Effective Engineering Manager: Recent Episodes
Slava Imeshev and Adam Axelrod
The Effective Engineering Manager podcast provides proven solutions and best practices to software engineering managers of all levels that allow them to effectively manage teams to deliver results on time and with high quality. This podcast is presented to you by Slava Imeshev and Adam Axelrod. Sharing our knowledge, we leverage 25+ years of our combined engineering management experience in getting stuff done. We share practical recommendations on getting stuff done, project and program management, engineering processes and tools, managing horizontally and vertically, establishing and running effective software development lifecycle, effective meetings and time management, building and managing teams, people management, growing engineering and management careers, and more. Please reach out to us if you have feedback or suggestions at contact@effectiveem.com or visit us at https://www.effectiveem.com.
In this episode, we talk about what causes tough times for companies and how being smart with money and saving up can help keep the business healthy during downturns. We focus on how leaders can boost team morale when things get tough, using tools like one-on-one meetings, positive feedback, kudos programs, and team outings. We also cover the importance of strong engineering leadership, coaching, and career development when facing changes in the organization. Tune in for practical tips and strategies to keep your team motivated and resilient through the rough patches.
We believe better managers will build a better world. We provide consulting services that include customized training for new managers, training on effective engineering management to help companies accomplish more with less, and the fundamentals of building teams from the ground up. Please contact us at contact@effectiveem.com if you have any questions.
We dedicate this episode to managing hyper performers. We define who the hyperperformers are, what distinguishes them from the rest of the team and how to manage hyperperformers for the maximum results while retaining them. We share management practices to avoid. In the end provide a checklist that our listeners can use to manage hyperperformers effectively.
We believe better managers will build a better world. Please share this episode with your colleagues and friends if you liked it. Please contact us at contact@effectiveem.com with suggestions or feedback.
We present the essential components of developing and communicating a strategy in engineering management, emphasize the need for strategies to be documented, measurable, and aligned with business needs. We share the importance of having a strategy as an engineering manager aspiring to drive change and innovation. We emphasize the need for a clear vision, meaningful goals tied to business value, and continuous iteration. We stress the importance of buy-in in the success of a strategy, highlighting the need for the team to be fully supportive of the strategy, as well as the importance of obtaining buy-in from higher management.
Finally, we provide a detailed checklist to allow engineering managers developing a well-aligned and challenging yet achievable strategy, covering aspects such as building a strong foundation, aligning with business goals, leveraging lateral relationships, and maintaining effective communication with stakeholders.
We believe better managers will build a better world. Please share this episode with your colleagues and friends if you like it.
We are featuring a guest, Tim Wenzel, who is a Silicon Valley native, expert in recruiting, including building early teams and PayPal and Tesla, and a founder and an executive recruiter at The Alyst Group. Tim shares practical recommendations on feedback, candidate experience, and building teams in dynamic startup environments. In the end, Tim shares a checklist that our listeners can start using today to build exceptional teams.
We dive deeper into the importance of trust and how to cultivate it. In the end we provide a checklist that allows our listeners to start cultivating trust in their organizations.
We share how to manage project dependencies in a way that brings results. We are going to define what a dependency is and how to manage your dependencies to ensure that the projects you are a part of are delivered on time and with quality. In the end we will provide a checklist that our listeners can use to ensure that their project dependencies are always satisfied.
We believe better managers will build a better world. Please share this episode with your colleagues and friends if you liked it.
We offer an effective way of introducing innovation to an engineering team and getting results regardless of the organization size. In the end we offer an actionable checklist that engineering managers can use to start innovating today.
We are starting a series on managing up. In this episode we talk about how not to communicate work issues to your boss. We define what complaining is and why complaining is ineffective. We provide a checklist that our listeners can use to see if their upward communications are in the complaining territory.
In this episode, Adam and Slava discuss the new normal of the remote workplace. We discuss the challenges in working remote, key benefits to being remote, and provide guidance for managers to effectively manage remote teams and maximize healthy productivity.
We offer an approach to escalating work issues that brings results without destroying relationships. We share what the escalations are, the impact of escalating unskillfully, and how to escalate professionally and effectively. In the end we provide a checklist that our listeners can use to escalate work issues effectively.
It’s that time of year again for managers and directs to start planning goals and executing on them for the new year. In this episode, we will discuss the challenges with goal setting and provide guidance for making the goal setting process more effective.
We share the effective way for taking time off. In the end we offer a check list that consists of 1. Designate a substitute 2. Prepare your substitute 3. Set up the Out of The Office response in your email client 4. Have a sync up meeting with your direct report after you come back
We share what staff meetings are, why they are important for keeping your team accountable for their deliverables and how they help you to stay on top of everything the team is doing. We provide guidance on how frequently you should run them and how to make them effective. In the end we provide a checklist that our listeners can use to start running effective staff meetings.
Wrapping up the ‘becoming a manger series’ with guidance and steps on what new engineering managers can do once their training completes and they are now officially a manager. Guidance includes: managing introductions and the first couple of weeks; planning your first 30-60-90 days; setting up foundational meetings like 1-on-1s; building key lateral relationships; creating space for the team to get to know you and your plan.
In this episode we present a practical, step-by-step implementation guide for transitioning engineer's career to the engineering management track.
We share how to build a success-oriented strategy by taking care of four management pillars, organization, people, product, processes and tools.
We share what the role of the engineering leader means and how to approach leading from both the front and the back.
Our guest speaker, Anand Safi, shares how transitioning a career from an engineer to an engineering manager is not a promotion. Also, Anand shares a checklist on what to do first 90 days as a new engineering manager.
We share blameless Root Cause Analysis, or RCA, as one of the most powerful tools available to engineering managers that help to eliminate production incidents and resolve quality challenges. We go over what an RCAs is, the benefits, the process of doing RCAs using "5 Whys" technique, and the best practices. In the end, we provide a checklist to help engineering managers to implement the RCA effectively.
We share the key reasons and motivators for pursuing a engineering leadership position.
Before you take on transitioning someone's or your own career to engineering management, check if you have the right motivations and strengths needed to take on the role.
We share a low-effort, highly effective approach to creating great performance reviews that we call Engineer’s Diary.
Please reach out to us if you have feedback or suggestions at the Contact Us page.
We continue our Team Building series and talk about knowing how to identify what you need based on the team you currently have.
Please reach out to us if you have feedback or suggestions at contact@effectiveem.com or visit us at https://www.effectiveem.com.