It’s time to pay off your management debt

Amidst the buzz about technical debt, there's another crucial matter that warrants our attention: management debt. These are the shortcuts we take in management, which could come back to haunt us later – a bit like how tech debt works. Sometimes, these decisions seem reasonable, but they can add up to trouble over time.

In this session, we'll delve into management debt – the collection of inefficiencies, unresolved issues, and missed opportunities in how we manage teams. Just like its technical counterpart, management debt accumulates, quietly impacting the organization over time. Drawing insights from real-life scenarios in managing engineering managers, I'll uncover various forms of management debt. From lacking a performance management or employee feedback process to having unbalanced teams and inflated titles and compensation, we'll explore practical ways to tackle these challenges. Throughout the talk, I'll share personal stories that highlight the vital importance of addressing management debt.

Together, we'll work through actionable solutions to confront and manage this debt. It's time to monitor, account for, and start paying down our management debt, ensuring we don't go management bankrupt and keep our organization healthy.

What do you mean there’s no onboarding plan for engineering managers?

R&D organizations understand the importance of an onboarding process for new engineers. But what about engineering managers?

How do you set up a leader, who is either a promoted employee or a new hire, to succeed? What are the long-term implications of how this happens?

In this talk, I’ll share my four-week onboarding process for engineering leads that emphasizes peopleware, tech leadership, and delivery management. I’ll provide a behind-the-scenes look at this super adaptable process which uses a framework of “sessions” and “experiences”, sharing everything from my mistakes to my insights.

You will leave this talk with knowledge on:

- A comprehensive outline of an onboarding process for engineering leaders
- How to center peopleware, core leadership skills, and delivery management throughout onboarding
- Common onboarding mistakes and how to mitigate them

I gave this talk in LeadDev London 2023: https://leaddev.com/leaddev-london-2023/video/what-do-you-mean-theres-no-onboarding-plan-engineering-managers