Metadata

Highlights

  • The best frontline eng managers in the world are the ones that are never more than 2-3 years removed from hands-on work, full time down in the trenches. The best individual contributors are the ones who have done time in management.
  • And the best technical leaders in the world are often the ones who do both. Back and forth. Like a pendulum.
  • hybrid manager+tech lead. This is an unstable combination, because your engineering skills and context-sharpness are decaying the longer you do it.
  • you’re a manager, your job is to get better at management.
  • tech lead is a manager … but their first priority is achieving the task at hand, not grooming and minding the humans who work on it.
  • They still need the full manager toolset.