Transitioning from Head Geek to New Manager

If you are a hard core engineer, you probably scoff at the idea of ever hanging up the keyboard to become “one of them”.  Some of the most respected technologists that I know have built a super successful career rising up the technical ladder.  But there are some of you out there that are also intrigued with the business of software, or enjoy the people side of engineering, or want a mix of technical and business.  Before you take the dive into the technical manager pool, consider these points and tips.

Make Sure You Actually Want the Position

Too often promotions to management are awarded to people that are top technologists in their organization.  After all, they are the people who seem to make every project successful, get us out of every customer jam and are well respected for being able to code circles around their peers.  Unfortunately, being a great engineer does not always translate into being a great manager.  

Engineers turned managers often struggle with giving up the technical work that has made them famous in the past.  They are often ill equipped to master the increased communication requirements and are annoyed by the administrative tasks.  If they were the senior technical person, they may have enjoyed presiding over technical decisions and now find themselves frustrated with the negotiation process required by some of their managerial duties.  There is great satisfaction in managing technical teams and helping them soar to greatness, but it should be viewed as a completely different type of job and a major career move.  

Before you make the move, find out more about the duties and expectations of the new position.  Many times engineers feel this is the only path to career advancement and additional compensation.  If this is your sole motivation be very wary of the move.  Explore your company's career advancement track for technical positions first.  If you find there is not a technical career path, you might consider speaking to your management about creating one.  You really need to love your job, because you spend most of your life performing it.  

Now, if you have properly evaluated your career choices and have determined you want to jump tracks to management, then by all means go for it! 

Beware of the Paper Pusher Trap

The most important thing to understand about your new role is that the world needs more leaders, not managers or "bosses".  The success of your team, your company, and yourself will really come down to your ability to inspire others and lead your team through a vision that they can achieve and that meets business objectives.  Being a manager includes such activities as approving things, clearing impediments, sticking to budgets, and in some companies moving all the paper from one end of the building to the other.  You will need to do many of these things, but do not fall into the trap of thinking that these are the really important tasks - they are not.  

Leadership activities are the most important.  Outlining a clear vision, providing the motivation that your team can get there, and giving them the support they need to do things they may not have thought were possible.  Taking appropriate risks and finding business opportunities for your team to capitalize on.  Great leaders bring out the very best in people, and know how to get maximum output from their organization.

TIPS:

• Spend some time reading about and observing great leaders at work.  
• Get a mentor to help work through specific decisions and plans.
• Develop your own leadership style.  It is not a "one size fits all".  

You are Different Now

It is common to ease into your leadership role slowly, possibly by unofficially leading a team for a while, or gradually taking on additional managerial responsibilities.  But make no mistake, the day you actually become the manager of others on the books, things will change.  Almost overnight, your peers are now your "subordinates".  That probably means they now see you differently, some may even resent that they were not selected.  After all, you just went from joking around about management, to becoming "one of them".  

TIPS:  

• Be confident that you earned the position and you can be an asset to the team in this new role.  
• You may not be able to be friends with your co-workers like you used to, you need to be OK with that.  
• Don't put yourself in an ivory tower now that you have a fancy new office.  Figure out how to stay connected with your staff.  
• Be approachable and keep communication lines open so that you know what is really going on.  
• Be the person everyone wants to work with because they know you will help them be successful.  That does not mean be everyone's best friend.

Your Day Begins to Change

You will probably find that the way you spend your time will change dramatically.  You will become very interrupt driven.  The pace of context switching will increase.  Communication will increase (more phone calls, emails, voice mails, meetings, etc.) and you will experience an increased interaction with a broader set of people.  It is easy to fall into "tactical mode" all the time.  There will always be a burning deadline, an unanswered phone call, or an administrative task to be done.

TIPS:

• Time management is very important.  Find a system that works best for you.  A former executive manager of mine used to effectively divide his week into "focus days" and would try to cluster meetings and work on those days to ensure he was spending his time across all effectively.  (Example:  Monday is for Customers, Tuesday Employees, Wed Strategic, Thurs Vendors, etc.)
• Schedule time to think strategically.  I think most managers find this the most difficult.  You have to block time on your calendar and make sure you are making progress on your long term plans.
• Getting out of the office is sometimes the best way to work on strategic plans.  The local coffee shop, your home, or even some other friend's office has worked well for me.

Communication

What you say becomes more important.  It will be scrutinized, sometimes misinterpreted, and often acted upon without you intending it.  The higher your position, the more weight your words will have.  

I used to work with an extremely smart tech executive that would roam the office and pop into developers’ workspaces and just say - "Hey, did you every think about trying to use X to do Y?".   Almost instantly, that developer had abandoned whatever I assigned him and is prototyping the XY project.  While it was disruptive as a first line manager, a ton of great innovation came out of it.  My point is, he never actually asked the person to do it, but he knew they would!

TIPS:

• Mean what you say.
• Choose your words careful.
• Communicate your vision clearly and consistently. 

Decision Making

You will have to make many more decisions that have a greater impact.  Increasingly, you will have to make quick decisions without all of the complete information.  You will need to always be balancing risk and keeping in mind that delayed decisions have an associated risk as well.

TIPS:

• Once you arrive at the decision, be decisive and communicate it swiftly.
• Focus on making the best business decisions, not on always being "right”.  When you were the technical guru, you may have always been the smartest person in the room.  That might not be the case anymore, get over it.
• You should be making decisions as if it were your own money at stake, because in a way, it is.
• People decisions involving poor results are often the most difficult.  Decide first if it is worth investing time in improving the situation.  If not, then act fast.  Typically you know the answer but your conscious is preventing you from acting.  Delays like this can cost you big.

It's Not About You, Unless Something Goes Wrong

If you just transitioned from individual contributor to manager of people, it is very important to understand that your team's performance is now your performance.  The very best leaders that I have worked with know how to harness the entire team to meet objectives.  And when the team is successful, celebrate and let the team take the credit… after all, they did the work.  However, if the team is unsuccessful at something, that will probably land on your shoulders.  The outcome may not always be 100% under your control, but as the team's manager, you probably have the most influence on the outcome. 

TIPS:

• Be proactive and take calculated risks that propel your organization forward.  You will meet plenty of managers that simply get the position, pick up their feet, and let the current carry them.  They may keep their job, but will never push the business ahead in significant ways.
• Many articles have been written about it being OK to fail.  You will make some bad decisions.  If all of your plans work all of the time, I can argue that you are not being innovative enough with your group.  
•  

Final Words

Making the transition from engineer to manager was one of the best career decisions I ever made.  It opened up an entire world outside of the bits and bytes.  Solving problems and discovering new business opportunities that benefit the entire company gives me great satisfaction.  I have had opportunities to conduct business all over the world and interact with people of varying cultures.  If you decide to take this route, I wish you years of success in the future!