A connected map of the ideas behind a year of engineering leadership training: what engineering leaders do, how products get made, and how organizations improve, change, and compete.
These notes distill the main ideas from the two-semester program of the Gordon Institute of Engineering Leadership at Northeastern University (2024–2025). Each note captures one idea in its own words and links it to the ideas around it. The links between notes matter as much as the notes: open the graph view to see the whole program as a single network.
flowchart LR CAP(["14 Engineering<br/>Leadership<br/>Capabilities"]) CAP --> P CAP --> B CAP --> T subgraph P["Leading people"] direction TB L["Leadership"] CC["Career and<br/>Communication"] end subgraph B["Building products"] direction TB PD["Product<br/>Development"] --> SQ["Systems and<br/>Quality"] --> OPS["Operations and<br/>Supply Chain"] end subgraph T["Business and breadth"] direction TB BS["Business and<br/>Strategy"] EF["Engineering<br/>Fundamentals"] end
The capabilities are the yardstick every note links back to. The seven subject areas sit under them in three groups, and products flow from development through quality to operations. Use the table below to jump into any area, or open the graph view to see every note and link.
Start here
- The yardstick: Engineering Leadership Capabilities — fourteen capabilities that every other note links back to.
- By topic: start from one of the seven maps below.
- References: the Bibliography lists every cited work in IEEE format, with links to legitimate copies and library listings.
Maps of the territory
| Map | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Leadership Map | Self-knowledge, teams, influence, ethics, culture, and change |
| Product Development Map | From opportunity to launch: customers, specifications, concepts, architecture, and economics |
| Systems and Quality Map | Continuous improvement, systems engineering, systems thinking, and risk |
| Operations and Supply Chain Map | Projects, constraints, and supply chains |
| Business and Strategy Map | Competition, new business, service, and transformation |
| Engineering Fundamentals Map | What a leader should know about civil, mechanical, chemical, and electrical engineering |
| Career and Communication Map | Presenting, networking, and managing your own time |
How to read a note
Every concept note follows the same shape:
- In one line: the essence of the idea.
- Core idea and how it works.
- In practice: what the idea looks like inside a real engineering organization.
- Questions to ask yourself.
- Connections: related concepts, and the capabilities the idea exercises.
- Sources: citations for further reading.
About these notes
The notes are original summaries written in our own words. They do not reproduce any article, book, case, slide deck, or course handout. Source notes give a citation and a brief synopsis so that you can find and read the original work. No personal information, course submissions, or confidential company material is included.