Day 21: 3 Small (But Easily Fixable) Mistakes Most Engineering Managers Make

Getting promoted oftentimes isn’t about being “the best.”

It’s actually far more about being reliable — and people being able to trust that you won’t make little mistakes.

For anyone working as an Engineering Manager in Tech, these are the 3 small (but easily fixable) mistakes most people make — and why, if you can avoid these, your career is going to accelerate exponentially:

Mistake #1: Not Making Decisions

This is one of the biggest problems you’ll find in large companies:

Brushing off decisions later and shifting the responsibility to the next team.

Stop being afraid and take ownership. Make decisions!

Mistake #2: Mismanaging Expectations

Doing a bunch of work only for it not to be used. How often have you seen this happen?

Reaching a critical date of a project but all of a sudden not having the info you were supposed to have.

One of the worst things you can do is not manage expectations correctly. Make sure you communicate. It’s always better to give bad news than to completely mess with expectations.

Don’t shy away from giving bad news.

Mistake #3: Not Minding About Culture

Many Engineering Managers focus more on playing politics than on a future-looking group culture.

It’s all about the tiny details! Documentation, Self-Service First, Responsibility Matrix… The way your group works, the artefacts they create, and the contributions to open source projects, all of this has a huge relevance in their happiness and retention.

At the end of the day, in most cases, people don’t stick around for company A, B or C. They stick around for the project, the group, and the culture ( and obviously for financial reasons).

Build thinking about the future.