Since January 2021 I've moved from being an Individual Contributor (IC) to an Engineering Manager (EM). As a Technical Lead I'd had a lot of exposure

6 months of being an Engineering Manager

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2021-06-15 09:00:07

Since January 2021 I've moved from being an Individual Contributor (IC) to an Engineering Manager (EM). As a Technical Lead I'd had a lot of exposure to EM concepts so it's been a fairly gradual transition but I feel like after 6 months in the role, it's time to do a bit of introspection about what the role means to me.

For transparency I've seen this list in different orders in other blog posts and it's probably different at other companies and levels of seniority but, for me, this is what works and helps me prioritise my day. I like how it goes from most atomic to least atomic.

If I'm struggling to prioritise things in a busy period or after some time off, I can ground myself by reminding myself of the order I should approach things.

My primary job is the support and growth of people. I took this job because I'm a people enthusiast, I love working with people, I love supporting them and finding them opportunities to grow. The tools and heuristics I need to do this are (and not limited to):

If I get any free time, you can bet I'm looking through the above and questioning to see if there's anything I'm not already doing for the people in my team.