Engineers must manage their time well.
When we first founded our company (Xendit S15), there wasn’t a need for the founders to manage anyone but ourselves. Given how small we were, there were times when I felt that we were almost telepathic; able to communicate our intent with minimal words and instantly switch context to solve problems together. Fast forward to 2021, with Xendit serving thousands of merchants across Southeast Asia and employing hundreds of talented individuals, the need for effective and empathetic managers has never been more clear.
My journey in first becoming an engineering manager and later managing through other managers has not been the smoothest journey. My hope in sharing my experience is that you (the reader) will be able to avoid some of the pain I’ve experienced, especially in scaling yourself as a manager.
I believe that at core of being an effective manager, one who is able to scale as their companies, teams, and responsibilities grow lies crucially in how they approach time management. Managers don’t get more than 24 hours in a day even as the demands of their customers and teams grow.
