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# Learning to be a manager
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Some time ago I took on a Management role at work. This is a role that, seven
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Some time ago I took on a Management role at work. This is a role that, seven
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ago, I swore I never wanted, but life experience has a way of changing how you
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feel about certain things. Before joining this company I experienced one of the
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most incompetent engineering managers I've ever worked with. I've had some sub-par
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experiences but never true incompetence. I realized that I needed a better
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understanding of what an engineering manager should do. I needed
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some survival skills and the best way to do that is to learn by doing. If I
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got a chance to experience some of that in future roles I decided I would take
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the opportunity. So here I am with a role that is 80% managment and 20%
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technical contribution. In theory I think it was intended to be 50/50 but reality differs
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most incompetent engineering managers I've ever worked with. I've had some
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sub-par experiences but never true incompetence. I realized that I needed a
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better understanding of what an engineering manager should do. I needed some
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survival skills and the best way to do that is to learn by doing. If I got a
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chance to experience some of that in future roles I decided I would take the
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opportunity. So here I am with a role that is 80% managment and 20% technical
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contribution. In theory I think it was intended to be 50/50 but reality differs
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quite a bit.
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> Engineering Management is **hard**
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I don't think I realized just how hard managing people is until I experienced
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I don't think I realized just how hard managing people is until I experienced
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it for myself. Some of the problems are fundamentally unsolvable. The most you
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can hope for is to mitigate the fallout. You can't just hack your way around
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people problems and management has a considerable amount of people problems
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to solve. I've been learning a lot in my on-the-job training experiment, and
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I'd like to talk about what I've learned.
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can hope for is to mitigate the fallout. You can't just hack your way around
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people problems and management has a considerable amount of people problems to
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solve. I've been learning a lot in my on-the-job training experiment, and I'd
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like to talk about what I've learned.
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# Communication
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@ -41,8 +41,9 @@ In many ways being an engineering manager is about being a translator. You are
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a conduit between the needs of the business and the capabilities of the
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engineering team. Walking a fine line between what the business needs to stay
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in business and what it takes to create scalable technology is not an easy
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task. You have to tell both sides no sometimes. I've learned that honesty,
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transparency, and tact are the among the most important attributes of a good manager.
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task. You have to tell both sides no sometimes. I've learned that honesty,
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transparency, and tact are the among the most important attributes of a good
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manager.
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## Honesty
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@ -57,46 +58,45 @@ If you lose the trust of either side you'll be ineffective in your role.
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> and diligent in addressing them
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Come clean when you mess up. You aren't any more perfect than the next guy.
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Sometimes you'll drop something on the floor. When it happens acknowledge
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your mistake and work to address it. People appreciate when you are
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honest about your failings and diligent in addressing them. It gives them faith
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that you will be honest with them and they can trust you.
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Sometimes you'll drop something on the floor. When it happens acknowledge your
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mistake and work to address it. People appreciate when you are honest about
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your failings and diligent in addressing them. It gives them faith that you
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will be honest with them and they can trust you.
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Being transparent when you can and being forthright about when you can't be
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transparent are important. Everyone like to understand the reason for decisions
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they don't like. If they are able to put those decisions in context it
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goes a long way toward calming them and helps them to see whether there is a
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light at the end of the tunnel. They understand that you can't always
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share everything with them but they appreciate when you are honest about
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that handicap.
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they don't like. If they are able to put those decisions in context it goes a
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long way toward calming them and helps them to see whether there is a light at
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the end of the tunnel. They understand that you can't always share everything
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with them but they appreciate when you are honest about that handicap.
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## Tact
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Being honest doesn't imply you need to be harsh. It's possible to deliver
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the truth without triggering an unnecessarily negative emotional response. Your
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goal should be to ensure that any emotional response is derived from the factual
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content of your communication and not the method of delivery. This can be harder
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than it sounds. Trying to eliminate any emotion from your delivery can be just as
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bad as including negative emotion.
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Being honest doesn't imply you need to be harsh. It's possible to deliver the
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truth without triggering an unnecessarily negative emotional response. Your
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goal should be to ensure that any emotional response is derived from the
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factual content of your communication and not the method of delivery. This can
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be harder than it sounds. Trying to eliminate any emotion from your delivery
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can be just as bad as including negative emotion.
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> I have found that focusing on empathy is helpful
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Try to understand how your audience is going to percieve the news you need to deliver.
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It goes a long way when it's clear that you understand the impact what you have to say.
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Empathy can inform which type of emotion you should inject in your delivery.
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Try to understand how your audience is going to percieve the news you need to
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deliver. It goes a long way when it's clear that you understand the impact what
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you have to say. Empathy can inform which type of emotion you should inject in
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your delivery.
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Be sure to listen as well. In many ways listening does as much as to give people an
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impression of tact as your delivery does. Follow up your delivery with an opportunity
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to listen and see how it was recieved.
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Be sure to listen as well. In many ways listening does as much as to give
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people an impression of tact as your delivery does. Follow up your delivery
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with an opportunity to listen and see how it was recieved.
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# Team Culture
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By default culture flows from the top down, and for any team you manage, you
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are the source of that flow. You have an outsized impact on
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your teams culture. If you are negative then your team will tend to be
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negative. If you are positive then your team will tend to be
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positive. I've been thinking a lot lately about what you can do to
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create a good team culture.
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By default culture flows from the top down, and for any team you manage, you
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are the source of that flow. You have an outsized impact on your teams culture.
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If you are negative then your team will tend to be negative. If you are
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positive then your team will tend to be positive. I've been thinking a lot
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lately about what you can do to create a good team culture.
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## Identity
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@ -127,20 +127,20 @@ be productive and make the business successful.
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> If you aren't honest in your narrative then the cracks will start to show
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A good narrative is believable, one that everyone can buy into. Telling
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a story about where the company is going and how the team will be able to
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contribute to that direction does wonders for team cohesion. Make sure that the story is
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accurate and not a fabrication. If you aren't honest then the
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cracks will start to show and people will share their own narratives. Narratives
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that, in many cases, lead to bad places for the team.
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A good narrative is believable, one that everyone can buy into. Telling a story
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about where the company is going and how the team will be able to contribute to
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that direction does wonders for team cohesion. Make sure that the story is
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accurate and not a fabrication. If you aren't honest then the cracks will start
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to show and people will share their own narratives. Narratives that, in many
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cases, lead to bad places for the team.
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> If parts of your narrative are in conflict with itself then the
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> team won't know how to self direct
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An inconsistent narrative will kill productivity. If parts of your narrative
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are in conflict then the team won't know how to be self directed.
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They'll be backtracking all the time and it will appear to them that the ground
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is shifting under their feet. If you craft a good narrative then the team will
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are in conflict then the team won't know how to be self directed. They'll be
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backtracking all the time and it will appear to them that the ground is
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shifting under their feet. If you craft a good narrative then the team will
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have a shared story. They will know where they fit.
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> Acknowledge change and the need to adapt to it
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@ -156,9 +156,9 @@ on how to change it. Don't try to shoehorn the changes into the old narrative.
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> for employees and a bad one
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If the above challenges appeal to you then you might be interested in some
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managerial roles. The impact you can have on a team and a company make it worth it.
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You can be the difference between a good work environment for
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employees and a bad one. You have the potential to remove barriers to
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productivity for a team if you do it well. If you do it poorly though, you could
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be the reason a team's productivity stalls. The risk/reward here is
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considerably different than any other role I've had.
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managerial roles. The impact you can have on a team and a company make it worth
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it. You can be the difference between a good work environment for employees and
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a bad one. You have the potential to remove barriers to productivity for a team
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if you do it well. If you do it poorly though, you could be the reason a team's
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productivity stalls. The risk/reward here is considerably different than any
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other role I've had.
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