I've been an engineering manager for a couple of years. I'm still expected to do 50% engineering and 50% people management. As the article describes, it is a struggle to do both well. I don't see this responsibility split changing in my current role. I do often wonder what it would be like to be 100% people focused, and whether or not I would miss engineering too much.

When my role first changed, I was very intimidated by doing one-on-ones. I never felt satisfied with the one-on-ones/catch-ups I had with the managers throughout my career, and I wanted to make sure I was doing a good job with that aspect of my role.

I initially did lots of research on how to do one-on-ones, but it was only after getting experience talking to people that I finally felt comfortable. I started getting some nice feedback from my lines, so I wrote some thoughts about how I like to do one-on-ones:

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I think good one-on-ones are very important to keep people happy and productive. I'd recommend any new engineering managers to spend time learning how to do them.