Effective Engineering Manager

Micromanagement: The Silent Threat to Engineering Teams

Micromanagement is a hidden but damaging force in engineering teams, eroding trust, autonomy, and innovation. In this episode of the Effective Engineering Manager podcast, Slava and Adam explore the roots of micromanagement - poor delegation, fear of failure, and lack of trust - and its consequences for morale, productivity, and retention. They also share strategies for organizations and managers to address micromanagement, from coaching and role adjustments to practical ways of shielding teams from its effects.

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Ani Mishra: Effective Cross-functional Collaboration

Our guest, Ani Mishra, engineering manager at DoorDash, shares how engineering managers can become true force multipliers by orchestrating cross-functional collaboration. From treating PMs, designers, and data scientists as partners to using proactive communication, escalation, and trust-building, Ani lays out practical ways EMs can align teams, remove bottlenecks, and prepare for an AI-driven future.

Driving Lasting Change in Engineering Organizations with Manju Abraham

Manju Abraham, veteran engineering leader at NetApp, Delphix, and HPE, shares practical lessons on leading lasting change. Manju explains why most transformations fail, how to build trust and safety, and the playbook engineering managers can use to co-create vision, empower champions, and turn change into culture.

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Jeremy Franzen: Operations and Engineering

We are featuring a guest Jeremy Franzen, an Operations expert with over 30 years of experience running Ops at public companies and startups. Jeremy shares his expertise in building strong collaboration between software engineering and operations teams through open communication, shared goals, feedback loops, joint automation and monitoring, shared security practices, knowledge sharing, and coordinated approaches to incident and change management, all tracked by common performance metrics. In the end, Jeremy provides a checklist that our listeners can start using today to build and run quality production environments together with their Operations teams.

Engineering Management and AI – Part 2/3 – Jobs

In this second episode of three, we continue with a practical introduction to AI for engineering managers. We share possible impact of AI and Large Language Models, or LLM on the jobs. In the end we provide a checklist for engineering managers to help to stay ahead of the AI curve.

Engineering Management and AI – Part 1/3 – Value

In this first episode of three, we provide a practical introduction to AI for engineering managers. We share that value AI and Large Language Models, or LLM, offer to engineering managers and their teams. In the end we provide a check list for engineering managers to start get value from AI today.

Maintaining Team Morale Through Tough Times

In this episode, we talk about what causes tough times for companies and how being smart with money and saving up can help keep the business healthy during downturns. We focus on how leaders can boost team morale when things get tough, using tools like one-on-one meetings, positive feedback, kudos programs, and team outings. We also cover the importance of strong engineering leadership, coaching, and career development when facing changes in the organization. Tune in for practical tips and strategies to keep your team motivated and resilient through the rough patches. We believe better managers will build a better world. We provide consulting services that include customized training for new managers, training on effective engineering management to help companies accomplish more with less, and the fundamentals of building teams from the ground up. Please contact us at contact@effectiveem.com if you have any questions.

Managing Hyperperformers

We dedicate this episode to managing hyper performers. We define who the hyperperformers are, what distinguishes them from the rest of the team and how to manage hyperperformers for the maximum results while retaining them. We share management practices to avoid. In the end provide a checklist that our listeners can use to manage hyperperformers effectively.

Building Effective Strategy

We present the essential components of developing and communicating a strategy in engineering management, emphasize the need for strategies to be documented, measurable, and aligned with business needs. We share the importance of having a strategy as an engineering manager aspiring to drive change and innovation. We emphasize the need for a clear vision, meaningful goals tied to business value, and continuous iteration. We stress the importance of buy-in in the success of a strategy, highlighting the need for the team to be fully supportive of the strategy, as well as the importance of obtaining buy-in from higher management. Finally, we provide a detailed checklist to allow engineering managers developing a well-aligned and challenging yet achievable strategy, covering aspects such as building a strong foundation, aligning with business goals, leveraging lateral relationships, and maintaining effective communication with stakeholders. We believe better managers will build a better world. Please share this episode with your colleagues and friends if you like it.

Tim Wenzel: Building Exceptional Teams

We are featuring a guest, Tim Wenzel, who is a Silicon Valley native, expert in recruiting, including building early teams at PayPal and Tesla, and a founder and an executive recruiter at The (A)lyst Group. Tim shares practical recommendations on feedback, candidate experience, and building teams in dynamic startup environments. In the end, Tim shares a checklist that our listeners can start using today to build exceptional teams.

Cultivating Trust

We dive deep into the importance of trust in engineering management, and how it impacts productivity. We share that trust is built and reinforced over time. We highlight the different layers of trust, including organizational, team, and individual trust, and emphasize the need for consistency and building trust through actions. We explore the subtle distinction between expectations and trust. We also discuss the emotional toll of mistrust caused by broken trust. In the end we provide a checklist that allows our listeners to start cultivating trust in their organizations.

Effective Dependency Management

We share how to manage project dependencies in a way that brings results. We are going to define what a dependency is and how to manage your dependencies to ensure that projects you are a part of are delivered on time and with quality. In the end we will provide a checklist that our listeners can use to ensure that their dependencies are always satisfied.

Managing Innovation

We offer an effective way of introducing innovation to an engineering team and getting results regardless of the organization size. In the end we offer an actionable checklist that engineering managers can use to start innovating today.

Managing Up: Complaining

In this episode we talk about how not to communicate work issues to your boss. We define what complaining is and why complaining is ineffective. We provide a checklist that our listeners can use to see if their upward communications are in the complaining territory.

Effective Remote Work

In this episode, Adam and Slava discuss the new normal of the remote workplace. We discuss the challenges in working remote, key benefits to being remote, and provide guidance for managers to effectively manage remote teams and maximize healthy productivity.

Escalating Work Issues Effectively

We offer an approach to escalating work issues that brings results without destroying relationships. We share what the escalations are, the impact of escalating unskillfully, and how to escalate professionally and effectively. In the end we provide a checklist that our listeners can use to escalate work issues effectively.

Effective Goal Setting

It’s that time of year again for managers and directs to start planning goals and executing on them for the new year. In this episode, we will discuss the challenges with goal setting and provide guidance for making the goal setting process more effective.

Getting Things Done: Taking Time Off

We share the effective way for taking time off. In the end we offer a check list that consists of Designate a substitute Prepare your substitute Set up the Out of The Office response in your email client Have a sync up meeting with your direct report after you come back [powerpress]

Getting Things Done: Staff Meetings

We share what staff meetings are, why they are important for keeping your team accountable for their deliverables and how they help you to stay on top of everything the team is doing. We provide guidance on how frequently you should run them and how to make them effective. In the end we provide a checklist that our listeners can use to start running effective staff meetings.

Building Managers: Now That You Are A Manager

Wrapping up the ‘becoming a manger series’ with guidance and steps on what new engineering managers can do once their training completes and they are now officially a manager. Guidance includes: managing introductions and the first couple of weeks; planning your first 30-60-90 days; setting up foundational meetings like 1-on-1s; building key lateral relationships; creating space for the team to get to know you and your plan.