Knowledge shared by our community

Managing the unmanageable

A manager took over a team with a smart but difficult engineer. After speaking to other team members and outside sources, the manager took action by having a meeting with the engineer and explaining the problems. The manager also gave the engineer strategies to be less arrogant and more humble, gave him more responsibility, and hired some smart engineers. This improved the engineer's attitude and the codebase for the company.

I struggled with delegating

When the author first became a manager, they felt a lot of pressure to both contribute to the code and manage the team. To reduce pressure, they backfilled positions and delegated tasks to the team. This allowed the team to work on more interesting problems and the author to realize that everyone needs to be part of the broader vision and that one person cannot do everything.

Handling layoffs

Layoffs are a difficult decision for leaders to make, as they must balance the need to keep the company stable and viable with the need to provide a dignified experience for those who are laid off. It is important to act swiftly and with dignity during the process, and to provide comfort and direction to the team that remains. It is also important to follow up with those who have been laid off and offer assistance with transitioning. Finally, it is important to be aware that there is a higher chance of losing additional employees due to attrition in the six months following a layoff.

How to communicate about a team reorganization?

The manager of a team composed of people from different areas noticed it wasn't performing well and decided to reorganize it. To communicate the changes, they held one-on-one meetings with each team member. However, one person felt that the manager had done this to prevent them from protesting the decision. The manager learned that they should have held a team meeting to announce the changes, as well as having one-on-ones, and that it is their role to discuss any tense atmosphere.

Building relationships to motivate new engineers

When bringing on a new engineer to a complex project, it is important to ensure that they understand the importance of the project and build a relationship with them. This can be done by explaining the project in detail and having regular one-on-one and team conversations. Doing this will help the engineer to integrate with the team and ensure the project is completed quickly.

How to Handle Cultural Differences on Your Team

An engineering manager in the Philippines faced a challenge when tasks and projects came in from the US. Filipinos have a different level of assertiveness than Americans, and this lack of assertiveness led to the engineering team becoming burnt out and not meeting deadlines. The manager realized that the behavior was due to cultural reasons, such as job security and not wanting to disappoint others, and held a meeting to align everyone and renew the company's trust in the Filipino engineering team. The lesson learned was that it is important to understand the cultural differences in order to solve the problem.

Keeping a team engaged when they’re only working on legacy projects and technical debt.

This article discusses the problem of keeping a team motivated when they are only assigned to fix legacy issues or failed projects from other teams. The manager took action by giving the team a small project to work on with full control, which was successful in engaging the team. However, the team eventually returned to their routine and started to complain more about the origin of the projects. The manager learned that a temporary solution was not enough and that engineer involvement is key to preventing project failures and legacy issues.

Learning how to delegate when transitioning from tech lead to manager.

This article discusses how the author, a tech lead on a growth team, transitioned to a manager role and had to learn to delegate tasks such as coding, product decisions, and experiment setup and analysis. Through training and feedback, the author was able to create a safe space for failure, allowing the team to move a little slower in the first quarter while they practiced doing things on their own, resulting in a massive impact in efficiency and career development later.

Setting audacious goals to let team step-up

The manager of a recruiting team was concerned about their low close rate and attempted to micromanage the team to solve the problem. Inspired by Elon Musk, the manager simplified the problem and set a goal of closing 8 of the next 10 offers. This allowed the team to focus and collaborate better, and the manager learned the importance of communicating the main objective and setting a simple, achievable goal.

Speak Up To Avoid Larger Issues

The company hired an EVP of engineering who made one of the team members a director without considering his lack of experience. This resulted in a year of disruption and damage before the team member was made an individual contributor again and someone else was put in charge. This situation taught the speaker to trust their gut and speak up when necessary.

Handling conflicts between two very different engineers

In this situation, a team of engineers with different skillsets and personalities were having difficulty working together. After discussing the issue with each team member individually, the manager was able to bring them together to find a solution that allowed them to accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. This ultimately improved the team dynamics and allowed them to work together more effectively.

A positive approach to appraisal based on peer feedback

Appraisal time is a difficult time for managers, but it is important to ensure that the appraisal is positive and constructive. To do this, a manager should use a self-assessment form, gather feedback from peers, and write the appraisal in a positive way. It is important to have a one-on-one with the employee to show them the appraisal and have them acknowledge it. The goal is to bring out the best in the employee by playing to their strengths, motivating them, and helping them to learn new abilities. A successful appraisal will drive change and improvements, and will help to build trust in the organization's management chain.

How to deal with a strong performer facing some personal issues

A manager noticed a drop in performance from one of their direct reports, who had been a consistently strong performer. After establishing a strong and trusting relationship with the employee, the manager was able to probe deeper into the root cause of the drop in performance. It was discovered that the employee's youngest son had a growth abnormality, which was causing her distress. Through sincere conversations and understanding, the manager was able to help the employee get back to performing at the expected level. The manager learned that strong performers may not be forthcoming about their personal troubles, and that building strong relationships with reports during good times is important for challenging times.

Be prepared when giving negative feedback

When giving negative feedback, the author found that starting with positive feedback was not efficient. To address this, they created a spreadsheet to organize their thoughts and expectations, and then had a meeting with the underperforming team member to discuss the issues. The spreadsheet was shared with the team member and was used to mix negative and positive feedback. This approach was found to be effective in addressing the issue.

Hiring employees from within your organization

A team at Polaris Wireless was facing restructuring, resulting in two senior engineers and an excellent developer being let go. The team members asked the hiring manager if they could take on a role, and the manager decided to give them a chance to prove themselves. The two team members ended up proving themselves and becoming great developers for the technologies, showing that knowledge of a technology isn't the main consideration when hiring, but rather a person's aptitude and attitude. This was a great win for the company, as it prevented them from having to let go of valued staff members.

The importance of defining and reinforcing your company values every day.

This article discusses the importance of company culture and how to define and reinforce it. It suggests spending time to figure out what values are important, writing them down, and creating a way to recognize employees who demonstrate those values. It also suggests having a clear vocabulary for culture to use in decision-making scenarios, such as hiring. Taking the time to define company values is essential to ensure the best culture for the company.

The importance of talking about career plans.

This story is about a manager helping an employee who is pursuing an MBA to create a career path. The manager looked at this as an opportunity to groom the employee into a management role or product management role, and brainstormed areas of interest and potential shadow opportunities. The manager also helped the employee to identify people they could talk to in the company with an MBA, and checked if the company could provide any financial assistance. The lesson learned is that it is important to understand the employee's perspective and provide them with ideas and stories to help them reflect on their own thoughts.

Solve conflicts by giving ownership of the solution to the most impacted party

A communication problem between two teams was solved by giving the ownership of the solution to the team most impacted by the problem. The solution was to have the "install" lead dev attend the "feature" team's sprint meetings and ask for a "feature done" requirement regarding installation. This helped to reduce stress, show the "install" team they were being considered, and improve the quality of the delivery.

Be careful with written communication

A tech lead from a remote team at Digital Ocean had a tense conversation with another tech team via Slack. The manager of the other team complained to the team lead, who then called the tech lead to hear his version. To resolve the issue, the tech lead and the manager had a video call to talk and calm the tension, and the team lead had a chat with each of them to understand how the situation could have been avoided. The lesson learned is that remote teams need to pay special attention to communication, and when it becomes too emotional, the best thing to do is to call the person you wish to communicate with.

Employees encroaching each other’s territory

A manager at a company intervened in an open conflict between two people in different teams who were trying to solve a problem and believed the other was encroaching on their territory. After listening to both sides, the manager realized their aspirations were different and complementary, and organized a meeting with the three of them to discuss the problem. This led to a better outcome than either of them could have reached independently, and the manager learned that when it comes to staff believing someone is encroaching on their territory, the best way to solve the problem is to define a bigger task and show it to the arguing staff members, and help each employee think about what motivates them.

Managing the unmanageable

A manager took over a team with a smart but difficult engineer. After speaking to other team members and outside sources, the manager took action by having a meeting with the engineer and explaining the problems. The manager also gave the engineer strategies to be less arrogant and more humble, gave him more responsibility, and hired some smart engineers. This improved the engineer's attitude and the codebase for the company.

I struggled with delegating

When the author first became a manager, they felt a lot of pressure to both contribute to the code and manage the team. To reduce pressure, they backfilled positions and delegated tasks to the team. This allowed the team to work on more interesting problems and the author to realize that everyone needs to be part of the broader vision and that one person cannot do everything.

Handling layoffs

Layoffs are a difficult decision for leaders to make, as they must balance the need to keep the company stable and viable with the need to provide a dignified experience for those who are laid off. It is important to act swiftly and with dignity during the process, and to provide comfort and direction to the team that remains. It is also important to follow up with those who have been laid off and offer assistance with transitioning. Finally, it is important to be aware that there is a higher chance of losing additional employees due to attrition in the six months following a layoff.

How to communicate about a team reorganization?

The manager of a team composed of people from different areas noticed it wasn't performing well and decided to reorganize it. To communicate the changes, they held one-on-one meetings with each team member. However, one person felt that the manager had done this to prevent them from protesting the decision. The manager learned that they should have held a team meeting to announce the changes, as well as having one-on-ones, and that it is their role to discuss any tense atmosphere.

Building relationships to motivate new engineers

When bringing on a new engineer to a complex project, it is important to ensure that they understand the importance of the project and build a relationship with them. This can be done by explaining the project in detail and having regular one-on-one and team conversations. Doing this will help the engineer to integrate with the team and ensure the project is completed quickly.

How to Handle Cultural Differences on Your Team

An engineering manager in the Philippines faced a challenge when tasks and projects came in from the US. Filipinos have a different level of assertiveness than Americans, and this lack of assertiveness led to the engineering team becoming burnt out and not meeting deadlines. The manager realized that the behavior was due to cultural reasons, such as job security and not wanting to disappoint others, and held a meeting to align everyone and renew the company's trust in the Filipino engineering team. The lesson learned was that it is important to understand the cultural differences in order to solve the problem.

Keeping a team engaged when they’re only working on legacy projects and technical debt.

This article discusses the problem of keeping a team motivated when they are only assigned to fix legacy issues or failed projects from other teams. The manager took action by giving the team a small project to work on with full control, which was successful in engaging the team. However, the team eventually returned to their routine and started to complain more about the origin of the projects. The manager learned that a temporary solution was not enough and that engineer involvement is key to preventing project failures and legacy issues.

Learning how to delegate when transitioning from tech lead to manager.

This article discusses how the author, a tech lead on a growth team, transitioned to a manager role and had to learn to delegate tasks such as coding, product decisions, and experiment setup and analysis. Through training and feedback, the author was able to create a safe space for failure, allowing the team to move a little slower in the first quarter while they practiced doing things on their own, resulting in a massive impact in efficiency and career development later.

Setting audacious goals to let team step-up

The manager of a recruiting team was concerned about their low close rate and attempted to micromanage the team to solve the problem. Inspired by Elon Musk, the manager simplified the problem and set a goal of closing 8 of the next 10 offers. This allowed the team to focus and collaborate better, and the manager learned the importance of communicating the main objective and setting a simple, achievable goal.

Speak Up To Avoid Larger Issues

The company hired an EVP of engineering who made one of the team members a director without considering his lack of experience. This resulted in a year of disruption and damage before the team member was made an individual contributor again and someone else was put in charge. This situation taught the speaker to trust their gut and speak up when necessary.

Handling conflicts between two very different engineers

In this situation, a team of engineers with different skillsets and personalities were having difficulty working together. After discussing the issue with each team member individually, the manager was able to bring them together to find a solution that allowed them to accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. This ultimately improved the team dynamics and allowed them to work together more effectively.

A positive approach to appraisal based on peer feedback

Appraisal time is a difficult time for managers, but it is important to ensure that the appraisal is positive and constructive. To do this, a manager should use a self-assessment form, gather feedback from peers, and write the appraisal in a positive way. It is important to have a one-on-one with the employee to show them the appraisal and have them acknowledge it. The goal is to bring out the best in the employee by playing to their strengths, motivating them, and helping them to learn new abilities. A successful appraisal will drive change and improvements, and will help to build trust in the organization's management chain.

How to deal with a strong performer facing some personal issues

A manager noticed a drop in performance from one of their direct reports, who had been a consistently strong performer. After establishing a strong and trusting relationship with the employee, the manager was able to probe deeper into the root cause of the drop in performance. It was discovered that the employee's youngest son had a growth abnormality, which was causing her distress. Through sincere conversations and understanding, the manager was able to help the employee get back to performing at the expected level. The manager learned that strong performers may not be forthcoming about their personal troubles, and that building strong relationships with reports during good times is important for challenging times.

Be prepared when giving negative feedback

When giving negative feedback, the author found that starting with positive feedback was not efficient. To address this, they created a spreadsheet to organize their thoughts and expectations, and then had a meeting with the underperforming team member to discuss the issues. The spreadsheet was shared with the team member and was used to mix negative and positive feedback. This approach was found to be effective in addressing the issue.

Hiring employees from within your organization

A team at Polaris Wireless was facing restructuring, resulting in two senior engineers and an excellent developer being let go. The team members asked the hiring manager if they could take on a role, and the manager decided to give them a chance to prove themselves. The two team members ended up proving themselves and becoming great developers for the technologies, showing that knowledge of a technology isn't the main consideration when hiring, but rather a person's aptitude and attitude. This was a great win for the company, as it prevented them from having to let go of valued staff members.

The importance of defining and reinforcing your company values every day.

This article discusses the importance of company culture and how to define and reinforce it. It suggests spending time to figure out what values are important, writing them down, and creating a way to recognize employees who demonstrate those values. It also suggests having a clear vocabulary for culture to use in decision-making scenarios, such as hiring. Taking the time to define company values is essential to ensure the best culture for the company.

The importance of talking about career plans.

This story is about a manager helping an employee who is pursuing an MBA to create a career path. The manager looked at this as an opportunity to groom the employee into a management role or product management role, and brainstormed areas of interest and potential shadow opportunities. The manager also helped the employee to identify people they could talk to in the company with an MBA, and checked if the company could provide any financial assistance. The lesson learned is that it is important to understand the employee's perspective and provide them with ideas and stories to help them reflect on their own thoughts.

Solve conflicts by giving ownership of the solution to the most impacted party

A communication problem between two teams was solved by giving the ownership of the solution to the team most impacted by the problem. The solution was to have the "install" lead dev attend the "feature" team's sprint meetings and ask for a "feature done" requirement regarding installation. This helped to reduce stress, show the "install" team they were being considered, and improve the quality of the delivery.

Be careful with written communication

A tech lead from a remote team at Digital Ocean had a tense conversation with another tech team via Slack. The manager of the other team complained to the team lead, who then called the tech lead to hear his version. To resolve the issue, the tech lead and the manager had a video call to talk and calm the tension, and the team lead had a chat with each of them to understand how the situation could have been avoided. The lesson learned is that remote teams need to pay special attention to communication, and when it becomes too emotional, the best thing to do is to call the person you wish to communicate with.

Employees encroaching each other’s territory

A manager at a company intervened in an open conflict between two people in different teams who were trying to solve a problem and believed the other was encroaching on their territory. After listening to both sides, the manager realized their aspirations were different and complementary, and organized a meeting with the three of them to discuss the problem. This led to a better outcome than either of them could have reached independently, and the manager learned that when it comes to staff believing someone is encroaching on their territory, the best way to solve the problem is to define a bigger task and show it to the arguing staff members, and help each employee think about what motivates them.

Managing the unmanageable

A manager took over a team with a smart but difficult engineer. After speaking to other team members and outside sources, the manager took action by having a meeting with the engineer and explaining the problems. The manager also gave the engineer strategies to be less arrogant and more humble, gave him more responsibility, and hired some smart engineers. This improved the engineer's attitude and the codebase for the company.

I struggled with delegating

When the author first became a manager, they felt a lot of pressure to both contribute to the code and manage the team. To reduce pressure, they backfilled positions and delegated tasks to the team. This allowed the team to work on more interesting problems and the author to realize that everyone needs to be part of the broader vision and that one person cannot do everything.

Handling layoffs

Layoffs are a difficult decision for leaders to make, as they must balance the need to keep the company stable and viable with the need to provide a dignified experience for those who are laid off. It is important to act swiftly and with dignity during the process, and to provide comfort and direction to the team that remains. It is also important to follow up with those who have been laid off and offer assistance with transitioning. Finally, it is important to be aware that there is a higher chance of losing additional employees due to attrition in the six months following a layoff.

How to communicate about a team reorganization?

The manager of a team composed of people from different areas noticed it wasn't performing well and decided to reorganize it. To communicate the changes, they held one-on-one meetings with each team member. However, one person felt that the manager had done this to prevent them from protesting the decision. The manager learned that they should have held a team meeting to announce the changes, as well as having one-on-ones, and that it is their role to discuss any tense atmosphere.

Building relationships to motivate new engineers

When bringing on a new engineer to a complex project, it is important to ensure that they understand the importance of the project and build a relationship with them. This can be done by explaining the project in detail and having regular one-on-one and team conversations. Doing this will help the engineer to integrate with the team and ensure the project is completed quickly.

How to Handle Cultural Differences on Your Team

An engineering manager in the Philippines faced a challenge when tasks and projects came in from the US. Filipinos have a different level of assertiveness than Americans, and this lack of assertiveness led to the engineering team becoming burnt out and not meeting deadlines. The manager realized that the behavior was due to cultural reasons, such as job security and not wanting to disappoint others, and held a meeting to align everyone and renew the company's trust in the Filipino engineering team. The lesson learned was that it is important to understand the cultural differences in order to solve the problem.

Keeping a team engaged when they’re only working on legacy projects and technical debt.

This article discusses the problem of keeping a team motivated when they are only assigned to fix legacy issues or failed projects from other teams. The manager took action by giving the team a small project to work on with full control, which was successful in engaging the team. However, the team eventually returned to their routine and started to complain more about the origin of the projects. The manager learned that a temporary solution was not enough and that engineer involvement is key to preventing project failures and legacy issues.

Learning how to delegate when transitioning from tech lead to manager.

This article discusses how the author, a tech lead on a growth team, transitioned to a manager role and had to learn to delegate tasks such as coding, product decisions, and experiment setup and analysis. Through training and feedback, the author was able to create a safe space for failure, allowing the team to move a little slower in the first quarter while they practiced doing things on their own, resulting in a massive impact in efficiency and career development later.

Setting audacious goals to let team step-up

The manager of a recruiting team was concerned about their low close rate and attempted to micromanage the team to solve the problem. Inspired by Elon Musk, the manager simplified the problem and set a goal of closing 8 of the next 10 offers. This allowed the team to focus and collaborate better, and the manager learned the importance of communicating the main objective and setting a simple, achievable goal.

Speak Up To Avoid Larger Issues

The company hired an EVP of engineering who made one of the team members a director without considering his lack of experience. This resulted in a year of disruption and damage before the team member was made an individual contributor again and someone else was put in charge. This situation taught the speaker to trust their gut and speak up when necessary.

Handling conflicts between two very different engineers

In this situation, a team of engineers with different skillsets and personalities were having difficulty working together. After discussing the issue with each team member individually, the manager was able to bring them together to find a solution that allowed them to accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. This ultimately improved the team dynamics and allowed them to work together more effectively.

A positive approach to appraisal based on peer feedback

Appraisal time is a difficult time for managers, but it is important to ensure that the appraisal is positive and constructive. To do this, a manager should use a self-assessment form, gather feedback from peers, and write the appraisal in a positive way. It is important to have a one-on-one with the employee to show them the appraisal and have them acknowledge it. The goal is to bring out the best in the employee by playing to their strengths, motivating them, and helping them to learn new abilities. A successful appraisal will drive change and improvements, and will help to build trust in the organization's management chain.

How to deal with a strong performer facing some personal issues

A manager noticed a drop in performance from one of their direct reports, who had been a consistently strong performer. After establishing a strong and trusting relationship with the employee, the manager was able to probe deeper into the root cause of the drop in performance. It was discovered that the employee's youngest son had a growth abnormality, which was causing her distress. Through sincere conversations and understanding, the manager was able to help the employee get back to performing at the expected level. The manager learned that strong performers may not be forthcoming about their personal troubles, and that building strong relationships with reports during good times is important for challenging times.

Be prepared when giving negative feedback

When giving negative feedback, the author found that starting with positive feedback was not efficient. To address this, they created a spreadsheet to organize their thoughts and expectations, and then had a meeting with the underperforming team member to discuss the issues. The spreadsheet was shared with the team member and was used to mix negative and positive feedback. This approach was found to be effective in addressing the issue.

Hiring employees from within your organization

A team at Polaris Wireless was facing restructuring, resulting in two senior engineers and an excellent developer being let go. The team members asked the hiring manager if they could take on a role, and the manager decided to give them a chance to prove themselves. The two team members ended up proving themselves and becoming great developers for the technologies, showing that knowledge of a technology isn't the main consideration when hiring, but rather a person's aptitude and attitude. This was a great win for the company, as it prevented them from having to let go of valued staff members.

The importance of defining and reinforcing your company values every day.

This article discusses the importance of company culture and how to define and reinforce it. It suggests spending time to figure out what values are important, writing them down, and creating a way to recognize employees who demonstrate those values. It also suggests having a clear vocabulary for culture to use in decision-making scenarios, such as hiring. Taking the time to define company values is essential to ensure the best culture for the company.

The importance of talking about career plans.

This story is about a manager helping an employee who is pursuing an MBA to create a career path. The manager looked at this as an opportunity to groom the employee into a management role or product management role, and brainstormed areas of interest and potential shadow opportunities. The manager also helped the employee to identify people they could talk to in the company with an MBA, and checked if the company could provide any financial assistance. The lesson learned is that it is important to understand the employee's perspective and provide them with ideas and stories to help them reflect on their own thoughts.

Solve conflicts by giving ownership of the solution to the most impacted party

A communication problem between two teams was solved by giving the ownership of the solution to the team most impacted by the problem. The solution was to have the "install" lead dev attend the "feature" team's sprint meetings and ask for a "feature done" requirement regarding installation. This helped to reduce stress, show the "install" team they were being considered, and improve the quality of the delivery.

Be careful with written communication

A tech lead from a remote team at Digital Ocean had a tense conversation with another tech team via Slack. The manager of the other team complained to the team lead, who then called the tech lead to hear his version. To resolve the issue, the tech lead and the manager had a video call to talk and calm the tension, and the team lead had a chat with each of them to understand how the situation could have been avoided. The lesson learned is that remote teams need to pay special attention to communication, and when it becomes too emotional, the best thing to do is to call the person you wish to communicate with.

Employees encroaching each other’s territory

A manager at a company intervened in an open conflict between two people in different teams who were trying to solve a problem and believed the other was encroaching on their territory. After listening to both sides, the manager realized their aspirations were different and complementary, and organized a meeting with the three of them to discuss the problem. This led to a better outcome than either of them could have reached independently, and the manager learned that when it comes to staff believing someone is encroaching on their territory, the best way to solve the problem is to define a bigger task and show it to the arguing staff members, and help each employee think about what motivates them.

Managing the unmanageable

A manager took over a team with a smart but difficult engineer. After speaking to other team members and outside sources, the manager took action by having a meeting with the engineer and explaining the problems. The manager also gave the engineer strategies to be less arrogant and more humble, gave him more responsibility, and hired some smart engineers. This improved the engineer's attitude and the codebase for the company.

I struggled with delegating

When the author first became a manager, they felt a lot of pressure to both contribute to the code and manage the team. To reduce pressure, they backfilled positions and delegated tasks to the team. This allowed the team to work on more interesting problems and the author to realize that everyone needs to be part of the broader vision and that one person cannot do everything.

Handling layoffs

Layoffs are a difficult decision for leaders to make, as they must balance the need to keep the company stable and viable with the need to provide a dignified experience for those who are laid off. It is important to act swiftly and with dignity during the process, and to provide comfort and direction to the team that remains. It is also important to follow up with those who have been laid off and offer assistance with transitioning. Finally, it is important to be aware that there is a higher chance of losing additional employees due to attrition in the six months following a layoff.

How to communicate about a team reorganization?

The manager of a team composed of people from different areas noticed it wasn't performing well and decided to reorganize it. To communicate the changes, they held one-on-one meetings with each team member. However, one person felt that the manager had done this to prevent them from protesting the decision. The manager learned that they should have held a team meeting to announce the changes, as well as having one-on-ones, and that it is their role to discuss any tense atmosphere.

Building relationships to motivate new engineers

When bringing on a new engineer to a complex project, it is important to ensure that they understand the importance of the project and build a relationship with them. This can be done by explaining the project in detail and having regular one-on-one and team conversations. Doing this will help the engineer to integrate with the team and ensure the project is completed quickly.

How to Handle Cultural Differences on Your Team

An engineering manager in the Philippines faced a challenge when tasks and projects came in from the US. Filipinos have a different level of assertiveness than Americans, and this lack of assertiveness led to the engineering team becoming burnt out and not meeting deadlines. The manager realized that the behavior was due to cultural reasons, such as job security and not wanting to disappoint others, and held a meeting to align everyone and renew the company's trust in the Filipino engineering team. The lesson learned was that it is important to understand the cultural differences in order to solve the problem.

Keeping a team engaged when they’re only working on legacy projects and technical debt.

This article discusses the problem of keeping a team motivated when they are only assigned to fix legacy issues or failed projects from other teams. The manager took action by giving the team a small project to work on with full control, which was successful in engaging the team. However, the team eventually returned to their routine and started to complain more about the origin of the projects. The manager learned that a temporary solution was not enough and that engineer involvement is key to preventing project failures and legacy issues.

Learning how to delegate when transitioning from tech lead to manager.

This article discusses how the author, a tech lead on a growth team, transitioned to a manager role and had to learn to delegate tasks such as coding, product decisions, and experiment setup and analysis. Through training and feedback, the author was able to create a safe space for failure, allowing the team to move a little slower in the first quarter while they practiced doing things on their own, resulting in a massive impact in efficiency and career development later.

Setting audacious goals to let team step-up

The manager of a recruiting team was concerned about their low close rate and attempted to micromanage the team to solve the problem. Inspired by Elon Musk, the manager simplified the problem and set a goal of closing 8 of the next 10 offers. This allowed the team to focus and collaborate better, and the manager learned the importance of communicating the main objective and setting a simple, achievable goal.

Speak Up To Avoid Larger Issues

The company hired an EVP of engineering who made one of the team members a director without considering his lack of experience. This resulted in a year of disruption and damage before the team member was made an individual contributor again and someone else was put in charge. This situation taught the speaker to trust their gut and speak up when necessary.

Handling conflicts between two very different engineers

In this situation, a team of engineers with different skillsets and personalities were having difficulty working together. After discussing the issue with each team member individually, the manager was able to bring them together to find a solution that allowed them to accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. This ultimately improved the team dynamics and allowed them to work together more effectively.

A positive approach to appraisal based on peer feedback

Appraisal time is a difficult time for managers, but it is important to ensure that the appraisal is positive and constructive. To do this, a manager should use a self-assessment form, gather feedback from peers, and write the appraisal in a positive way. It is important to have a one-on-one with the employee to show them the appraisal and have them acknowledge it. The goal is to bring out the best in the employee by playing to their strengths, motivating them, and helping them to learn new abilities. A successful appraisal will drive change and improvements, and will help to build trust in the organization's management chain.

How to deal with a strong performer facing some personal issues

A manager noticed a drop in performance from one of their direct reports, who had been a consistently strong performer. After establishing a strong and trusting relationship with the employee, the manager was able to probe deeper into the root cause of the drop in performance. It was discovered that the employee's youngest son had a growth abnormality, which was causing her distress. Through sincere conversations and understanding, the manager was able to help the employee get back to performing at the expected level. The manager learned that strong performers may not be forthcoming about their personal troubles, and that building strong relationships with reports during good times is important for challenging times.

Be prepared when giving negative feedback

When giving negative feedback, the author found that starting with positive feedback was not efficient. To address this, they created a spreadsheet to organize their thoughts and expectations, and then had a meeting with the underperforming team member to discuss the issues. The spreadsheet was shared with the team member and was used to mix negative and positive feedback. This approach was found to be effective in addressing the issue.

Hiring employees from within your organization

A team at Polaris Wireless was facing restructuring, resulting in two senior engineers and an excellent developer being let go. The team members asked the hiring manager if they could take on a role, and the manager decided to give them a chance to prove themselves. The two team members ended up proving themselves and becoming great developers for the technologies, showing that knowledge of a technology isn't the main consideration when hiring, but rather a person's aptitude and attitude. This was a great win for the company, as it prevented them from having to let go of valued staff members.

The importance of defining and reinforcing your company values every day.

This article discusses the importance of company culture and how to define and reinforce it. It suggests spending time to figure out what values are important, writing them down, and creating a way to recognize employees who demonstrate those values. It also suggests having a clear vocabulary for culture to use in decision-making scenarios, such as hiring. Taking the time to define company values is essential to ensure the best culture for the company.

The importance of talking about career plans.

This story is about a manager helping an employee who is pursuing an MBA to create a career path. The manager looked at this as an opportunity to groom the employee into a management role or product management role, and brainstormed areas of interest and potential shadow opportunities. The manager also helped the employee to identify people they could talk to in the company with an MBA, and checked if the company could provide any financial assistance. The lesson learned is that it is important to understand the employee's perspective and provide them with ideas and stories to help them reflect on their own thoughts.

Solve conflicts by giving ownership of the solution to the most impacted party

A communication problem between two teams was solved by giving the ownership of the solution to the team most impacted by the problem. The solution was to have the "install" lead dev attend the "feature" team's sprint meetings and ask for a "feature done" requirement regarding installation. This helped to reduce stress, show the "install" team they were being considered, and improve the quality of the delivery.

Be careful with written communication

A tech lead from a remote team at Digital Ocean had a tense conversation with another tech team via Slack. The manager of the other team complained to the team lead, who then called the tech lead to hear his version. To resolve the issue, the tech lead and the manager had a video call to talk and calm the tension, and the team lead had a chat with each of them to understand how the situation could have been avoided. The lesson learned is that remote teams need to pay special attention to communication, and when it becomes too emotional, the best thing to do is to call the person you wish to communicate with.

Employees encroaching each other’s territory

A manager at a company intervened in an open conflict between two people in different teams who were trying to solve a problem and believed the other was encroaching on their territory. After listening to both sides, the manager realized their aspirations were different and complementary, and organized a meeting with the three of them to discuss the problem. This led to a better outcome than either of them could have reached independently, and the manager learned that when it comes to staff believing someone is encroaching on their territory, the best way to solve the problem is to define a bigger task and show it to the arguing staff members, and help each employee think about what motivates them.

Managing the unmanageable

A manager took over a team with a smart but difficult engineer. After speaking to other team members and outside sources, the manager took action by having a meeting with the engineer and explaining the problems. The manager also gave the engineer strategies to be less arrogant and more humble, gave him more responsibility, and hired some smart engineers. This improved the engineer's attitude and the codebase for the company.

I struggled with delegating

When the author first became a manager, they felt a lot of pressure to both contribute to the code and manage the team. To reduce pressure, they backfilled positions and delegated tasks to the team. This allowed the team to work on more interesting problems and the author to realize that everyone needs to be part of the broader vision and that one person cannot do everything.

Handling layoffs

Layoffs are a difficult decision for leaders to make, as they must balance the need to keep the company stable and viable with the need to provide a dignified experience for those who are laid off. It is important to act swiftly and with dignity during the process, and to provide comfort and direction to the team that remains. It is also important to follow up with those who have been laid off and offer assistance with transitioning. Finally, it is important to be aware that there is a higher chance of losing additional employees due to attrition in the six months following a layoff.

How to communicate about a team reorganization?

The manager of a team composed of people from different areas noticed it wasn't performing well and decided to reorganize it. To communicate the changes, they held one-on-one meetings with each team member. However, one person felt that the manager had done this to prevent them from protesting the decision. The manager learned that they should have held a team meeting to announce the changes, as well as having one-on-ones, and that it is their role to discuss any tense atmosphere.

Building relationships to motivate new engineers

When bringing on a new engineer to a complex project, it is important to ensure that they understand the importance of the project and build a relationship with them. This can be done by explaining the project in detail and having regular one-on-one and team conversations. Doing this will help the engineer to integrate with the team and ensure the project is completed quickly.

How to Handle Cultural Differences on Your Team

An engineering manager in the Philippines faced a challenge when tasks and projects came in from the US. Filipinos have a different level of assertiveness than Americans, and this lack of assertiveness led to the engineering team becoming burnt out and not meeting deadlines. The manager realized that the behavior was due to cultural reasons, such as job security and not wanting to disappoint others, and held a meeting to align everyone and renew the company's trust in the Filipino engineering team. The lesson learned was that it is important to understand the cultural differences in order to solve the problem.

Keeping a team engaged when they’re only working on legacy projects and technical debt.

This article discusses the problem of keeping a team motivated when they are only assigned to fix legacy issues or failed projects from other teams. The manager took action by giving the team a small project to work on with full control, which was successful in engaging the team. However, the team eventually returned to their routine and started to complain more about the origin of the projects. The manager learned that a temporary solution was not enough and that engineer involvement is key to preventing project failures and legacy issues.

Learning how to delegate when transitioning from tech lead to manager.

This article discusses how the author, a tech lead on a growth team, transitioned to a manager role and had to learn to delegate tasks such as coding, product decisions, and experiment setup and analysis. Through training and feedback, the author was able to create a safe space for failure, allowing the team to move a little slower in the first quarter while they practiced doing things on their own, resulting in a massive impact in efficiency and career development later.

Setting audacious goals to let team step-up

The manager of a recruiting team was concerned about their low close rate and attempted to micromanage the team to solve the problem. Inspired by Elon Musk, the manager simplified the problem and set a goal of closing 8 of the next 10 offers. This allowed the team to focus and collaborate better, and the manager learned the importance of communicating the main objective and setting a simple, achievable goal.

Speak Up To Avoid Larger Issues

The company hired an EVP of engineering who made one of the team members a director without considering his lack of experience. This resulted in a year of disruption and damage before the team member was made an individual contributor again and someone else was put in charge. This situation taught the speaker to trust their gut and speak up when necessary.

Handling conflicts between two very different engineers

In this situation, a team of engineers with different skillsets and personalities were having difficulty working together. After discussing the issue with each team member individually, the manager was able to bring them together to find a solution that allowed them to accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. This ultimately improved the team dynamics and allowed them to work together more effectively.

A positive approach to appraisal based on peer feedback

Appraisal time is a difficult time for managers, but it is important to ensure that the appraisal is positive and constructive. To do this, a manager should use a self-assessment form, gather feedback from peers, and write the appraisal in a positive way. It is important to have a one-on-one with the employee to show them the appraisal and have them acknowledge it. The goal is to bring out the best in the employee by playing to their strengths, motivating them, and helping them to learn new abilities. A successful appraisal will drive change and improvements, and will help to build trust in the organization's management chain.

How to deal with a strong performer facing some personal issues

A manager noticed a drop in performance from one of their direct reports, who had been a consistently strong performer. After establishing a strong and trusting relationship with the employee, the manager was able to probe deeper into the root cause of the drop in performance. It was discovered that the employee's youngest son had a growth abnormality, which was causing her distress. Through sincere conversations and understanding, the manager was able to help the employee get back to performing at the expected level. The manager learned that strong performers may not be forthcoming about their personal troubles, and that building strong relationships with reports during good times is important for challenging times.

Be prepared when giving negative feedback

When giving negative feedback, the author found that starting with positive feedback was not efficient. To address this, they created a spreadsheet to organize their thoughts and expectations, and then had a meeting with the underperforming team member to discuss the issues. The spreadsheet was shared with the team member and was used to mix negative and positive feedback. This approach was found to be effective in addressing the issue.

Hiring employees from within your organization

A team at Polaris Wireless was facing restructuring, resulting in two senior engineers and an excellent developer being let go. The team members asked the hiring manager if they could take on a role, and the manager decided to give them a chance to prove themselves. The two team members ended up proving themselves and becoming great developers for the technologies, showing that knowledge of a technology isn't the main consideration when hiring, but rather a person's aptitude and attitude. This was a great win for the company, as it prevented them from having to let go of valued staff members.

The importance of defining and reinforcing your company values every day.

This article discusses the importance of company culture and how to define and reinforce it. It suggests spending time to figure out what values are important, writing them down, and creating a way to recognize employees who demonstrate those values. It also suggests having a clear vocabulary for culture to use in decision-making scenarios, such as hiring. Taking the time to define company values is essential to ensure the best culture for the company.

The importance of talking about career plans.

This story is about a manager helping an employee who is pursuing an MBA to create a career path. The manager looked at this as an opportunity to groom the employee into a management role or product management role, and brainstormed areas of interest and potential shadow opportunities. The manager also helped the employee to identify people they could talk to in the company with an MBA, and checked if the company could provide any financial assistance. The lesson learned is that it is important to understand the employee's perspective and provide them with ideas and stories to help them reflect on their own thoughts.

Solve conflicts by giving ownership of the solution to the most impacted party

A communication problem between two teams was solved by giving the ownership of the solution to the team most impacted by the problem. The solution was to have the "install" lead dev attend the "feature" team's sprint meetings and ask for a "feature done" requirement regarding installation. This helped to reduce stress, show the "install" team they were being considered, and improve the quality of the delivery.

Be careful with written communication

A tech lead from a remote team at Digital Ocean had a tense conversation with another tech team via Slack. The manager of the other team complained to the team lead, who then called the tech lead to hear his version. To resolve the issue, the tech lead and the manager had a video call to talk and calm the tension, and the team lead had a chat with each of them to understand how the situation could have been avoided. The lesson learned is that remote teams need to pay special attention to communication, and when it becomes too emotional, the best thing to do is to call the person you wish to communicate with.

Employees encroaching each other’s territory

A manager at a company intervened in an open conflict between two people in different teams who were trying to solve a problem and believed the other was encroaching on their territory. After listening to both sides, the manager realized their aspirations were different and complementary, and organized a meeting with the three of them to discuss the problem. This led to a better outcome than either of them could have reached independently, and the manager learned that when it comes to staff believing someone is encroaching on their territory, the best way to solve the problem is to define a bigger task and show it to the arguing staff members, and help each employee think about what motivates them.

Managing the unmanageable

A manager took over a team with a smart but difficult engineer. After speaking to other team members and outside sources, the manager took action by having a meeting with the engineer and explaining the problems. The manager also gave the engineer strategies to be less arrogant and more humble, gave him more responsibility, and hired some smart engineers. This improved the engineer's attitude and the codebase for the company.

I struggled with delegating

When the author first became a manager, they felt a lot of pressure to both contribute to the code and manage the team. To reduce pressure, they backfilled positions and delegated tasks to the team. This allowed the team to work on more interesting problems and the author to realize that everyone needs to be part of the broader vision and that one person cannot do everything.

Handling layoffs

Layoffs are a difficult decision for leaders to make, as they must balance the need to keep the company stable and viable with the need to provide a dignified experience for those who are laid off. It is important to act swiftly and with dignity during the process, and to provide comfort and direction to the team that remains. It is also important to follow up with those who have been laid off and offer assistance with transitioning. Finally, it is important to be aware that there is a higher chance of losing additional employees due to attrition in the six months following a layoff.

How to communicate about a team reorganization?

The manager of a team composed of people from different areas noticed it wasn't performing well and decided to reorganize it. To communicate the changes, they held one-on-one meetings with each team member. However, one person felt that the manager had done this to prevent them from protesting the decision. The manager learned that they should have held a team meeting to announce the changes, as well as having one-on-ones, and that it is their role to discuss any tense atmosphere.

Building relationships to motivate new engineers

When bringing on a new engineer to a complex project, it is important to ensure that they understand the importance of the project and build a relationship with them. This can be done by explaining the project in detail and having regular one-on-one and team conversations. Doing this will help the engineer to integrate with the team and ensure the project is completed quickly.

How to Handle Cultural Differences on Your Team

An engineering manager in the Philippines faced a challenge when tasks and projects came in from the US. Filipinos have a different level of assertiveness than Americans, and this lack of assertiveness led to the engineering team becoming burnt out and not meeting deadlines. The manager realized that the behavior was due to cultural reasons, such as job security and not wanting to disappoint others, and held a meeting to align everyone and renew the company's trust in the Filipino engineering team. The lesson learned was that it is important to understand the cultural differences in order to solve the problem.

Keeping a team engaged when they’re only working on legacy projects and technical debt.

This article discusses the problem of keeping a team motivated when they are only assigned to fix legacy issues or failed projects from other teams. The manager took action by giving the team a small project to work on with full control, which was successful in engaging the team. However, the team eventually returned to their routine and started to complain more about the origin of the projects. The manager learned that a temporary solution was not enough and that engineer involvement is key to preventing project failures and legacy issues.

Learning how to delegate when transitioning from tech lead to manager.

This article discusses how the author, a tech lead on a growth team, transitioned to a manager role and had to learn to delegate tasks such as coding, product decisions, and experiment setup and analysis. Through training and feedback, the author was able to create a safe space for failure, allowing the team to move a little slower in the first quarter while they practiced doing things on their own, resulting in a massive impact in efficiency and career development later.

Setting audacious goals to let team step-up

The manager of a recruiting team was concerned about their low close rate and attempted to micromanage the team to solve the problem. Inspired by Elon Musk, the manager simplified the problem and set a goal of closing 8 of the next 10 offers. This allowed the team to focus and collaborate better, and the manager learned the importance of communicating the main objective and setting a simple, achievable goal.

Speak Up To Avoid Larger Issues

The company hired an EVP of engineering who made one of the team members a director without considering his lack of experience. This resulted in a year of disruption and damage before the team member was made an individual contributor again and someone else was put in charge. This situation taught the speaker to trust their gut and speak up when necessary.

Handling conflicts between two very different engineers

In this situation, a team of engineers with different skillsets and personalities were having difficulty working together. After discussing the issue with each team member individually, the manager was able to bring them together to find a solution that allowed them to accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. This ultimately improved the team dynamics and allowed them to work together more effectively.

A positive approach to appraisal based on peer feedback

Appraisal time is a difficult time for managers, but it is important to ensure that the appraisal is positive and constructive. To do this, a manager should use a self-assessment form, gather feedback from peers, and write the appraisal in a positive way. It is important to have a one-on-one with the employee to show them the appraisal and have them acknowledge it. The goal is to bring out the best in the employee by playing to their strengths, motivating them, and helping them to learn new abilities. A successful appraisal will drive change and improvements, and will help to build trust in the organization's management chain.

How to deal with a strong performer facing some personal issues

A manager noticed a drop in performance from one of their direct reports, who had been a consistently strong performer. After establishing a strong and trusting relationship with the employee, the manager was able to probe deeper into the root cause of the drop in performance. It was discovered that the employee's youngest son had a growth abnormality, which was causing her distress. Through sincere conversations and understanding, the manager was able to help the employee get back to performing at the expected level. The manager learned that strong performers may not be forthcoming about their personal troubles, and that building strong relationships with reports during good times is important for challenging times.

Be prepared when giving negative feedback

When giving negative feedback, the author found that starting with positive feedback was not efficient. To address this, they created a spreadsheet to organize their thoughts and expectations, and then had a meeting with the underperforming team member to discuss the issues. The spreadsheet was shared with the team member and was used to mix negative and positive feedback. This approach was found to be effective in addressing the issue.

Hiring employees from within your organization

A team at Polaris Wireless was facing restructuring, resulting in two senior engineers and an excellent developer being let go. The team members asked the hiring manager if they could take on a role, and the manager decided to give them a chance to prove themselves. The two team members ended up proving themselves and becoming great developers for the technologies, showing that knowledge of a technology isn't the main consideration when hiring, but rather a person's aptitude and attitude. This was a great win for the company, as it prevented them from having to let go of valued staff members.

The importance of defining and reinforcing your company values every day.

This article discusses the importance of company culture and how to define and reinforce it. It suggests spending time to figure out what values are important, writing them down, and creating a way to recognize employees who demonstrate those values. It also suggests having a clear vocabulary for culture to use in decision-making scenarios, such as hiring. Taking the time to define company values is essential to ensure the best culture for the company.

The importance of talking about career plans.

This story is about a manager helping an employee who is pursuing an MBA to create a career path. The manager looked at this as an opportunity to groom the employee into a management role or product management role, and brainstormed areas of interest and potential shadow opportunities. The manager also helped the employee to identify people they could talk to in the company with an MBA, and checked if the company could provide any financial assistance. The lesson learned is that it is important to understand the employee's perspective and provide them with ideas and stories to help them reflect on their own thoughts.

Solve conflicts by giving ownership of the solution to the most impacted party

A communication problem between two teams was solved by giving the ownership of the solution to the team most impacted by the problem. The solution was to have the "install" lead dev attend the "feature" team's sprint meetings and ask for a "feature done" requirement regarding installation. This helped to reduce stress, show the "install" team they were being considered, and improve the quality of the delivery.

Be careful with written communication

A tech lead from a remote team at Digital Ocean had a tense conversation with another tech team via Slack. The manager of the other team complained to the team lead, who then called the tech lead to hear his version. To resolve the issue, the tech lead and the manager had a video call to talk and calm the tension, and the team lead had a chat with each of them to understand how the situation could have been avoided. The lesson learned is that remote teams need to pay special attention to communication, and when it becomes too emotional, the best thing to do is to call the person you wish to communicate with.

Employees encroaching each other’s territory

A manager at a company intervened in an open conflict between two people in different teams who were trying to solve a problem and believed the other was encroaching on their territory. After listening to both sides, the manager realized their aspirations were different and complementary, and organized a meeting with the three of them to discuss the problem. This led to a better outcome than either of them could have reached independently, and the manager learned that when it comes to staff believing someone is encroaching on their territory, the best way to solve the problem is to define a bigger task and show it to the arguing staff members, and help each employee think about what motivates them.