Ask HN: Recommended reading for IC transitioning to Manager track

The Manager’s Path<p>But also: 1) Actively listen to your direct reports 2) Prepare for and hold 1:1s; don’t skip them, and focus more on their concerns, achievements, and areas for growth than project status 3) Give continuous feedback, especially on areas for growth; give it immediately or in the next 1:1 4) Genuinely care about their success and show them that through your actions; it then makes giving critical feedback a cinch since they know it is coming from a good place 5) Pay close attention to other managers; there are things to learn from everyone 6) Every time you open your mouth, you audition to be a manager; be deliberate in what you say, always take the high road, know the impact of your words 7) Accept that you will have to manage your image, and embrace it. Put focus on this early - figure out the things that a world class manager would do, and then do them. Doing things to build your image as a good manager leads you to actually being a good manager; it’s not corporate red tape, and it’s not insincere or deceitful, it’s a tool for your own success and your team’s 8) Understand that if you put the same creativity and persistence into learning management techniques as you have in learning technical topics, the sky’s the limit

Kim Moir has a great blog post on this: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kimmoir.blog&#x2F;2021&#x2F;11&#x2F;30&#x2F;my-favourite-books-for-new-managers&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kimmoir.blog&#x2F;2021&#x2F;11&#x2F;30&#x2F;my-favourite-books-for-new-m...</a> which includes many of the choices talked about here (and many others)

Yes read The Manager&#x27;s Path.<p>When you are done with that focus on finding yourself a mentor. Leadership skills are even harder to wrote learn than engineering chops. A mentor will help you be more retrospective and find the areas you can improve. Naturally over time you will need to be better at self-introspection but having this come externally for a time helps a lot.<p>That said the things you describe can also put you in a good position to be tech lead if you can fix the technical depth issue you alluded to. Depends which path you want to go down, tech lead roles are more demanding on your decision making while managerial roles are more demanding on people skills, presentation, politics etc.

Kim Moir has a great blog post on this: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kimmoir.blog&#x2F;2021&#x2F;11&#x2F;30&#x2F;my-favourite-books-for-new-managers&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kimmoir.blog&#x2F;2021&#x2F;11&#x2F;30&#x2F;my-favourite-books-for-new-m...</a> which includes many of the choices talked about below, and a great discussion of why

I&#x27;ll add these two if you&#x27;re pursuing a manager role:<p>- The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety<p>- Nonviolent Communication<p>Personally, having a servant leader mindset is one of the most important things to practice when taking on a leadership role.

The Culture Map; it really helps with understanding not only cultural differences, but also personal differences.

IC roles can also be strategic roles ;-)<p>That said, this book was a great read: The Manager`s Path, Camille Fournier

How to Win Friends &amp; Influence People<p>but I&#x27;d personally reconsider that career change

I post this from time to time, incluing here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=28422944" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=28422944</a> with some editing. Recycling some replies. More context here <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26182988" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26182988</a><p>Understanding codebases:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=19924100" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=19924100</a><p>Testing pipelines, scaffolding, issue templates:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26591067" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26591067</a><p>Making the most out of meetings and leveraging your presence:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22873103" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22873103</a><p>Product development:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22827841" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22827841</a><p>Giving a damn:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=20356222" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=20356222</a><p>If I disappear, what will happen:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=25008223" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=25008223</a><p>Consulting, understanding the problem your &quot;client&quot;, who can be your manager, has:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24972611" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24972611</a><p>On taking notes. When you&#x27;re told something, or receive a remark, make sure to make a note and learn from it whether it&#x27;s a mistake, or a colleague showing you something useful, or a task you must accomplish.. don&#x27;t be told things twice or worse. Be on the ball and reliable:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24209518" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24209518</a><p>Product, architecture, and impact on the team:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24503365" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24503365</a><p>Onboarding new hires to a codebase, what if it were you, improve code:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22860716" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22860716</a><p>Tips to learn from videos:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22710623" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22710623</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22723586" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22723586</a><p>Communication with the team:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21598632" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21598632</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21614372" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21614372</a><p>Reduce information asymmetry, template for taking minutes of meetings to dispatch to the team. Notes are in GitHub&#x2F;GitLab so the team can access them, especially if they haven&#x27;t attended:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21427886" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21427886</a><p>More meeting notes. Reply to a person who had trouble talking in corporate meetings:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=20323660" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=20323660</a><p>Communication, alignment:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24177646" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24177646</a><p>Useful things for the team and product that add leverage:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21808439" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21808439</a><p>Management involvement as a spectrum:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22715971" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=22715971</a><p>Researching topics:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=25922120" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=25922120</a><p>Keeping up with a firehose of information:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26147502" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26147502</a><p>Fractal Communication: communication that can penetrate several layers of management and be relevant to people with different profiles and skillsets:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26123017" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26123017</a><p>Remote work, use existing tooling and build our own. Jitsi videos, record everything, give access to everyone so they can reference them and go back to them, meetings once a week or two weeks to align:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26179539" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26179539</a><p>Write better. Always.