# Google Project Oxygen: Have enough technical skill to advise your team

**Have key technical skills to advise the team** means enough craft credibility to help on hard problems without doing everyone's job.
          In Project Oxygen this ranked lower than coaching and empowerment, but it still matters for trust.
          Aim for informed advising and system design, not hero coding as your identity.
        

        
## Scenario: new EM, unfamiliar stack

        

          You were a strong backend IC. Your new team lives in a mobile and ML stack you barely know.
          You either pretend expertise or withdraw from all technical talks. Both fail.
        

        

          Better path: learn enough to ask sharp questions, name a tech lead for depth, and create office hours where advice is scheduled instead of chaotic.
        

        
## What "enough" technical skill means

        

          - You can follow architecture debates and spot risk.

          - You know when to escalate to specialists.

          - You protect quality bars without rewriting every PR.

          - You stay curious instead of bluffing.

        

        
## Practices when you are behind the stack

        

          - Book weekly learning time on the team's critical path.

          - Pair a named tech lead with clear advising scope.

          - Run office hours instead of drive-by design takeover.

          - Ask "what would make this fail in production?" in reviews.

        

        
## How iSilta helps

        

          This is an honest weak fit. iSilta helps people and communication context; it does not teach domain engineering.
          Company **Handbook** context can remind AI coaching of how your org expects managers to engage technically, but craft depth still comes from your learning plan and tech leads.
        

        
## Manager map

        
| Trap | Why it hurts | Better move |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bluffing expertise | Team stops trusting you | Admit gaps; ask better questions |
| Doing all hard work | Bottleneck + no growth | Advise; let them own |
| Total withdrawal | No quality bar | Tech lead + your risk reviews |

        
## Bottom line

        

          Technical advising is Oxygen's credibility layer, not the whole job.
          Stay sharp enough to help, humble enough to defer, structured enough not to bottleneck.
          Hub:
          [10 manager behaviors](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-10-manager-behaviors/).

## Frequently asked questions

### Do engineering managers need to keep coding?

Some coding can help credibility. Making code your only safe haven hurts the management job. Prioritize advising and system thinking.

### What if I manage multiple tech domains?

Build a bench of tech leads per area. Your skill is integrating risk and priorities across domains.

### How do I advise without micromanaging?

Ask for options and tradeoffs first. Offer a recommendation. Leave ownership with the engineer unless risk demands otherwise.

### Is technical skill more important than coaching?

Oxygen generally ranked coaching and people skills higher. Technical skill supports trust; it does not replace coaching.

Related: [Google Project Oxygen: 10 manager behaviors](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-10-manager-behaviors/), [empower without micromanaging](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-empower-without-micromanaging/), [be a good coach](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-be-a-good-coach/).