Helping a Good Developer Become a Legitimate Manager

Problem

When I worked at Coin one of my top priorities was to help my staff transition from engineers to managers. During this time I promoted a talented engineer to a manager's position. However, while he was qualified for the job, he lacked experience and did was not seen as a legitimate leader by his peers. During his first few months as a manager, he was useless.

Actions taken

He had to skill up, so we paired him with a skilled engineering manager. By doing so the new manager was able to turn to someone when he faced issues to get some help. After five to six months, the new manager was able to manage the team by himself.

Lessons learned

By pairing new managers with experienced ones, you can upskill them. We could tell the new manager was ready as the team acknowledged him as a legitimate manager, and he had made a mindset switch from a "dev who manages people" to "a manager knowing stuff about engineering".