The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

by Camille Fournier

Here are some examples of themes that I have seen. There are people who: Struggle with saying no to distractions and end up helping with other projects instead of finishing their own Do good work but are hard for others to work with, tending to be overly critical or rude in meetings, code reviews, or other collaborative activities Struggle to break their work up into intermediate deliverables, and don’t balance planning and design with getting things done Work well with other engineers but do not work well with other departments or teams Struggle to follow the accepted best practices of the team, cut corners, or otherwise do sloppy work

While the product manager is responsible for the product roadmap, and the tech lead is responsible for the technical details, you are usually accountable for the team’s progress through each of these elements. The nature of leadership is that, while you may only have the authority to guide decisions rather than dictate them, you’ll still be judged by how well those decisions turn out.

Is the team feeling good about how they get

requirements? Do they feel good about the code quality? This process helps you learn how the decisions you make over time affect the way your team operates in the day-to-day.

You have 10 productive engineering weeks per engineer per quarter

Budget 20% of time for generic sustaining engineering work across the board

As you approach deadlines, it is your job to say no

Use the doubling rule for quick estimates, but push for planning time to estimate longer tasks

Be selective about what you bring to the team to estimate

Getting Things Done

First, Break All the Rules

Recommended Reading Arbinger Institute, Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2000). Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (New York: Gotham Books, 2012). Peter F. Drucker, The Effective Executive (New York: HarperBusiness Essentials, 2002). Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful (New York: Hyperion, 2007). Andrew S. Grove, High Output Management (New York: Vintage Books, 1983). L. David Marquet, Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders (New York: Portfolio, 2012).

Andrew S. Grove, High Output Management (New York: Vintage Books, 1983). 2 Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002).