  • Status updates eat the whole afternoon.
  • Capacity plans live in scattered notes.
  • One-on-ones get rushed between meetings.
  • Headcount requests feel like guesswork.

After this course

  • Drafts are ready before the stand-up.
  • Capacity plans show clear tradeoffs.
  • One-on-ones feel focused and kind.
  • Budget cases rest on real needs.

What you'll learn

  • Project Planning Basics: Turn a rough project idea into a timeline, milestones, and a risk register.
  • Status Updates: Draft clear status updates and executive summaries that keep stakeholders informed.
  • Capacity Planning: Plan staffing, model team capacity, and design fair on-call rotations.
  • Design Reviews: Prepare for technical design reviews with checklists and tradeoff summaries.
  • One-on-Ones: Run better 1:1s, create growth plans, and write constructive feedback.
  • Cross-Functional Work: Coordinate across teams with agendas, RACI charts, and decision logs.
  • Budget Requests: Build budget justifications, estimate cloud costs, and write headcount requests.
  • Reviews and Promotions: Draft performance reviews, build promotion cases, and calibrate ratings fairly.

How this course works

  1. 8 lessonsOne task of your job each, from project planning basics to performance reviews and promotions.
  2. Ready-to-paste promptsCopy, fill in the parts in {{brackets}}, paste into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
  3. Tick and completeTick the prompts you tried and mark each lesson complete.
  4. Get certifiedFinish and keep the prompts as your own library.