Ask HN: Going from Developer to Manager. What should I know or learn?

There is a quote I once heard “Good teams are usually great for the same reasons, bad teams are almost always bad for different reasons”. This is the much the same for people. Generally speaking, the best people you have worked with are very similar in terms of what they provided that made you really happy to be with them. Example “good” traits:

- honestly - dependability - integrity - intelligence - humility - excellence - generosity - proactivity

Toxicity happens when people exhibit the opposite of any of those. A favorite example is folks who constantly bad mouth other people on the team. Well, if you work with that person, you just know they are complaining about you behind your back as well.

I don't have an answer, but I appear to be accidentally (and for now, hopefully only partially) making that transition right now...

I am an 'older' engineer (in my 40s) who just came off a decade-long stint doing solo freelancing, mostly for one rather laid-back client - so it's pretty much been a career progression break. Started a 'real job' about 6 months ago, as an IC, in a local (long way from US) startup with approximately 60 people in tech department. Did a simple project to familiarise myself with the code base and tools - then started working on a larger, multi-team project...

Then was person-in-charge for the project within my team...

With one, then two (and now three) of my teammates working on the project 'under me'...

Then was committer/deployer-to-prod of project for my team...

Then another teammate decided (AFAIK it was his choice) to move teams, and I agreed to take his deputy-team-lead and code-owner responsibilities - in February when his move is done...

Then a bunch of other teams got involved in the project, many of them committing to my team's repo - so now I'm mostly reviewing, commenting, advising, coordinating...

Then team lead goes on New Year holiday, now I'm running stand-ups, approving early leave for Christmas/New Year's Eve...

I am now (while TL is on holiday) apparently reporting directly to VP of Engineering, who is Austrian and a bit of a hierarchy guy, and who has barely spoken to me before this week...

In the course of about 3 months I've got from engineer to at least temporary team lead and code/project owner. Although things have gone a little Mythical Man Month with me as the bottleneck, I'm winging it for now. I'm trying to be fairly strict with code quality - although that's weakened as deadlines approach and pass - but I'm probably a little soft on people management, which I instinctively don't really want to do, so it's easier to say yes.

It's more, and different, stress from what I've been used to in the past, and it's not necessarily bad, just new. I am expecting to speak to someone fairly soon about increased compensation for increased responsibility, which is noticeably something that has not come up at any point so far.

That sounds like a good example when getting pushback on estimates: "Here's a 24x36 picture in a wooden frame, how long will it take you to hang it on that wall over there?"

After getting an estimate ("15 minutes?") come back with "OK, let's plan it out. Does the picture have hanging hardware on the back or are you going to need to get some screw eyes and wire and install some? That's a pretty heavy frame, do you have good enough wall anchors? Are you going to need to drill to put them in? Do you need to be going into studs, and do you have a stud finder? How high are we going to put this? What if I decide I want it 4 inches higher? If I come back in 15 minutes and ask why it's not up are you going to want to punch me?"

"That's why an off-the-cuff estimate isn't reliable and why we need to do some review before giving a good one. Even with that review, there's a good chance we're going to miss something at first (like the steel support beam that runs down the interior of that wall)."

See also Yak Shaving and the intro of Malcolm in the Middle Season 3 Episode 6 "Health Scare"

My suggestion is when asked off the cuff always toss an estimate that is astronomically bigger then what you expect it to be. Then come back a day or 2 later and claim after further research we can do it in (2x your real estimate).

This is hard... like your directs you need to manage your manager as well and try to understand them.

For your manager, you should have (or try to force) at least meetings every 2-4 weeks where you can ask what you can improve on or what they feel is missing/lacking in your team/department. Always come back next meeting with ways you have improved or reacted to their comments. If they are a decent boss they will always be honest with you.

As for how to tell if things are going well internally...

- does your team(s) feel happy/proud on what they delivered? - does your team(s) seem happy and enjoy working with each other? - do they focus on deliverables/value and not get caught up on petty issues?

are some questions to ask.