Tips for Transitioning to Engineering Management

Are you struggling to transition from a high-performing individual contributor to a manager role? I've been there and have worked with many rockstars struggling with this transition. Why do we struggle so much? To achieve high performer status, you have to get stuff done, be better than other people, and in most cases, you believe that "to get things right, I need to do it myself." This is where it gets tricky. Just before you become a manager, you are likely managing larger projects and other people indirectly and it's tough to balance the IC work and the manager work you need to do. Here are a few tips: ➡️ Separate your IC vs. manager time on your calendar. Literally, block time to do the IC work and to manage people. ➡️ Learn how to manage people without doing the work for them. If someone says, I need this report on return on our advertising spend. Don't think you need to do it yourself. Instead, ask the person in charge to create that report for you and give them feedback. Yes, they will make mistakes at first and you'll learn that your first few requests won't be super clear, but you gotta try. ➡️ Get feedback on your performance as a manager. Ask the people you are managing and your leader. These people will have insights and potential blindspots that you can work on. ➡️ Keep at it. I know some people who've decided they prefer to remain an IC and that's 100% ok. My point here is, don't give up just because you don't feel like you are good at it in the beginning. ➡️ Read this book if you have time. I read it in business school a while back, and I still recommend it to high performers on my team making the transition. I love helping people develop into great leaders. I'm still a work in progress myself, but aren't we all? #leadershiplessons #teamdevelopment

It was unbelievably painful. When I became a first-time manager years ago, I made all the mistakes in the book. I thought I was on the right track. In reality, something had gone awry. By avoiding hard conversations about quality of work, I hadn’t setup my report for success. And when her presentation to senior leaders fell flat, I felt devastated. I knew it was my fault. Here’s 3 things I wish I knew as a new manager: 𝟭/ 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿 I focused on building rapport (good manager), but delayed giving candid feedback to my report about her work output (bad manager). I was avoiding confrontation—procrastinating until the “right moment” struck (never did). Since then, I’ve learned to lean into the discomfort. If there’s a performance concern, sit down privately with your report, explain the concern openly, point to specific pieces of work, share examples of what “good” looks like, and invite them to give their feedback. 𝟮/ 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹 The beauty and curse of managing people is that each person is a unique combination of skills, motivations, and behavior. While I can “get out of the way” for certain skilled and motivated high-performers, the same approach would be a disaster for reports who are struggling due to weaker skills. The challenge is to listen and observe your report intently—so you understand which style to use to help them perform at the next level. 𝟯/ 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 As a manager, my reports frequently raise concerns about other people. Early on, I would immediately jump into problem-solving mode. This got me overwhelmed. Fast. Later, I learned to first ask, “Have you talked to the person about your concern?” 80% of the time, the answer is no. Then I would make it my mission to coach my report to independently resolve their conflict. If I succeeded, they’d be empowered to handle a wider range of situations on their own. **** P.S. If you’re making a change, I coach tech professionals to make career transitions and build wealth abroad. Slide into my DMs and join my past clients at companies like Google, Meta, Square, & Stripe.

How you start a new role greatly influences your success in that role. Straight Truth: Getting off to a quick, impressive start can set a tone that leads to rapid career growth. Why does a fast start matter? Because first impressions are very sticky. When you do well early, people put you into their mental bucket as a "rising star." Many companies even have special programs for "high potential" rising leaders, who then get more training, better mentors, and special opportunities. Obviously once you are on such a career track it tends to be self-reinforcing. Those who start more slowly may in fact create solid results over time, but only after they are mentally categorized as "solid" performers who are not "fast track." Like most "Straight Truths" I am neither saying that this pattern is absolute nor that it should be this way, only that it often is. Humans form mental shortcuts, and first impressions are one of those short cuts. Once the impression is set, the "fast starter" can perform the same as the "slower starter," but those subsequent performances will tend to be viewed differently. The fast starter will tend to be seen more as continuing rapid success even as the slow starter is seen as remaining solidly predictable. This is simply a pattern of your mind. So a reader asked, "What are the top 3-5 things to do in the first 90 days when onboarding in a new role (2nd level engineering manager) at a new company?" Since we know speed matters: 1) Enter with a clear learning plan and pursue rapid learning. You can really hurt yourself by acting before your employees, peers, and manager feel that you have paid attention and heard them. You can make dumb mistakes for lack of knowledge as well as offending people. Ask questions, be humble, listen. 2) Realize that your early weeks and months matter more, so clear your calendar to work more. If extra time is ever going to be worth it, use it to outperform early and set that positive impression in motion. Straight Truth again, once you are seen as a star you can more easily get away with lower hours later. 3) Get out of learning mode and into doing mode as soon as you can. I tended to listen exclusively for 30 days, to start trying to do a few things between 30 and 60, to ramp this up to acting more confidently between 60 and 90, and then just leading with full confidence after 90. 4) Really get to understand what your manager and company needs. See my class on Managing Up in the first comment for more information on how to do this really well. Readers: space is always too short! What have you done? How else should new leaders spin up quickly and get on the right track? Please comment! #first90days #fasttrack #StraightTruth

Moving into a management role is a major change... Here's a first-hand account of my recent experience and what I have been learning ~~~~~~~~ I recently moved into the role of Acting Engineering Project Manager. This is my first time in a formal management role, and I have been learning every day. The scope of my new role spans the execution of all aspects of the project, including: ▪︎software ▪︎hardware ▪︎human factors ▪︎safety ▪︎cybersecurity ▪︎digital transformation This broad scope keeps every day dynamic, challenging, and interesting... and with the expanded scope also comes new growth areas. ~~~~~~~~ Two months into the role, here are my three major learning curves: 1. Change from executing tasks to enabling the team 🎯 The biggest change has definitely been moving from executing my own tasks to planning them for others. My focus is now on enabling team members to hit their milestones. Sometimes I have to resist my urge to jump in myself; a conductor is not the one playing all the instruments. Their focus is on conducting the orchestra. 2. Handling increased complexity 📊 As a manager, the daily complexity is much higher. Often, it feels like balancing many spinning plates. Prioritization takes on a different meaning when *everything* is important. Timeblocking my calendar and sending myself emails of To-Dos has been very helpful. There is no easy solution to these situations, and I am treating each one as a learning opportunity. 3. Achieving team flow 🔗 Communication is key to keeping the team informed and aligned towards the same goals. Meaningful meetings are important for this synergy. I have been doubling down on my meeting skills. These include sending out clear agendas, taking thorough notes, and tracking action items to closure. With a wider field-of-view, it is easy for me to overload a team member with information. So I have been working on pacing information and sharing with intent. Team flow requires clarity. Clarity comes from delivering relevant information in a concise manner. ~~~~~~~~ Two months down ✅️ What is something you remember from transitioning between different types of roles? #engineering #projectmanagement #fieldnotes