Shadow Work (Engineering Management)

What it does

This skill helps engineering managers diagnose and remediate "shadow work": untracked, capacity-draining tasks that make teams miss commitments. It provides a concise diagnostic flow (identify type, measure for 2–6 weeks, immediate containment, and structural fixes) plus stakeholder scripts to surface trade-offs. The skill distinguishes three concrete types — Invisible Production Support, Glue Work, and The Shadow Backlog — and prescribes lightweight measurement and rotational or policy-based interventions.

When to use it

Use when teams "appear" busy but consistently underdeliver, when senior engineers burn out from coordination work, when ad-hoc support consumes sprint capacity, or when off-the-record PM requests silently displace roadmap work. Also recommended when remote work makes these costs invisible to leadership.

What's included

• Scripts: none in this package (has_scripts=false)
• References: includes a references directory with sources and deeper reading (has_references=true)
• Instructions: structured diagnostic questions, a default response shape (diagnosis → measurement → containment → fix → stakeholder script), and concrete step-by-step containment and rotation actions.

Compatible agents

Best used by agents supporting long-form reasoning and managerial workflows (e.g., Claude Code, Copilot-style assistants) that can ask targeted clarifying questions, generate stakeholder messages, and save minimal manager context files.