The engineering manager's responsibilities vary significantly from one org to another.
In some orgs, engineering managers are responsible for all of product delivery - figuring out what needs to be done, hiring people to do it, making sure things ship on time, and making sure the app is always live. In other orgs, they are only responsible for hiring and share that responsibility with HR/recruiting.
In some orgs, they are both inward and outward facing - they manage their team and represent engineering in the broader organization. In other orgs, they have no interaction with those outside their direct reporting chain.
Some orgs expect managers to report only on a regular schedule. Others have a more "pop quiz" approach to communicating status.
The broader the manager's scope, the more concurrent communication threads there are - "balls in the air," so to speak, and the more tools they will have to interact within any given hour. I don't think another tool would help unless it removes the need to interact with others for these managers.
In some orgs, engineering managers are responsible for all of product delivery - figuring out what needs to be done, hiring people to do it, making sure things ship on time, and making sure the app is always live. In other orgs, they are only responsible for hiring and share that responsibility with HR/recruiting.
In some orgs, they are both inward and outward facing - they manage their team and represent engineering in the broader organization. In other orgs, they have no interaction with those outside their direct reporting chain.
Some orgs expect managers to report only on a regular schedule. Others have a more "pop quiz" approach to communicating status.
The broader the manager's scope, the more concurrent communication threads there are - "balls in the air," so to speak, and the more tools they will have to interact within any given hour. I don't think another tool would help unless it removes the need to interact with others for these managers.