Podcasts by Managing Up

Engineering Ladders and Growing Developers with Sean Massa and Trek Glowacki from 2022-02-21T17:24:40.683760

Engineering leaders Sean Massa and Trek Glowacki join Travis, Nick, and Brandon to discuss what they've learned from their research on engineering ladders and growth tracks across dozens of companies.

Transitioning into Management with Blithe Rocher from 2022-02-21T17:24:40.681975

Blithe Rocher, Engineering Manager at Fastly joins Nick, Brandon, and Travis to discuss how and when to transition to management, what to expect, and what advice she'd give her past self as she sta...

"Being the Bull": What to Do When Words Have Weight from 2022-02-21T17:24:40.679523

Now that you're a leader, you may be surprised to find that your words sometimes carry weight that you didn't intend, feeling like the proverbial "Bull in a china shop". Nick, Brandon, and Travis s...

Working Alongside Product Teams: What We've Learned from 2022-02-21T17:24:40.677639

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about their successes and failures working alongside product teams. They discuss what keeps engineering teams from feeling empowered and how to avoid becoming an "ons...

Should I Care about "Manager READMEs"? from 2022-02-21T17:24:40.671793

There is a healthy and active debate in the management community around Manager READMEs. Are they self-indulgent excuses for asking people to "deal with" your shortcomings? Or an essential tool to ...

Seasonality and Rhythms in Engineering Teams from 2022-02-21T17:24:40.665579

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the seasonality of work and how that affects individuals and teams. They talk about how they work with low points in the cycle and how to capitalize on the high...

Getting Clarity in Times of Change from 2022-02-21T17:24:40.661580

Travis, Nick, and Brandon ask: what do you do when you have a sense that things are about to change? What about when your work evaporates due to a startup pivot or major organizational change? They...

"Marketing" Your Team as a Manager from 2022-02-21T17:24:40.656451

Nick, Brandon, and Travis discuss the term "Marketing" and the myth that doing good work will speak for itself. How can you advocate for your team's work authentically without feeling like you're b...

Pain, Learning Organizations, and Trainwrecks from 2022-02-16T10:30

Nick, pondering the Texas electric grid and the 2021 power crisis posits the question to Travis and Brandon: What role does pain play in leading teams? What is the role of a manager in managing and...

One on Ones: Beyond the Basics from 2021-09-29T09:30

Nick, Travis, and Brandon revisit the one-on-ones topic from several years ago and go beyond "1:1s 101". The hosts dive past the scripts and formulas to discuss challenges with regular one-on-one m...

Inviting Feedback and Creating Psychological Safety from 2021-06-16T09:30

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about how they increase psychological safety on teams to create space for a variety of voices, starting by debating the value of "strong opinions, weakly held". They ...

Is "Resources" a Dirty Word? from 2021-04-28T09:30

In this episode, Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the word "resources", thinking of humans versus abstract notions of people, and balancing company needs with individual needs. What changes as ...

How Much Process Is Enough? How Much Is Too Much? from 2020-10-21T09:30

In another episode recorded in the "before times", Travis talks about finding the balance between not enough and too much process. Is Scrum too much process? How do you tell when process is designe...

The Manager's Calendar from 2020-09-30T09:30:29

In an episode recorded in "the before times" that we feel is still relevant, Nick suggested we talk about "what to do when you can't do it all". Nick, Brandon, and Travis discuss how the game of "C...

Breaking the Cycle of "Burnout Debt" from 2020-08-19T09:30:10

Burnout is a very real problem right now, and is often aggravated in our jobs as managers, ironically in our work to help others avoid burning themselves out. Nick, Travis, and Brandon ask: how do ...

Remote Teams, Coping, and Bringing Your Whole Self to Work from 2020-03-18T17:30:47

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the chaotic and downright scary state of the world and our own prior adjustments to remote work. They discuss ways to lead authentically in these times, and how...

"Big Picture Strategists" vs. "Tactical Tornadoes" from 2020-02-20T10:30:01

Travis and Brandon talk about the tendency of software developers to fall into an "overly strategic" or "overly tactical" style of thinking. How do you encourage individuals and teams to consider b...

Creating Self-Managing Teams from 2019-12-23T10:30:09

Brandon asks Nick about a piece of advice he doesn't even remember giving about teaching teams to manage themselves. Nick, Travis, and Brandon explore tough questions around self-managing teams: Ho...

Supporting Early-Career Devs and Defining "Engineer" from 2019-12-11T10:30:20

Travis and Brandon talk about how teams can support early-career developers and career changers. What environments are they a good fit for? How do you set expectations for newer folks? How can you ...

Personality Conflicts and the "Us vs. Them" Mindset from 2019-11-27T10:30:08

Travis, Nick, and Brandon discuss a tough-but-frequent listener question: "How do I coach senior developers and tech leads to work better with each other when they have opposing personality types o...

Lessons from Captain Haynes from 2019-10-16T09:30:04

Nick talks about one of his heroes, Captain Al Haynes, who saved hundreds of lives by managing a crisis during a famous airplane crash. Captain Haynes demonstrated one of the canonical examples of ...

Summer Vacations and Self-Care from 2019-09-19T09:30:14

Travis, Nick, and Brandon talk about vacations after a summer full of them. When is it OK for managers to take vacations? How do you set things up to actually let yourself relax? What if something ...

The Invisible Work of Management from 2019-08-21T10:30:06

A thread on the "orange website" got Nick thinking: What are signs a manager is succeeding? What are red flags that they're on the wrong track? They ask the big question: *How do you know when you ...

Building Trust with Teams from 2019-07-17T10:30:21

Nick, Travis, and Brandon explore trust as a pillar of successful teams. What does a high trust environment look like? How do you build trust? How do managers accidentally lower trust on their team...

Performance Reviews: When and How to Use Them from 2019-06-12T09:00:12

This week, Nick, Travis, and Brandon respond to a listener's question about when and how to successfully use performance reviews. Nick shares the idea of using "pattern matching" as a basis for eva...

How Do You Assess Technical Ability in Interviews? from 2019-05-29T10:30:02

Nick, Travis, and Brandon explore how they've tried to improve at assessing the technical abilities of potential hires during the interview process. They talk take-home tests, pair programming exer...

Who's in Charge of Shipping? from 2019-05-13T21:18:03

Travis, Nick, and Brandon talk about Rule #1 in running software teams: The Software Must Ship. How much of that is on you, the manager? They explore that question and talk about their experiences ...

Priorities, Impact, and Wrangling the "Manager's Calendar" from 2019-04-29T16:54

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the vast array of "priorities" that can overwhelm a manager. The group talk through strategies they use to wrangle the "manager's calendar" and reclaim control ...

New Manager, Existing Team: Where Do You Start? from 2019-03-19T09:30

Travis, Nick, and Brandon respond to a thought-provoking question about jumping in to manage a team that's already established. They also talk about what to do when the team needs culture or perfor...

Estimation: Where Everything is Made Up and the Points Don't Matter from 2019-02-18T10:30

Estimation is the bane of many software developers' existence. Nick, Travis, and Brandon discuss (and argue) about why estimation can be valuable, whether it's too expensive, and what you can do to...

Overcoming Crappy Leadership and the Illusion of Control from 2019-01-14T10:30

With Travis out this week, Nick and Brandon discuss a strongly-worded Twitter thread calling out bad leaders, what they've done that has and hasn't worked, and how listening and vulnerability play ...

Fearless Politics and Eiffel's Tower from 2018-12-17T10:30

Travis and Brandon talk with Nick about his recent Lead Developer talk about Gustav Eiffel, the story of his iconic tower, and how that led to learning to fearlessly and authentically engage in "po...

How Technical Should A Manager Be? from 2018-11-20T10:00

Travis, Nick, and Brandon discuss the technical requirements of being a manager, the cultural impact of a manager's technical skills, and why hiring engineering managers is so difficult.

One on Ones: The Basics from 2018-10-30T09:30

Nick, Travis, and Brandon discuss the purpose of one on ones, how to help get the most from them, avoiding common pitfalls, and share resources on improving them for you and your team.

CTO vs. VP Engineering: What's the Difference? from 2018-10-15T09:30

Travis and Brandon welcome new co-host Nickolas Means, Engineering Manager at GitHub, to talk about the tracks in engineering management, and the differing roles and responsibilities of the CTO and...

How do I become a better coach? from 2018-08-27T10:00

Travis and Brandon discuss how central coaching is to quality management, the 2-way nature of coaching, and the critical role listening plays in becoming a better coach.

The Manager's Job: Applying Google's 10 Traits from 2018-07-30T11:00

In this super-sized episode, Travis and Brandon discuss what makes a great manager, using 10 skills and traits developed by Google's Project Oxygen and updated over the last 10 years.

Measure what Matters: An Intro to OKRs from 2018-07-14T16:09

Travis and Brandon introduce the podcast, discuss the book Measure what Matters by John Doerr, and talk about the value that OKRs can bring to a team.

Notes:

• Measure What Mat...
  Listen

Measure what Matters: An Intro to OKRs from 2018-07-14T16:09

Travis and Brandon introduce the podcast, discuss the book Measure what Matters by John Doerr, and talk about the value that OKRs can bring to a team.

Notes:

• Measure What Mat...
  Listen

Measure what Matters: An Intro to OKRs from 2018-07-14T16:09

Travis and Brandon introduce the podcast, discuss the book Measure what Matters by John Doerr, and talk about the value that OKRs can bring to a team.