Moving from being an individual contributor (IC) to a manager of a manager of…

Inherited Composition

We’ve separated this episode into 4 sections. In each of them we’ll be explaining different issues that might arise when you move from being an individual contributor (IC) to both a manager as well as a manager of managers. In each section, Guido and Gonto will be sharing some of the solutions they’ve found that worked for them, as well as some examples of both good habits as well as fuck ups.

Key Learnings:

* When you’re an IC, you have full control of (mostly) everything you do. When you’re a manager, that’s no longer true. In the first section, we’ll talk about a few solutions for this.
* When you’re an IC, you’re the one who ships stuff. When you move to be a manager, your job is to enable people to ship and execute better. In the second section, we’ll share some insights about how to better do this transition
* For a company to succeed, you need to both hire people smarter than you as well as hiring for your weaknesses. In the third section, we’ll discuss how to handle this.
* Being a manager of ICs is very different from being a manager of managers. Last but not least, we’ll discuss how to do this transition effectively. SPOILER ALERT: we’re still learning this :D

Bibliography:

Posts:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdMvWLARF1w
* http://tomtunguz.com/ownership/
* https://qz.com/1058563/these-are-googles-tools-for-effective-management/
* http://firstround.com/review/to-grow-faster-hit-pause-and-ask-these-questions-from-stripes-coo/
* https://charity.wtf/2017/05/11/the-engineer-manager-pendulum/
* https://m.signalvnoise.com/
* https://hbr.org/2012/07/why-arent-you-delegating
* https://medium.com/@mrabkin/the-art-of-the-awkward-1-1-f4e1dcbd1c5c
* http://randsinrepose.com/links/2017/01/05/regardless-of-seniority-every-good-manager-will/
* https://blog.knowyourcompany.com/

Books:

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

Podcasts:

* Manager Tools
* Simple Leadership

Learn more about this episode in our website