From Engineer to Engineering Manager
summary
Accepts an engineering manager role after nine months parental leave and reports being an EM for a little over a year while overseeing desktop and web player work at Spotify. Lays out five unexpected aspects of the job, proposes four work categories to measure progress, and lists eight trust-building management behaviors. Shares a concrete mistake: misreading a health‑check one red response and scheduling a workshop that costs 10 hours wasted, then emphasizes accepted EM offer as the pivot decision.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:40Engineering management isn't obvious
- 3:00Engineer skills vs management
- 7:14Overcommitting as new manager
- 9:01Giving tough feedback
- 11:50Redefining productivity
- 15:20Trust is top priority
- 16:02Eight behaviors for trust
- 22:39Vulnerability as manager
- 23:01Every decision affects others
- 27:43Is management right for you?
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