Engineering and management are two different jobs. As many others have noted, switching from one to the other is not a promotion, but a career change. Therefore, the transition between the two can be tough, and it comes with typical challenges. In this presentation, I present three of the most important ones: - Redefining what productivity means for you - Acquiring a new mindset so that you overcome the "Who am I to...?" syndrome - Problems don't come to you. You have to find them.

1. Challenges of a new
engineering manager
Tom Bartel

2. Tom Bartel
With trivago since 2013
Wanted to code more
Didn’t work out
Team Lead / Engineering
manager for ~3 years

3. Management?

6. Large scale management

7. Small scale management

8. –From http://www.bersin.com/blog/post/2011/03/Google-Studies-Management-
and-Uncovers-the-Fundamentals.aspx
One of the revelations which Google discovered
was that "the biggest controllable factor in high
performing teams was the quality of the
manager, and how they sort of made things
happen."
Google: Project Oxygen

9. Who to pick for this job?
vs.
?

10. http://fractio.nl/2014/09/19/not-a-promotion-a-career-change/

11. A tough transition

12. 1. Productivity and
Focus

13. Productivity as a developer
Commits
Completed tasks
Shipped features

14. Productivity as a manager
Commits
Completed tasks
Shipped features

16. 8:30 - 9:30: email, make appointments, check workshop signup
9:30 - 10:00: Discussion on merge request
10:00 - 10:15: Discussion with Product Owner on priorities
10:15 - 10:30: Standup of standups
10:30 - 11:00: One-on-one meeting with a Product Owner
Daily activities (1)

17. 11:00 - 13:00: Small stuff
13:00 - 14:00: Meeting on the new workflow
14:00 - 15:00: Meeting on replacing our package management server
15:00 - 16:30: Review the results of the company survey. Summarize a
peer review for an employee.
16:30 - 17:00: One-on-one meeting with a developer.
Daily activities (2)
Lines of code committed: 0
Features shipped: 0
Bugs fixed: 0

18. But also: Management is real work
Provide training
Give actionable feedback
Encourage
Help with a role change

19. It’s about the long-term
Trust
Retention
Growth

20. DRY = Don’t Repeat Yourself
DRY = Do Repeat Yourself

21. Productivity redefined
Connect two people Learn something new
about a colleague

22. Productivity redefined
Help somebody
with bureaucracy
Teach somebody
something

23. Productivity redefined
Bounce ideas back
and forth
Get somebody equipment
they need

24. –Andy Grove
“A manager’s output = the
output of his organization
+ the output of the
neighboring organizations
under his influence.”
It’s not about you

25. 1. Productivity and
Focus

26. 2. Who am I to …?

27. All of a sudden you are asked…
Vacation approval
May I work from home
on Friday?

28. Yesterday, you were just another introvert developer

29. Today you are on stage

30. Hiding is not an option

31. New responsibilities
Give critical feedbackListen to complaints

32. New responsibilities
Resolve conflictsNegotiate

33. Awkwardness
Am I the right
person to deal with
this?
I am not
prepared for this!

34. –Rich Armstrong, “Be a Manager”, https://medium.com/servant-leadership/be-a-
manager-3b0e39d87179
“Start learning to be a manager, and be
uncomfortable about it.”

35. So what to do?

36. Just go with it

37. Get a mentor

38. Do peer coaching

39. Goal: A new self-understanding
“mindset” (noun)
a set of beliefs or a way of thinking that determines one’s
behaviour, outlook, and mental attitude

40. 2. Who am I to …?

41. 3. Problems
don’t come
to you …

42. I quit

43. Open door policy

45. Why is that?
I don’t want
to steal the boss’
time. I don’t want
to make a big fuss
of it.
I’ll wait for the
right time*.
* The right time will never come.
Probably it’s
me. If I try harder,
it will be fine.

46. …you have to find the problems.

48. One-on-one meetings

49. One-on-one rules
1 + 1 = 2
30+ min
Every 1 to n weeks
Agenda set
by employee
Closed door

50. One-on-one topics
Progress of certain projects
Employee happiness
Exchange feedback
Personal topics
Problems in the organization
Employee goals
https://jasonevanish.com/2014/05/29/101-questions-
to-ask-in-1-on-1s/

51. Value of one-on-ones
Trust and Rapport
Feedback
Ideas
Growth

52. 3. Problems
don’t come
to you …

53. Wrapping up…

54. Challenges
1. Redefine productivity
2. Overcome the “Who am I to…?”
syndrome
3. Go and find the problems

55. Books

56. Stay tuned…

57. tombartel.me

58. is a great place to work
Btw: I know all the hiring managers
Open… …to ideas
…to cultures and nationalities
…to you

59. Thank you!
Questions? Yes? Please?