Ask HN: Tips for Engineering Manager | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Tips for Engineering Manager

43 pointstinyhouse18 comments

I've recently started managing a very big team for the first time. I'm still trying to figure out a good model. Daily stand-ups? What to focus on in weekly meetings? How to make the most from retrospective? In a previous team I found the stand-ups very boring as it was mostly for the manager and not for us, as people on the team worked on different things.

Also, what's a typical path going from a team manager (EM1) to senior manager (EM2)? What are the things I should focus on to show I'm ready for managing managers? (I understand it can take a few years)

View on HN

Generally try to start from the need and derive the form. Instead of asking what should we do in the weekly meeting ask why do we have a weekly meeting, and either you have a goal for that and use a format that fulfills that goal, or you don't and get rid of the meeting.

> I'm still trying to figure out a good model. Daily stand-ups?

One that I have used a few times with success was the right to left stand-up - instead of focusing on people, focus on what it takes to move a given task to the next column, starting from the rightmost tasks (finish work instead of starting it). This changes the stand-up from a status report to action planning. Some teams don't like that though, especially when people have some years of training in the standard yesterday I did X and today I'll do Y delivery, but I'll say worth a try depending on what you want from your stand-up once again.

Focusing on the tasks rather than what each has been doing - I like the idea a lot. I will try to implement it. Thank you!

Best piece of advice, take a stand. Have a perspective. And stay focused on a small amount of things that you care about. This might start out as one thing - which is completely fine. The rest, make sure you set up a scheme where you are empowering others, and there is someone who is directly in charge of other tasks, and delegate it to someone, or a specific team. The worst is when something is "everyone's job" - but make sure that the person who is in charge knows how to solicit opinion and isn't a dictator. Make sure you can use the team to give you the info you need, so you can make decisions. Making (good informed) decisions is your best point of leverage to keep things flowing, but make sure you are making decision at your level (and not too low, which is micromanagement). Feel free to redirect decisions that are someone else's to make. Don't be a single point of failure, empower others. Default to using questions, as opposed to prescribing answers as a tool for mentoring your direct reports. Make sure you are doing 1-on-1's and anything else that lets you see the truth of the state of things, and also so you can see peoples weaknesses and strengths so you can delegate tasks appropriately and coach up that talent.

Meeting with people, Hiring, setting up correct processes are your main tools.

> Also, what's a typical path going from a team manager (EM1) to senior manager (EM2)? What are the things I should focus on to show I'm ready for managing managers? (I understand it can take a few years)

(Qualifications: Director-level with several managers reporting to me in 60 eng org.)

You got a lot of answers for the first part, but not much for the second part. For the second part, I would recommend reading "The Manager's Path" by Camille Fournier. It's a great, short read that really lays out the different roles and responsibilities at different levels, and it does so at a high enough level that it should be relevant to most companies.

More concretely, this is a conversation you should have with your boss! The criteria for moving up in your career can differ from company to company, and your boss is going to be your best ally to get there. (If your boss is NOT interested in helping you, find a new boss!)

That said, don't skip too far ahead. Focus on doing a really good job with your own team, and once you've got that down and rock solid, then start to think about next steps of taking on multiple teams. It's kind of a totally different beast to manage multiple teams, but having the fundamentals down will make it more incremental than it would otherwise be. It's good to have a milestone down the road, but put 90% of your effort toward the short term and 10% toward making sure you're still moving toward those goals.

Good luck!

Counterpoint, I read "The Manager's Path" and I found it to be a pretty redundant overview of the management path for someone in an org that has a well defined management structure/path and that started out as an IC and is now in an M1 role. ie, I had plenty of time to observe as an IC and then when I was ready for the switch I had a good understanding of what good management looks like, expectations were set and a solid group of mentors in my management chain.

To me it's a good book if:

- You are an IC in a "flat" organization/startup that wants to learn how the management path works at large companies - You are now a manager that did not develop in an environment with a well defined management path. You are winging it and want to implement best practices.

I agree, but OP is clearly in that second camp, or they wouldn't be asking here ;)

What does the team find effective for meetings, etc?

A lot of management is creating emotional safety so the team can self-organize and give/receive feedback safely, without fear of blame or repercussions. If the team owns the rituals, they'll be more committed to making the process work best for their needs. Of course, you have input, and even the final say if nothing presents itself or there's issues that require decisiveness, but you have to balance your top-down authority with buy-in from the whole team.

I feel this is really important. Good management will block off pressure from the upper levels so their team can flourish and be their best version. Bad management hands the pressure down the chain.

I suggest starting with The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier. It's a great, practical book that covers expectations at each level along the engineering management career ladder.

> I'm still trying to figure out a good model. Daily stand-ups? What to focus on in weekly meetings?

Usually these are things that are specific to a company culture, if everyone there does daily stand-ups do daily stand-ups. Same for the focus, try to get a feel from your boss about what the company is focusing on and try to emphasize that at the meetings. In general, if you don't have a passion or good reason for believing in a different method, it is better to follow the practices they are most used to. Make friends with someone else at your level and ask their advice.

> What are the things I should focus on to show I'm ready for managing managers?

At some level it stops being about the managing(who is working on what) and more about trying to give people the resources to maximize their value. Managing managers isn't really considered by most to be managing like it is for low level workers. It is about giving people the opportunity to improve the company and setting direction. It is also about saying no to the right things.

There's no silver bullet and the best performing teams find their own way to work. Your job as a manager is to encourage the team in the process. So find ways to think about performance and pay attention. Then make 1 or 2 small changes and see what that does to performance. Repeat.

I'd also encourage you to bring this up with your team in retros - "Hey, I'm thinking we could try XYZ, what do you think?" or "I'm seeing XYZ as an issue, what's a better way to do it?".

From the perspective of someone being managed, I’d say the most important for me would be that the new Manager establishes 1on1 relationships with the team. This builds trust for the manager because they can be more sure that the team is helping to fulfill the organizational goals and will help to surface any upcoming problems ahead of time and not when it is too late.

For the team it gives them the feeling they can talk to the Manager honestly, which is really important.

1. Experiment with skills that are outside of your comfort zone. Managerial positions necessitate a wide range of abilities, so you'll need to think beyond your technical abilities. 2. Look for a mentor. 3. Experiment with project management. 4. Acquire new abilities.

Is your team good? If so the best thing you can do is stay out of their way and play brutal politics to promote yourself and them in your company. Deflect and dump bad projects, this is critical. If your team is bad, start looking for scapegoats.

I think the best structure is dependent on what you are trying to accomplish and the level of resourcing you have. Do you have clarity on what success will look like for this role? That's where I'd start and work backwards.

Read Peopleware. Right now you're focused on mechanics like standups and retros, but for those to be effective you'll need to really grasp underlying principles.

As for career path, read The Manager's Path.

https://github.com/ksindi/managers-playbook

Has been really helpful. Footnotes are good.

Managing managers is as boring as hell. Get prepared for that!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com