Ask HN: What is your advice to a new manager?

I would like to pick the brains of experienced managers here and se what they think are things a new manager should do, study, look for etc.

If you search HN for "new engineering manager", it will turn up some of the past discussions:

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

This one, for example, is an article called "How to fail as a new engineering manager", with lots of good advice in the comments:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18011381 (106 comments)

Here's another one:

"Ask HN: How do I deal with my engineering team and motivate myself?"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10892288 (46 comments)

I was an engineering manager for about a decade before I quit and went back to being a developer. I hesitate to give specific advice, since I don't think I was very good at it. But here are some things that, looking back, were sources of difficulty:

- You can do some amount of development work, but don't put yourself on the critical path for your group's work, or you won't have time to do the important things that only a manager can do. (Or you'll try to do everything at once, and burn out.)

- Don't be too friendly with the people who report to you. It's hard enough to lay off an employee, but having to decide which of your friends to lay off is much harder. You also don't want to be in the position of telling your friend that their work needs to improve, etc. (Similarly, don't be surprised if the people who report to you don't want to be your drinking buddies.)

1, CYA it's sad that I have to say that, but yes, cover your ass, politics plays a big part in jobs and (good) managers generally shield you from the pressure so until you're in that position you've no idea how bad it can be

2, don't be too friendly with the people reporting to you, they won't take you seriously as a manager and will happily go over your head

3, encourage personal growth of your team and be there for them as a mentor and friend (which contradicts 2, there's a balance to get)

Not a manager, but as someone who had a REALLY political manager who tried to undermine everyone around him, including (and especially) his subordinates, The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene taught me how to cover my ass and how to generally be effective in an org.

Part of your reading list must include books on Psychology to better understand individuals and Social Psychology to better understand groups.