Ask HN: What's the one thing a new engineering manager must learn or know?

6 points by blooberr 9 years ago | 5 comments

I've gotten varied responses from not micromanaging to nobody's intentionally trying to do a bad job. What's your take on this?

cauterized 9 years ago |

Your responsibility is not to tell people what to do. Your responsibility is to help them communicate with the rest of the company (in both directions); to coach them to become better engineers (including developing their soft skills); and to guide them to make better decisions based on the information and big-picture priorities you share with them.

inconclusive 9 years ago |

That the first thing to build is trust. The disease that plagues companies is not communicating out of fear you'll get in trouble if something is broken or didn't get done. Build trust to counteract fear.

alanmackenzie 9 years ago |

Theory of constraints.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints

blooberr 9 years ago | |

how have you used it?

a_lifters_life 9 years ago |

People.