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I started as an engineering manager (CTO of a small startup) a few years ago; my life has changed a lot, and for every aspect you love and hate, I share the sam

I started as an engineering manager (CTO of a small startup) a few years ago; my life has changed a lot, and for every aspect you love and hate, I share the same feelings. My additional advice here is to meditate. For real. Sit quietly long enough for your brain to switch off before making essential and impactful decisions that could harm your people. In the beginning, you become a kind of parent-to-child genius. You have to accept them and also understand their ways. The more controls you put in place, the less control you will have, as they will attempt to jump around and oppose the unnecessary bureaucracy (I'll do the same, honestly). My second advice is to always behave as if you are going to leave tomorrow. This will prepare your team and your peers and even improve your lifestyle.

urthor 3y ago
> My second advice is to always behave as if you are going to leave tomorrow. This will prepare your team and your peers and even improve your lifestyle. This is very good advice.
spangry 3y ago
> My second advice is to always behave as if you are going to leave tomorrow. In a similar vein, my ultimate management technique is to take leave and have my subordinates act in my position (for at least 2 weeks). It really accelerates their development and it's oddly reassuring to discover that I'm not indispensable. At the same time, I do wonder if it indicates that I'm doing something wrong given they seem to develop faster when I'm not there...
yuppiepuppie 3y ago
> you become a kind of parent-to-child genius. Ha! I just recently became a parent, and the skills are highly transferable between EM to parent. Some days I feel like I am employing skills learned on the job to managing my family.