4 ms·

The dizzying list of competing priorities is a great way of showing how much a manager must juggle. I'm not a manager but an IC leading projects at a FAANG com

The dizzying list of competing priorities is a great way of showing how much a manager must juggle. I'm not a manager but an IC leading projects at a FAANG company. The engineers are very competent and my responsibilities are a fraction of a manager's and yet I really struggle with many of the things in your list. For example, the capable but somehow-unable-make-solid-progress engineer who's been in this mode for 2 years and nothing I (or others) have tried has got them out of this. My current manager is great and also very transparent about everything they do; this has given me new-found respect for a difficult and thankless role.

darkwater 5y ago
> I'm not a manager but an IC leading projects at a FAANG company. The engineers are very competent and my responsibilities are a fraction of a manager's and yet I really struggle with many of the things in your list. Out of curiosity, what are the tasks you are supposed to do in your position and how different are from a manager's or a - let's say - project manager's? Thanks!
- vieux_vague 5y ago
  Perhaps it's easiest to list what I don't or cannot do: performance management, individual strengths and weaknesses (I'm more limited here since my project teams have 3-4 engineers), cost centers vs profit centers & business landscape. As an IC, I lack authority and have to rely more on influence. A good manager relies on influence by default but some things are very hard to achieve without some authority (as distasteful as it may seem). For me, getting folks to pull in the same direction consistently over a long period of time is hard. Getting folks to appreciate why doing this thing rather than another (because business value) is hard. And I am well aware that I can and do also make life hard for my manager in exactly the same way! Humans are hard.

darkwater 5y ago

> I'm not a manager but an IC leading projects at a FAANG company. The engineers are very competent and my responsibilities are a fraction of a manager's and yet I really struggle with many of the things in your list. Out of curiosity, what are the tasks you are supposed to do in your position and how different are from a manager's or a - let's say - project manager's? Thanks!

vieux_vague 5y ago
Perhaps it's easiest to list what I don't or cannot do: performance management, individual strengths and weaknesses (I'm more limited here since my project teams have 3-4 engineers), cost centers vs profit centers & business landscape. As an IC, I lack authority and have to rely more on influence. A good manager relies on influence by default but some things are very hard to achieve without some authority (as distasteful as it may seem). For me, getting folks to pull in the same direction consistently over a long period of time is hard. Getting folks to appreciate why doing this thing rather than another (because business value) is hard. And I am well aware that I can and do also make life hard for my manager in exactly the same way! Humans are hard.