Leadership Roles

Team Development Framework for new managers

When transitioning from an Individual Contributor to a Manager, it can feel overwhelming. This post focuses on the mindset shift needed to better utilize the advice available for new Managers. The key difference between the two roles is the core action (Developing code vs. Developing team) and how it is done (high quality vs. high engagement). Managers must have a core set of skills such as building trust, active listening, decision-making, and emotional intelligence. Despite having the development framework and required skills, being a Manager is still hard due to the high cost of being wrong, solutions not always being logical, and non-determinism.

What it takes to become a great product manager

Product teams have different levels of experience and tenure, and switching the way of working can be uncertain. At BT, product management was broken into four buckets - strategy, leadership, delivery, and performance - and people could move between assignments to gain more experience in areas they lacked. This helped people figure out what they enjoyed and were good at, and showed that managing a team isn't the only path to a successful career. It's important to be honest with ourselves and realize what we like doing and what we are good at.

Effective Hiring Practices: Asking the Right Questions

Finding the right talent for a job requires asking the right questions and conducting interviews in a way that makes candidates feel comfortable. It is important to look for a technical fit, but also a match in values and learning potential. To gain insight during interviews, it is recommended to take several unorthodox approaches, such as identifying and double-downing on risky matters, prompting candidates with open-ended topics, focusing on fewer topics in detail, asking how they would hire for the role, and encouraging them to come up with a question. Additionally, feedback should be asked for in order to improve the interview process.

Dealing With Manager Who Is in a Different Country

This article discusses the challenges of managing up and understanding one's boss and team members. It describes how the author's team was able to make changes to their processes and introduce new ways of thinking in order to better motivate their team. The article also provides lessons learned, such as not assuming that the manager knows everything, not being scared to challenge the way things are being done, and being open to learning new technologies.

The Importance of Effective Communication Skills in Technical Roles

Software engineers and developers often have a lack of balance between their technical and soft skills, such as communication and emotional management. It is important to recognize this as an area for improvement and allocate time to strengthen these skills, just as one would with software development. Leaders should also support their team members in taking charge of conversations. Ultimately, it is an ongoing learning journey to improve soft skills and communication techniques.

Establishing the Goals for an Acquired Organization

A year ago, the author joined the office of a startup bought by their current company with the intent to expand their product across the US and globally. Through conversations with stakeholders and user research, the author proposed a flywheel structure and identified critical narratives and key metrics to measure performance. They also identified four future value streams and personas, and set goals for each vertical with key metrics. The team grew from two to ten members, and the business increased 8x in the next year according to the current plan. The author learned to build trust, think about users when building the team, not rush to hire people, and go deep to add value.