Image by David Loftesness via First Round Review (Days 61-90) Reflect and self-assess. This checklist ensures new managers make time for important tasks. Loftesness advises new managers create an “event loop” or management checklist. I encourage my managers to ask themselves, ‘Is this meeting important to getting your job done?’” People will invite you to meetings because other managers are attending or they’ve just cast a wide net. “Of course, be respectful if you decline, but always protect your time. “I think being judicious - even vicious - about canceling meetings is a key habit to start early,” says Loftesness. What tasks can be delegated? Are you holding onto tasks from your former position? How do you schedule time when engineers need to meet one-on-one? Do you need to attend every meeting? Take a hard look at how you spend your time in the second month. Loftesness advises engineers level-up on their management skills by blocking time on their calendars to read management books, take online courses and meet with management mentors. Great engineers don’t develop overnight – neither do great engineering managers. Will you still enjoy your job if you are no longer coding? Lofteness encourages potential managers to look at three types of relationships: Your team, your peers, and your manager.Īre you ready to manage former peers and take responsibility? Can you communicate effectively with your new peers-other managers? How will you communicate and work with your new manager? (Days 1-30) Level-up on skills. It can be a challenging transition to go from individual contributor to manager.
Everyone is so busy keeping the project on track, managing the day-to-day, and putting out fires, that there is no time for management training.Īfter 20 years and six tech companies, Loftesness designed a 90-day plan to grow engineers into managers. The engineer with the most knowledge of the project takes over as team and project leader. A manager leaves for another position mid-project. Basically I just replicated what I saw around me.” That’s how Twitter’s former Director of Engineering, David Loftesness, described his first few rounds in management positions. I built out our scheduling and thought, ‘I guess we need to have meetings…’ so we created meetings. “When I first became a manager, I spent at least six months just faking it.