Lead teams and grow engineers.
2 topics
Your primary job is growing the people on your team. 1:1 meetings (weekly, 30 min) focused on their growth, blockers, and career aspirations. Career laddering: define expectations for each level, give actionable feedback, and create growth opportunities. Coaching > telling: ask questions that help them find solutions. Build psychological safety so people take risks and share mistakes. Performance management: regular feedback (not just annual reviews), PIPs as last resort.
2 resources
Hiring is your highest-leverage activity. Define role requirements clearly, write inclusive job descriptions, design structured interviews (same questions, rubric-scored), and calibrate with other interviewers. Build diverse teams — diverse perspectives produce better solutions. Onboarding: 30-60-90 day plans, buddy system, clear first projects. Team composition: balance senior/junior, specialists/generalists.
Ensure the team ships reliably. Agile practices: sprint planning, standups (keep short), retros (actionable improvements). Track velocity and cycle time, not individual output. Remove blockers proactively. Technical excellence: code review culture, testing standards, on-call rotations, and incident response. Balance feature work, tech debt, and operational improvements (typically 70/20/10).
Set team values and norms explicitly. Document decision-making processes. Communicate up (status to leadership), down (context to team), and across (collaborate with peer teams). Shield team from organizational noise but share relevant context. Run effective meetings: clear agenda, designated decision-maker, written outcomes. Manage conflict constructively — address issues early before they fester.