Collected advice on moving from engineering into engineering management.
Let go of doing everything yourself
- As a manager, your core value is enabling and amplifying the success of others. Develop a strong support structure of high-performing leads and delegate effectively.
- Once you have team leads and other senior people under you, you cannot go and manage their teams for them. Your task is to enable that next layer of leaders to manage their teams better. Many EMs need to feed their ego, so they don’t want to make others grow - they want to feel needed instead.
People problems don’t have elegant solutions
- Unlike code, people problems don’t always have elegant solutions. Prepare yourself to handle difficult conversations, workplace conflicts, and delicate performance issues.
Tailor your style to each individual
- Every team member will want or need a different type of management style. Some want consistent accountability, others a more hands-off approach. Be flexible.
- Ask team members how they like to be celebrated, and make sure to celebrate big team achievements.
Build trust and psychological safety
- A psychologically safe environment is the foundation upon which trust is built, and it will help your team perform at a high calibre.
- Being accountable and reliable is one of the most important traits of an EM. If you tell a team member you’ll do something, keep your word.
- Be as transparent and authentic as possible. As an extension of leadership you’re in a tricky position: deliver important updates even when difficult, sharing all the information you can in a genuine way while remembering you represent the company.
Redefine success
- Your success metrics shift from tickets closed and quantifiable codebase improvements to the long-term success of your team members. Get comfortable viewing success through the lens of team productivity and contentment, and whether you’ve met your deliverables.
- You now have two teams: the team you manage and the team of your peers. Invest time into building rapport with both, and find a great mentor at peer level who can guide you during difficult times.
Engineering Management is a highly technical and emotional job that will make you question yourself every week (or maybe even every day). And frankly it’s not a job every engineer would enjoy switching into.