Book notes: The Manager's Path
Tags: books, management
Published: 2020-10-27 07:21:33

---
title: Book notes: The Manager's Path
published: true
date: 2020-07-22 08:00:00 UTC
tags: books, management
canonical_url: https://danlebrero.com/2020/07/22/the-managers-path-book-summary/
cover_image: https://danlebrero.com/images/blog/managers-path.jpg
series: Book notes
description: Book notes on "The Manager's Path"
---

These are my notes on [Camille Fournier](https://twitter.com/skamille)'s [The The Manager's Path](https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth-ebook/dp/B06XP3GJ7F). 

I specially liked that the book is IT specific and that it lays down all the different levels on the management ladder, so you can get a feeling of what you will be expected to do at each level and decide which level is the one that you would like to aspire to.

Excellent read. 

# Key Insights

* The only person you can change is yourself.
* Asking for advice is a way of showing trust and respect.
* Listening is a precursor to empathy.
* If you want autonomy over your work, you must gain mastery over your time.        
* Create a safe environment for disagreement to work itself out.
* Practice continuous feedback.
* Real potential in people show itself quickly.
* Be kind, not nice.
* Delegation is essential for career growth.
* Ways to say no:
    * "YES, AND ..." state what would require to say yes or what it will impact.
* As a manager, your first team is not the people that report to you but your peers.
* As a manager, ask yourself:
    * Can I do this faster (by cutting scope)?
    * Do I need to be doing this at all?
    * What value am I providing with this work?
* Management is a very culture-specific task.
* Managing outside your skill set: be curious, ask questions, learn.
* Boring meetings are a sign of dysfunctional teams.
* We learn the most from failures.
* Process is risk management.
* CTO shape business strategy through the lens of technology.
* You will be measured against the company's values.
    * If your values are not those of the company, you will struggle.
* You have to be able to manage yourself if you want to be good at managing others.
    * For this, you need to understand yourself.
       
# TOC

* [1 - Management 101](#ch-1)
* [2 - Mentoring](#ch-2)
* [3 - Tech Lead](#ch-3)
* [4 - Managing People](#ch-4)
* [5 - Managing a team](#ch-5)
* [6 - Managing Multiple Teams](#ch-6)
* [7 - Managing Managers](#ch-7)
* [8 - The Big Leagues](#ch-8)
* [9 - Bootstrapping Culture](#ch-9)
* [Conclusion](#ch-10)

# <a name="ch-1"></a>Chapter 1 - Management 101

* What to expect from a manager:
    * Grow your career:
        * Help find the training/conf/books.
        * Find "stretch" projects.
    * Feedback.
    * Figure out what you need to learn.
    * Understand what to focus on and enable you to have that focus.
    * Take your manager's job.
    * Find a sense of purpose in day-to-day by connecting what you do with the overall picture.
* 1-2-1 purpose:
    * Create human connection.
    * Discuss privately.
    * Not a status meeting.
    * Must be regular.
* Feedback:
    * Public for praise, private for criticism.
    * Behavioural feedback.
* How to be managed:
    * Spend time thinking about what you want.
    * You are responsible for yourself.
    * The only person you can change is yourself.
    * Asking for advice is a way of showing trust and respect.

## <a name="ch-2"></a>Chapter 2 - Mentoring

* Listening is a precursor to empathy.
        
## <a name="ch-3"></a>Chapter 3 - Tech Lead

* Not a point in the ladder, but a temporal role.
* At least 30% time coding.
* Main new skill: project management.
* Learn how to balance your time of tech work vs management work.
* If you want autonomy over your work, you must gain mastery over your time.
* Tech Lead roles:
    * Software developer.
    * System architect.
    * Business analysts.
    * Project planner.
    * Team leader.
* Expect the tech lead position to be a big increase in responsibility and workload.
* Project management is a necessary pain:
    * Break deliverables into small tasks.
    * Sort task in the most efficient way.
    * Push through unknowns.       
* Successful team leads excel at communication:
    * Read/write.
    * Speak/listen.
    * Note taking.
       
## <a name="ch-4"></a>Chapter 4 - Managing People

* New hire:
    * [First 1-2-1 questions](https://larahogan.me/blog/first-one-on-one-questions/).
    * Create a 30/60/90 plan.
* 1-2-1 styles:
    * TODO list:
        * Professional and efficient but cold.
        * Forces to think beforehand.
        * Items to discuss should be worth the face to face time.
    * Catch-up:
        * Listen to what report thinks is most important.
        * Careful with too much complaining.
    * Feedback meeting:
        * Quarterly enough for career development.
        * Review process towards goals.
    * Progress report (when managing managers).
* Get to know your report at a personal level.
* Take notes in a shared document.
* Delegate effectively:
    * Do not "intervene" if:
        * Team is making progress on its goals.
        * System's are stable.
        * Product manager is happy.
    * If a team has no goals, use what you want to monitor to help them create one.
    * Gather information yourself from system instead of asking the team.
* Continuous feedback:
    * You must know your people.
    * Forces you to pay attention to individuals.
    * Makes it easy to foster talent.
    * Practice tricky conversations in the small.
    * Weekly for everyone who reports to you.
    * Start with positive feedback.
* Performance reviews:
    * Include the whole year: summarize the 1-2-1.
    * It is not a one hour process, but much longer.
    * Use concrete examples to avoid bias.
    * Spend plenty of time on accomplishments.
    * Keep the areas of improvement focus.
* Real potential in people show itself quickly.
* Keep an eye out for opportunities for your team members to stretch themselves and grow.

## <a name="ch-5"></a>Chapter 5 - Managing a team

* New set of skills and challenges.
* Engineering managers:
    * Must be technically credible to get the respect of the engineering team.
    * Keep contributing to code so you can see the bottlenecks.
* Dysfunctional teams:
    * Not shipping: Tools/processes poor.
    * People drama: negative, brilliant jerk, gossip.
    * Unhappiness due to overwork:
        * Pay tech debt.
        * If time-critical release:
            * Play cheerleader.
            * Cut features.
            * Push back date.
            * Contribute.
    * Collaboration problems:
        * With other teams:
            * Regular catch up with peers to work through issues.
            * Actionable feedback.
        * Within the team:
            * Team building activities.
* Learn enough about the product and customers.
* Long term vision of technology and product.
* Create a safe environment for disagreement to work itself out.
* Managing conflict:
    * Don't rely exclusively on voting.
    * Set up clear process to depersonalize decisions.
    * Don't turn a blind eye on simmering issues.
    * Don't take it out on the other teams.
    * Be kind, not nice.
    * Don't be afraid of conflict.
* Psychological safety: you are willing to take risks and make mistakes in front of others.
* Don't hire brilliant jerks as it is too difficult to get rid of one.
* Get rid of the people that don't respect you as a manager, or the team.
* Non-communicator:
    * Raise his habits asap.
    * Find the root cause of the hiding.
* Advanced project management:
    * Use agile for short term.
    * 10 productive weeks per quarter.
    * Budget 20% for tech debt.
    * Cut features as deadline approaches.
    * Spend time planning and estimating.
    
## <a name="ch-6"></a>Chapter 6 - Managing Multiple Teams

* No more coding. You will miss coding.
* Be fluent in at least one programming language before taking this role.
* Manage your own time: [Eisenhower Matrix](https://jamesclear.com/eisenhower-box).
* How much time did you spent on non-urgent but important tasks?
* Delegate:

| | Frequent | Infrequent |
| -------- | -----------  | --------- |
| Simple | Delegate  | Do it yourself |
| Complex | Delegate carefully  | Delegate for training |

* Delegation is essential for career growth.
* Ways to say no:
    * "YES, AND ..." state what would require to say yes or what it will impact.
    * Create policies that clearly define what is needed for a yes.
    * "Help me say yes": ask questions.
    * "Not right now": you must do something later.
    * Ask a peer to say no in your behalf.
    * Don't delay saying no.
* Your technical focus at this level is to improve the system of work that your developers are operating within.
* Durable teams are built on a shared purpose that comes from the company itself, and they align themselves with the company's values.
* As a manager, your first team is not the people that report to you but your peers.
* Ask yourself:
    * Can I do this faster (by cutting scope)?
    * Do I need to be doing this at all?
    * What value am I providing with this work?
  
## <a name="ch-7"></a>Chapter 7 - Managing Managers

* Same as managing multiple teams, but an order of magnitude bigger. New set of skills.
* Things are obscured by the additional level of abstraction.
* Skip-Level meetings:
    * Critical to build trust and engagement.
    * Either quarterly 1-2-1 or group lunches.
    * Prompts in page 129.
* Open-Door policy does not work.
* Managers should make your life easier, by bringing clear problems before they turn into raging fires.
* Make managers accountable for their teams.
* New managers need a lot of coaching:
    * How to do 1-2-1.
    * How to let go previous work.
    * How to not become a control freak.
    * Find external training.
* Management is a very culture-specific task,
    * Hence is better to promote people that has been in the company for long and already understand the culture.
* Culture fit more important than industry-specific knowledge.
* Hiring managers - Page 140:
    * Do reference checks.
* Managing outside your skill set: be curious, ask questions, learn.
* Boring meetings are a sign of dysfunctional teams.
* People need to feel an understanding and connection with the purpose of their work.
* Your technical responsibility is to optimize tech investments by matching it to future product or customer needs.

## <a name="ch-8"></a>Chapter 8 - The Big Leagues

* As tech senior managers, we bring a willingness to embrace and drive change as needed.
* Be a leader; your company looks to you for:
    * What to do.
    * Where to go.
    * How to act.
    * How to think.
    * What to value.
    * Make hard decisions without perfect information.
    * Understand current business landscape and plan for possible futures.
    * Hold individuals/teams accountable.
* 4 tasks:
    * Information gathering or sharing.
    * Nudging.
    * Decision making.
    * Role modeling.
* Possible roles:
    * R&D.
    * Tech strategy.
    * Organization.
    * Execution.
    * External face of technology.
    * Infrastructure and tech operations manager.
    * Business executive.
* CTO must care about business and shape business strategy through the lens of technology.
* CTO without management responsibilities will have little influence.
* To make something top priority, ou need to explicitly kill or postpone in-flight work.
* You need to communicate things three or more times before it sinks.
* Setting strategy:
    * Improve operational efficiency.
    * Expand features.
    * Grow the business.
    * It entitles:
        * Tech architecture.
        * Team structure.
        * Understanding direction of business.
* Delivery bad news:
    * Do it by individuals or small groups.
    * Must be in-person.
    * Don't force yourself to delive if you cannot stand behind it.
    * Be honest.
* CEO as a boss:
    * Getting 1-2-1 time is a challenge.
        * Bring topics, set up agenda.
    * Bring solutions, not problems.
    * Ask for advice.
    * Don't be afraid of repeating yourself.
    * Be supportive.
    * Look for coaching and skills development in other places.
* Your team:
    * Peers in other functions.
    * First focus on the success of business, then on their departments.
    * You trust them as experts in their areas.
    * You trust they are not trying to undermine you.
    * Disagreement in leadership team is ok, but once a decision is made, team shows a united front.
* You need to detach from your previous team:
    * Avoid having favourites.
    * People to take you seriously.
    * People will copy your behaviours.
    * Your presence will change the behaviour.
    * Do not discuss uncertainty with your old peers.
    * Care even more about individuals.
* True North: core principles that a person in a functional role must keep in mind as he does his job.
    
## <a name="ch-9"></a>Chapter 9 - Bootstrapping Culture

* You need an hypothesis to learn from new processes and structures.
* Structure allow to scale, diversify and take on more complex long-term tasks.
* We learn the most from failures: examine failures to decide what structure needs to be added.
* Culture is how things get done, without people having to think about it -- Frederick Laloux.
* You will be measured against the company's values.
    * If your values are not those of the company, you will struggle.
* Culture:
    * Map company values to tech team, maybe adding a couple that are specially important.
    * Reinforce by rewarding people that exhibit the values in a positive way.
    * Use when hiring.
* Create a career ladder - Page 202.
* Process is risk management.

## <a name="ch-10"></a>Conclusion

* You have to be able to manage yourself if you want to be good at managing others.
    * You need to understand yourself.
* Masters of working through conflict.
* Meditate.
* Get curious.
* Look for the other side of the story.