Book review - Engineering management for the rest of us by Sarah Drasner

Sarah Drasner wrote this marvelous book about technical team manager role.

It is a fact that most of us started leading by accident. We studied to be the best technicians and, suddenly, one day we find ourselves leading a team. And no one probably has ever told us about people, communication and so many other things necessary to do it well. If this is your case, read Sarah’s book. If it is not, if you are not a manager, even if you never want to be a manager… read it anyway. We should all know what a good manager does.

Highlighted quotes

Rather than providing a summary of the book, which may be biased or influenced by my personal opinions or writing style, I prefer to spotlight select phrases from the text that I found particularly inspiring.

👉 Your work is now about enabling everyone around you. This entails interruption-driven work so that your team can be focus-driven

👉 When people talk about “good” managers, they are likely referring to people who show care and appreciation for people’s values, and also respect their boundaries

👉 My job is to enable the people around me to do their best work… together

👉 Working to create an inclusive environment is quite literally connected to doing great work

👉 Believe in your team

👉 (Talking about a concrete example: an homophobic remark from whoever) You are the leader. The culture of your team is only as strong as the worst behavior it tolerates. It’s your job to speak up

👉 Your 1:1s are the most important thing you do. This is a hill I will die on

👉 People leave managers, not jobs

👉(About receiving feedback as a manager) When it comes to trust and vulnerability, you have to model the behavior. People are looking at you for clues on what behavior is acceptable and what’s celebrated. Show them

👉 Put the health and safety of people above all else. People do their best work when they don’t feel they are under personal attack. Try your best to cultivate an environment where this is not tolerated

👉 Ensure that Engineering spends a portion of their time doing their “own” work such as address technical debt, upgrade systems, and document code

👉 Take care of yourself. It’s the best way of take care of your team

👉 You have to forgive yourself. You’ll be more productive on some days (or hell, even years!) than you will be on others. That’s okay