Starting a new job as an engineering manager
Starting as a new job as an engineering manager can be tricky. Human beings fear change, and a new manager usually means more change than a new individual contributor.
Luckily, you can do your part on making this an easy transition for everyone by preparing your arrival beforehand. Here are a couple ideas.
Before your first week
Research the company's mission & vision (bonus point if you can already pitch it!), its products. Brush up on what you read preparing for interviews. Talk with customers, learn about what they like/don't like, use/don't use. Check out its competitors.
Prepare a self introduction, explain clearly why you joined. Make it fun and engaging. Rehearse it.
Ask questions to your predecessor. What's urgent? What did you wish you organized differently?
On your first day
Show up on time. Dress appropriately (which might be different from what you were wearing during interviews). Make sure you have a notebook to take notes.
Ask people if there are meetings on your first week that you should attend. This will create some structure in your agenda.
On your first week
Go through the engineering onboarding process. It will give you empathy for the engineers on your team, and enable you to debug systems more rapidly. It is critical for you to understand the stack and team's technological choices (everything is about engineering decisions). Get the architecture schema and ask question about historical decision. Read code to get an understanding of best practices and areas of improvement. Keep a list of components and technologies you'll have to research later.
Listen. Meet with everyone in 1-1, take notes, do very little talking. Resist the temptation to say "at X, that's how we were doing it". Do not give advice yet. Defer judgment and listen. You don't know what you don't know yet. Be honestly interested in your coworkers. Introduce yourself and your background (enthusiastically and succinctly, do not dwell for too long on your past achievements), start giving hints about how you envision your role.
Prepare your one-on-one questions. Here's a list:
- Tell me about you
- What's working?
- What's holding you back?
- What are the current emergencies? How are they tackled? Why are they hard to solve?
- How can I support you better than you've been in the past? (hat tip to my manager Brian Attwell for this one!)
Enjoy the process. Accepting a new team member, especially a manager, is always a source of anxiety for a team. Fight that with an upbeat attitude. Bring a gift from your country/region if you're moving. Learn people's name rapidly. Meet with as many as possible face-to-face. Enjoy and leave time for casual conversation. If you're running around on you first week you're doing something wrong.
Spend time with the previous manager, or person in charge. Go through team members. Understand the hiring decision for each team member. Get a list of stakeholders.
Meet with your boss. What are his/her expectations? How will you be measured? What does it take to succeed? Who should you meet with? What meeting should you attend? Ask for the best way to communicate with them, especially on your first week.
Keep a "to learn/to read" list. Prioritize it regularly. Drop things from it. Review it with your boss.
After your first few week
Give feedback. Find three things that can be improved about the onboarding or the offer or the interview process. Give the feedback respectfully. Find out how it's received.
Bring immediate value. Identify 1-3 things you will secretly and personally work on to improve your coworkers' life. Learn how to clean up the coffee machine. Do not go all-in and do not start changing everything.
Define ambitious goals for the next three months. Review them with your manager. Setup a three month review.