Summary

This book is an excellent overview of the journey from tech lead to senior leadership in software engineering to take as a reference when exploring leadership and management challenges.

The book is organized into the following chapters:

  1. Management 101: An introduction to the basic expectations of a manager, such as one-on-ones, feedback, and career development, and insights on how to be successfully managed.
  2. Mentoring: Discusses the importance of mentoring in tech, providing guidance on how to support and develop your team members.
  3. Tech Lead: Explores the role of a technical leader, emphasizing project management and technical decision-making.
  4. Managing People: Focuses on the core aspects of managing individuals, including communication, delegation, feedback, and performance management.
  5. Managing a Team: Addresses the challenges and strategies for leading cohesive teams, such as building functional teams, guiding decision-making, and advanced project management.
  6. Managing Multiple Teams: Delves into the complexities of overseeing several teams, highlighting decision-making and delegation at a higher level, technical elements beyond code, and team health.
  7. Managing Managers: Covers the nuances of leading other managers, including managing accountability, hiring, and technical relevance.
  8. The Big Leagues: Discusses leadership roles at the top of the tech ladder, like VP of Engineering and CTO, focusing on output management, technology strategy and vision, and organizational influence.
  9. Bootstrapping Culture: Examines how to build and cultivate a strong, positive engineering culture, emphasizing the leader’s role in shaping and maintaining it.

Cover

The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

Book Notes

In Chapter 8, The Big Leagues, the author shares a great recommended reading list that is worth mentioning:

  • Arbinger Institute, Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2000).
  • Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (New York: Gotham Books, 2012).
  • Peter F. Drucker, The Effective Executive (New York: HarperBusiness Essentials, 2002).
  • Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful (New York: Hyperion, 2007).
  • Andrew S. Grove, High Output Management (New York: Vintage Books, 1983).
  • L. David Marquet, Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders (New York: Portfolio, 2012).

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