This is the type of article that new engineering managers should bookmark and re-read every few months. Is the advice perfect? No, but it will probably bring some new perspective to some problems you'll have along the way. There is no one size fits all management strategy that works in every situation, but every manager should be aware of the common pitfalls on the growth path of engineering managers.
In my personal experience as an engineering manager and in mentoring new engineering managers, this is the tipping point where managers either succeed or spiral into burnout:
> I found myself and our product manager becoming the bottleneck in planning out who will work on what project, next, and who will be the lead.
If you find yourself bottlenecking the team, you're either micromanaging or your team has grown too large for a single level of management. You need to take the time to develop a new system that removes you as the bottleneck. Don't try to push through the issue by putting in more hours. That's not sustainable. Find a new system.
The "everyone is a leader" strategy described in this article is a good perspective on what every manager should be doing: Clearly defining ownership boundaries and expectations, while avoiding micromanagement. It's a common mistake to assume that because the manager is responsible for the success and failure of a project, the manager should also micromanage the critical decision making. That's the first trait that needs to be trained out of almost every engineer promoted to manager in my experience.
Some engineers instinctively reject anything that feels like a management responsibility. Others will demand promotions or raises for taking on basic ownership tasks. Often, these engineers started their careers in toxic environments where accountability was synonymous with "you're going to be fired if this fails". It's important to show these engineers that your environment really is safe, and that good things come from taking ownership. You have to back up your words with your actions, of course. IME, most engineers truly enjoy autonomy, ownership, and leadership once they can reasonably expect that it won't be used against them.
And of course, it's important to screen for these traits during the hiring process. It's also important to filter out engineers who can't or won't learn to take ownership of their work.
In my personal experience as an engineering manager and in mentoring new engineering managers, this is the tipping point where managers either succeed or spiral into burnout:
> I found myself and our product manager becoming the bottleneck in planning out who will work on what project, next, and who will be the lead.
If you find yourself bottlenecking the team, you're either micromanaging or your team has grown too large for a single level of management. You need to take the time to develop a new system that removes you as the bottleneck. Don't try to push through the issue by putting in more hours. That's not sustainable. Find a new system.
The "everyone is a leader" strategy described in this article is a good perspective on what every manager should be doing: Clearly defining ownership boundaries and expectations, while avoiding micromanagement. It's a common mistake to assume that because the manager is responsible for the success and failure of a project, the manager should also micromanage the critical decision making. That's the first trait that needs to be trained out of almost every engineer promoted to manager in my experience.
Some engineers instinctively reject anything that feels like a management responsibility. Others will demand promotions or raises for taking on basic ownership tasks. Often, these engineers started their careers in toxic environments where accountability was synonymous with "you're going to be fired if this fails". It's important to show these engineers that your environment really is safe, and that good things come from taking ownership. You have to back up your words with your actions, of course. IME, most engineers truly enjoy autonomy, ownership, and leadership once they can reasonably expect that it won't be used against them.
And of course, it's important to screen for these traits during the hiring process. It's also important to filter out engineers who can't or won't learn to take ownership of their work.