The Manager's Path A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

Beautiful reference for anyone who sees "ambiguity" when taking a new role.

Not too many crazy eye-openers, but a solid read. Asks questions that you have probably thought about already when you are a manager, but have not articulated clearly. I really liked the tone of the book, it was useful, but not dry. A good read once you have already spent some time as a technical manager.

A must read for any tech leader (or wannabe). It describes very well the different roles in a tech team and the progress path from one to the other.

So many insights in such a small book. It’s dense and if you want to really absorb it, I recommend reading a few pages at a time and try to apply some of these learnings on the day to day. I felt I related a lot to the teachings and examples of the book so I may be a bit biased but I recommend this book above all others to any person aspiring to go down the management path in engineering.

I'm soo amazed about the number of gems this book has. From practical to anecdotal and even from different experts and resources that guide you from the first steps to the higher spheres of managing. Highly recommended!

This book should have win awards everywhere. There are many great tomes on management but none of them specifically deal with the software engineering and related teams. Incredibly well written, detailed and thoughtful in its approach. It touches on many topics you’re interested in (as a technical manager/leader)... and then goes on to talk about many other things you never realised you were/are going to struggle with. This should be mandatory reading for all senior engineers and engineering managers.

“Regular 1-1s are like oil changes; if you skip them, plan to get stranded on the side of the highway at the worst possible time.” “Never underestimate how many times and how many ways something needs to be said before it sinks in.” “For a product leader, True North includes thinking of the users and their needs first and foremost, measuring and experimenting as much as possible, and pushing back on projects that don’t address the stated goals of a team.” “...earliest startup as like driving a race car. You’re close to the ground, and you feel every move you make. You have control, you can turn quickly, you feel like things are moving fast. Of course, you’re also at risk of crashing at any moment, but you only take yourself down if you do.” “There’s a saying in politics that “a good political idea is one that works well in half-baked form,” and the same goes for engineering processes. The processes should have value even when they are not followed perfectly, and that value should largely lie in the act of socializing change or risk to the team as a whole.”

I've skipped a couple of chapters, as advocated at the start of the book. Not all of the chapters apply at any given time. (I'm not about managing managers or the big leagues - yet 😁.) That said I really rate this book for engineering leadership. There are aspects of this role that differ from managers in other industries. Like the need to remain technically competent (to a certain level, depending on your level). I like that this is made clear. I'm definitely going to be revisiting this book over time and to refresh my memory or to check how I could approach something. Key Quote "It’s a short step from managing a person or two to managing a whole team, but managing a team is more than just doing the job of managing the individuals. At this point, your job has changed. In fact, at every step beyond this level you will probably experience a totally different set of requirements and challenges. The hardest thing to prepare for as you advance in your career is the idea that you’re going to start doing totally different things. As much as you may want to believe that management is a natural progression of the skills you develop as a senior engineer, it’s really a whole new set of skills and challenges.

The most important lesson is you have to be able to manage yourself if you want to be good at managing others. This short and succinct book is full of solid advice like this. Foundational concepts such as 1-1s, feedback, performance reviews, scaling up, organizational structure, and working toward the “Big Leagues” of senior management. The book finishes with useful insight into senior leader positions and what success looks like at the top levels.

Interesting guide for the engineer that is transitioning to a manager role. A lot of good examples and practical tips