Ask HN: How to speak like a leader, not like an engineer?

Firstly understand the transition means a lot of unlearning, sometimes with parts that you hold dear to you. My advice to you is to be honest with yourself, your team and stakeholders about the same. Makes it easier on all of the folks and eases the transition.

3 Circles of X: As you start going up the ladder, your focus is on a birds eye view of three circles: Your Customers/Markets, Your Products and Your Team. You are here since you get the bigger picture and you need to help your team do all of their core functions with as little hassle as possible. I came to terms with myself when i started thinking of myself as a lubricant, and it all made sense.

Tons of people go through this, find people that have recently gone through the transition and talk your problems out. Also probably give Managing Humans by Michael Lopp a read.

Hope this helps!

Operational level - to keep the technical jargon out, dont give technical details but give business strategy related details. if you need then go in tactical ways you can solve the problem. - your information should be bulleted list of 4-5 words per line in business terms. - you should talk in terms of program level, org level strategy, program level budget/matrix work, dependencies etc. - your metrics conversation should be in terms of business terms such as basis point impact to the program. - you should not talk architecture or logic level design but in terms of connecting orgs, blockers due to various programs. - view and think in terms of non-biased decisions to be made objectively. - talk in terms of process not code - i do not want my team members to have crap excuse about defects occur b/c this and that issues but i want to know metric based impact and recommendations and alternatives. - present 2-3 options (unbiased) to help make right decisions.

People Level talk in terms of - strengths and opportunities. - building bench strength. - talk in terms of pipeline - team building activities, team collaboration, compensation packages, org chart and skill needed. -

lastly, do not go to your boss with your daily problems, he is your last resort.

2. A leader’s job is to make sure the ship reaches its destination. A real leader assumes responsibility for taking the entire team where it needs to go.

3. Don’t be petty. Leadership is tough. You’re going to have to tolerate a lot more and give a lot more than the others. Make sure your communications reflect that.

4. Dive into details only as needed, and better in a one on one where you’re only speaking the parties its relevant to. Everyone doesn’t need to hear everything.

5. Other leaders in your same rank don’t have as much visibility into your day to day as you do. All details won’t be relevant to them. Keep it high level. Develop the skill of having a normal conversation, keep a few appropriate jokes in your back pocket, and use a story or two to illustrate your point instead of numbers and statistics. People remember how you make them feel.

6. Be observant, develop your skills on reading and displaying appropriate body language, communication is more than just the words that come out of our mouths.

7. Know yourself, your pitfalls and strengths. Are you glass half full or half empty. How does that impact your communication and your team. Find complentary people and try to take insight from them.

8. Make an effort to find a mentor if you haven’t already, these are excellent conversations to have with them.

9. PhD interview. Explain your research to a layman (doesn’t have to be research and you don’t have to be a PhD)

10. Celebrate wins, learn from losses, build some positive momentum around your team and project.

All the best!

You need to communicate:

  - status of the project
  - external blockers
  - progress on OKRs or KPIs
  - important personnel issues (e.g. people leaving, big HR issues, things that eventually will affect your deliverables)