I had a (relatively) brief stint as an engineering manager a couple of years ago. I prioritized individual well-being and sustainability above pretty much every

I had a (relatively) brief stint as an engineering manager a couple of years ago. I prioritized individual well-being and sustainability above pretty much everything else. I never pushed the team into "crunch time." I repeatedly emphasized balance and stride in work patterns. I thought, "We're in an obscenely wealthy industry. We can comfortably trade off some money for time and be just fine." Boy did I misjudge the general insanity of MORE MORE MORE FASTER FASTER FASTER all around me. If my team didn't deliver 'X' by 'Y' (for some 'Y' that wasn't obtainable without overworking my team) the entire management chain above me was flipping their shit. There were sales and PM shooting daggers at me out of their eyes as I explained that our plan requires 6 months to execute with excellence, including thorough testing and having the right metrics in place. I had one PM flat-out say that his own promotion was on the line if we didn't go balls-to-the-wall on the project and cut whatever corners we could, but there was absolutely no external force that required us to shave 45 days off the schedule. These were enterprise contracts in a huge industry with mountains of leeway on what we delivered and when. My team did deliver, and we did a fine job of it, but the entire thing helped convince me that engineering management just isn't for me if I am not allowed to work at my own pace and prioritize the things that are important to me, such as delighting customers and building reliable systems. I left that job to be an IC again, and I'm back to working reasonable hours and really taking the time to do the sort of "deep work" with a refreshed mind that I need to do in order to come up with good ideas and durable systems. I'm not going to make as much money as quickly as I would have if I were willing to overwork myself and my team, but in the end, I take Joseph Campbell's philosophy on career ambitions. "It's not worth it."