"Good engineering management" is a fad

"When I started my software career at Yahoo in the late 2000s, I had two 1:1s with my manager over the course of two years. The first one came a few months after I started, and he mostly asked me about a colleague's work quality. The second came when I gave notice that I was leaving to join Digg. A modern evaluation of this manager would be scathing, but his management style closely resembled that of the team leader inThe Soul of A New Machine: identifying an important opportunity for the team, and navigating the broader organization that might impede progress towards that goal. He was, in the context we were working in, an effective manager."

"Compare that leadership style to the expectations of the 2010s, where attracting, retaining, and motivating engineers was emphasized as the most important leadership criteria in many organizations. This made sense in the era of hypergrowth, where budgets were uncapped and many companies viewed hiring strong engineers as their constraint on growth. This was an era where managers were explicitly told to stop writing software as th"

As people age, they reassess whether they are spending time effectively to advance their career and life. Companies evaluate whether engineering managers allocate time to advance the company or organization during performance cycles. Personal career time-use and organizational performance evaluations often demand different answers. Current industry trends critique past management practices and push managers toward new models to remain valued. Historical management at large companies sometimes prioritized identifying opportunities and navigating organizational obstacles over frequent one-on-ones. The 2010s shifted emphasis to attracting, retaining, and motivating engineers amid hypergrowth, with managers often discouraged from writing software.

Read at Lethain