Energetic, amped up, friendly, and joyful. These are attributes of how we want everyone, but especially our leaders, to behave at all times. But that’s hard, and it seems like a lot of people wash out after 1 or 2 years after joining the company. Sometimes they become just quiet, other times they get cynical, reserved, and angry. I believe this has something to do with energy management, and I collected my approaches for conserving my mental health by managing my energy better.

Regular 1-on-1s are to this day my favorite management tool, and it has transitioned remarkably well from working with Software Engineers to now working with other Managers. It’s probably the one constant factor in a sea of learning over the last few years, but I believe I also got a little bit better at running them. I collected something close to a Field Guide to share my current state of knowledge - This can be useful for Managers and Engineers alike because you can also use this to improve the 1-on-1 you have with your own boss.

A while ago I told one of my new Engineering Managers that I expect them to develop a strategy for their team. And oh my, were they confused by this ambiguous ask. I failed to explain this concept and my wish multiple times until we got it right, so this is both a lesson for me and for everyone else watching: As an Engineering Manager, how can you develop a strategy for your team?

Introducing a new level in your existing leveling framework and organization is not trivial, but can be an effective way of scaling your engineering demands in a growing org. I outlined a cheat sheet of steps on how a new role can be introduced without creating havoc. The title of this article mentions the staff level since that is quite the hype nowadays to have, but the underlying principle works for almost all kinds of individual contributor and manager levels, especially after the senior stage.

Having your manager change is never easy - even in the best case, you will lose someone who was rooting for you and had your best interest in mind, only to start the whole journey anew with a stranger. Re-building a shared context and a trust relationship after a handover is significant work. I collected a few ideas from performing more than 20 handovers to make that process a bit smoother.