It’s a quick read, focusing on some of the unique challenges of leadership at technology companies, and the progressive structure (e.g. team lead to manager to manager of managers) makes it easy to jump in at whether level you find yourself at on the ladder (and to see what you missed and should have picked up on a lower rung… or what to expect on the next rungs.).
Here are a few things that especially resonated with me as I reflected on past lead and manager roles I’ve been in.
Creating a 30/60/90-day plan
“Another approach that many experienced managers use is to help their reports create a 30/60/90-day plan. This can include basic goals, like getting up to speed on the code, committing a bug fix, or performing a release, and is especially valuable for new hires and people transferring from other areas of the company. The more senior the hire, the more he should participate in creating this plan. You want him to have some clear goals that will show whether he’s learning the right things as he gets up to speed. These goals will also require some work from you and the team, because it’s very rare that everything is self-evident, well-documented, and total obvious to a newcomer. (pg. 51)”
This was one of my big takeaways from the book. First, that the amount of work the manager does for the 30/60/90-day plan is inversely promotional to the seniority of the hire. Second, the need for the manager to have clear goals and expectations into the next quarter – so that the things the new hire are working on are well-aligned with the team goals. Third, that team knowledge should be documented and continually refreshed (a worthy component of the 30/60/90-day plan itself.)
Fournier continues:
“Unfortunately, sometimes you will mis-hire a person. Having a clear set of expected goals for your new hires that you believe is achievable in the first 90 days will help you catch mis-hires quickly, and make it clear to you and to them that you need to correct the situation. (pg. 51)”
I’ve had mis-hires and, in hindsight, having this 30/60/90-day plan in place would have saved both me as the manager and them as the new hire a lot of grief and brought clarity sooner in the employment relationship. In some ways, the performance improvement plans that managers must pull together in the closing acts of a mis-hire are a too-late echo of some of what a 30/60/90-day plan could contain.
The Shield
“You may be a shield, but you are not a parent. Sometimes, in combining the roles of shield and mentor we end up in a parenting-style relationship with the team, and treat them like fragile children to be protected, nurtured, and chided as appropriate. You are not their parent. Your team is made up of adults who need to be treated with appropriate respect. This respect is important for your sanity as well as theirs.” (pg. 84)
Fournier cautions managers to NOT attempt to insulate the team from the drama originating from elsewhere in the company, but to address it openly and candidly with them – like adults, and without adding to the drama yourself.
To me this means that when your team’s performance is criticized, perhaps undeservedly, by senior leadership — that a great manager discusses the criticism candidly and dispassionately with the team AND with their own manager, who quite possibly has some unfinished communicating to do with their own manager.
Flex Your Own Product Muscles
“Strong leadership cares about cultivating success and having a team that delivers successful projects, which means honing your understanding of what is important to your customer…. Taking time to develop customer empathy is important because you’ll need to give your engineers context for their work.” (pg. 85)
This is so important, it should be in bold and memorized by all managers. It is not at all good enough to design and implement. It is critical to validate the design and the resulting product through the customer’s eyes, and to the extent the manager and team members (but especially the manager) can adopt their customer’s view of their needs, their workflows, their blind spots — the better. This is table stakes for durable products and even businesses in this hyper competitive age.
Strategies for Handling Roadmap Uncertainty
“A very common problem that manager at all levels face is the challenge of changing product and business roadmaps. Especially in smaller companies, it’s hard to get people to commit a year in advance to the work that will be done for the next year…. This is really hard for engineering managers to deal with. Changes in strategy are where being stuck in “middle management” feels the most unpleasant. (pg. 151)”
Fournier gives a few powerful suggestions for dealing with poor or incomplete roadmaps. The first one really resonated with me.
“Be realistic about the likelihood of changing plans given the size and stage of the company you work for. If your startup has a history of changing the year’s plans every summer to account for the business results from the first half of the year, be prepared for a change in the summer and try not to promise things to your team that would require continuity beyond that point. (pg. 151)”
She continues…
“Projects change. Teams may even be disbanded or moved around in ways that you don’t understand or agree with. As a manager, the best thing you can do to help people feel capable of typing up loose ends, stabilizing the current in-flight projects, and easing into their new work in a controlled fashion. This is an area where you can and should push back. Make sure that your teams get adequate time to finish up current work. (pg. 153)”
At my current company, projects frequently get mothballed or back-burnered within a year or so after they begin — priorities change very rapidly. Pushing back for time to park the projects properly and prepare the team for their new work is an area I will be doubling down on in the future.
Fournier concludes:
“The calmer you can be in the face of these changes, and the better you can show (or fake) enthusiasm for the new direction, the easier the transition will be for your whole team. When you are faced with waves, you can let them pull you under or you can learn how to surf. Hang 10. (pg. 153)”
Learn how to surf. Expect the waves to come (they will). Those a good things to remember.
Again, overall a quick accessible read, and one of those texts that you can dog ear and refer back to frequently (and not just as you make career transitions). Highly recommended.
Allen at Automattic 