
Ask HN: What would you do joining a new team as a manager? - bsvalley
How would you onboard a new team as an engineering manager starting a new job?
======
hluska
First, if I were in your shoes, I would approach this from a different
direction. You are onboarding yourself, not the team. If you approach it from
the opposite angle, you will piss off the people you need to be most helpful.

The first step is to introduce yourself. This will be supremely unhelpful, but
maybe someone with a better memory/filing system can chime in with some more
help. A few months ago, there was a post on the front page about developer
READMEs. There were a couple of great examples in there written by new
managers to introduce themselves to their new teams. My Google skills are
failing me now, but I'm sure that I'll find the article about five minutes
after I can no longer edit this post. :)

I wish I could give you that link because those readmes are a great way to
introduce yourself to a new team.

Aside from that, I'm a big fan of changing absolutely nothing and getting your
hands dirty as soon as possible. There's nothing better than a manager who
comes in with respect for how you have done things and helps solve some major
problems. You will get bonus marks if you're very humble. I would pair with
members of your team and get them to teach you the system. Thank them, praise
them when warranted, and try your best to avoid playing those shitty developer
"whip it out" games. Keep note of the developers who play those games. They
might be lacking confidence, or they might be a cancer...

I'm not saying that you can never change things because you will. But it's
dangerous to change things until you understand exactly why it was done the
old way. You'll be surprised how often things that seem really dumb are
actually necessary.

Then, try to set yourself up as someone who will advocate for your team. It's
hard to prove this without actually doing it. But, you have a new job, so
you'll presumably want to avoid ruffling any of the feathers that hired you.
This is a tough one to balance and I'd be lying if I said I had any specific
advice beyond going with the flow and being careful.

If you do this for two to three months, you'll have the capital to really
lead.

Finally, good luck. You're making the hardest transition in our industry, but
I believe in you. You'll be a great manager - posting this ask HN is a very
good signal. Have fun, be you and kick ass!!

~~~
hluska
I found the link:

[https://hackernoon.com/12-manager-readmes-from-silicon-
valle...](https://hackernoon.com/12-manager-readmes-from-silicon-valleys-top-
tech-companies-26588a660afe)

~~~
bsvalley
Thanks a lot guys. That is some serious badass content here!

------
robertcope
Listen to the team. Spend time observing and getting to know the systems, the
people, the processes. Don't try and make major changes on day one because you
cannot possibly understand the reason things work they way they do at that
point.

------
cimmanom
1\. Introduce yourself, your background, your values

2\. Announce your intentions (see below)

3\. As robertcope suggests, start off by observing and building relationships.
If you have experience in what the team does, pitch in and get your hands
dirty and learn the [codebase, processes, etc.]

4\. A couple months of step 3 will accomplish 2 things: it will give you
insight into what really is and isn’t working well for the team; and it will
build you the political capital you need to get people onboard with changes.
At this point you can start making suggestions. You should also by now be
making yourself an advocate for your team’s needs with upper management.

