A critical step in managing a professional relationship is setting clear expectations from the outset. Whenever I begin a new reporting relationship, one of the first things I do is start a conversation about exactly that. As an employee, I want to know what exactly what I need to deliver…
As a manager, or anyone responsible for a team, you have to be worried about continuity. An unexpected departure will always slow a team down, but when it happens, it's up to the manager to respond quickly with a compensating adjustment, lest the team be hobbled for a lengthy period.…
Making the leap from individual contributor to management is challenging in the best of circumstances. When I made the transition myself, I honestly felt like I was starting over in my career. I suddenly needed a completely different set of skills to deal with a new set of challenges. It…
As a management technique, the 1:1 meeting is a classic, a cornerstone of building and maintaining a good relationship with the people who work for and with you. But strong professional relationships don't "just happen"; making sure the 1:1 is time well-spent involves both steering the conversation in…
"How do I get promoted?" as a software developer can be a tricky question, and the answer is often highly dependent on where you work. Each organization has its own processes, and especially at higher levels, budget and politics can often (unfortunately) come into play. But if we consider the…
Consider the plight of this hypothetical employee: for years, they have worked for the same employer, and for most of that time they have been tasked with operating and maintaining an important, if unloved, system. Perhaps that system is necessary for compliance, or maybe customer support, but certainly not a…
I've been part of companies that were acquired a couple of times now. Every acquisition is different, but for those who are chosen to continue the journey with the new company, there are common pitfalls – ones I wish I'd known to avoid. After my first acquistion, I had, honestly, a…
Any organization (or individual, for that matter) that desires to improve needs to be able to both have a frank discussion of what went wrong after a failure, as well be able to generate and execute on actionable steps to take that would prevent or mitigate the same failure in…
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post on the delegation of management duties, and I got some interesting feedback, specifically regarding leadership. While I only tangentially touched on leadership directly, it's natural to bring it up in the context on management, as they are so closely intertwined that they…
I've been managing software engineering teams for a few years now, and one of the conversations that I keep having over and over with different people centers around delegation of responsibilities. Whether I'm trying to help someone grow into a management role themselves, or just trying to spread the load…