#78 What you give up when moving into engineering management

sponsor

Retool is the fast way to build internal tools

Retool is the fast way to build internal tools. Visually design apps that interface with any database or API. Switch to code nearly anywhere to customize how your apps look and work. With Retool, you ship more apps and move your business forward—all in less time.

this week's favorite

What you give up when moving into engineering management

Moving into a management role may be a rewarding step in your career, but you should know about the things you're leaving behind.

On owning a software problem

My buddy is an electrician and told me a few months ago that he always leaves the screws in a vertical position on jobs as a sign of craftsmanship. Been thinking ever since what my “vertical screws” equivalent is for product design.

Calendar reviews

My product leader coachees and I sometimes do calendar reviews. We look at their chock-a-block schedules, and talk about the struggle to address important things when faced with 7+ hours/day of meetings. We often feel a lack of agency (control), where our jam-packed calendars drive us from one discussion to the next — with no time to catch our breath or complete action items from the last six meetings.

Momentum is magic

In physics, momentum is a quantity that captures the tendency for a moving object to remain in motion. Once something gets moving, it takes energy to slow it down, and the forward motion often becomes the new default state.

That wild ask a manager story

You may have seen this wild story from Ask A Manager a week ago: the new hire who showed up is not the same person we interviewed. If not, take a minute to read the story; it’s quite a ride. In short: the company interviewed someone, hired him, but when he showed up for his first day of work … it was a totally different person.

courses

Introducing Technical Strategy from Reforge - Apply Today, Begins March 21

Gain a practical toolkit to develop and strengthen your strategic thinking with this 4-week program created by Harsh Sinha (CTO at Wise) and Bryan Dove (CEO at CommerceHub). Learn how to define a technical strategy, optimize it based on company context, assess strategic trade-offs more effectively, and ultimately guide the product roadmap to deliver business impact.

newsletters

Would you like to become a sponsor and advertise in one of the issues? Check out our media kit and get in touch.