Managing up.. as a Manager

Sometimes we forget our bosses also need to be managed.
Who has the time to develop this working relationship when there are some many things to do? Providing accurate status reports is just not enough and neglecting this aspect can only hinder our careers as engineering leaders. This talk can help you uncover this blind spot, understand the value of managing up and how to act on it.

BIO
Diego Quiroga is a Senior Engineering Manager at Sauce Labs, working on devices virtualization for the world's largest automated test cloud for web and mobile applications. Prior to Sauce Labs, he led engineering teams at AWS, OLX, and Google building large scale distributed systems. He mentors engineering leaders through the Vancouver SDMs group and PlatoHQ.

Transcript

1. Managing up... as a Manager linkedin.com/in/diego diego.quiroga@gmail.com Diego Quiroga Vancouver Software Development Managers July 7th, 2020
2. The One Where I Fail to Manage Up..
3. Not one, not three, but..
4. What managing up is Why managing up is important How you can manage up When things don’t go as you expect
5. Intentional actions that will help and persuade your manager in a manner that benefits both them, you and your team. One definition to start with
6. Contributing to your success by communicating well with your manager and contributing to their success as well. Another definition to consider
7. Managing up is making it easier for your manager to support you in doing great work. One from Kellan Elliot-McCrea
8. Managing up is about routinely iterating on and improving your relationship with a person who has more power than you do. One from Lara Hogan
9. One easy to remember..
10. If I were your manager..
11. Managing Up in Technical Organizations
12. Engineering management is a relatively young discipline
13. Engineering management is a relatively young discipline Software development is deeply entangled and fast-moving
14. Engineering management is a relatively young discipline Software development is deeply entangled and fast-moving An abundance of information and metrics don’t necessarily help
15. Engineering management is a relatively young discipline Software development is deeply entangled and fast-moving An abundance of information and metrics don’t necessarily help Your performance is not tied to your contribution to the codebase
16. Engineering management is a relatively young discipline Software development is deeply entangled and fast-moving An abundance of information and metrics don’t necessarily help Your performance is not tied to your contribution to the codebase The demand for skilled engineering managers has never been higher
17. Managing up begins with you
18. Being a YES sayer, making your boss happy at any cost. Drowning them in details, do you know what it is important? Upstaging your manager or throwing them under the bus. Avoid talking about your challenges, not doing what you say you would. Overly protecting your scope from growth. “That’s not my job”. Being obnoxious, unreasonably critical of your manager opinion. Catastrophizing. Everything is in flames to distract or get attention.
19. Being a YES sayer, making your boss happy at any cost. Drowning them in details, do you know what it is important? Upstaging your manager or throwing them under the bus. Avoid talking about your challenges, not doing what you say you would. Overly protecting your scope from growth, that’s not my job. Being obnoxious, overly critical of your boss opinion. Catastrophizing. Everything is in flames to distract or get attention. ce n’est pas la gestion ascendante
20. Five things you can do
21. Understand their goals, values and how they are evaluated
22. Understand their goals, values and how they are evaluated Align yourself with the mission of your peer’s team
23. Understand their goals, values and how they are evaluated Align yourself with the mission of your peer’s team Make sure you have regular and productive one-to-ones
24. Communicate actions and plans with context
25. Understand their goals, values and how they are evaluated Align yourself with the mission of your peer’s team Make sure you have regular and productive one-to-ones Communicate actions and plans with context Feed them with blurbs of your activity from time to time
26. Another five.. for free.
27. Get them to have skip-level one-on-ones with your reports
28. Get them to have skip-level one-on-ones with your reports Find out how they share information and make requests upwards
29. Get them to have skip-level one-on-ones with your reports Find out how they share information and make requests upwards Help them see around their blind spots
30. Get them to have skip-level one-on-ones with your reports Find out how they share information and make requests upwards Help them see around their blind spots Learn from their strengths and complement their weaknesses
31. Get them to have skip-level one-on-ones with your reports Find out how they share information and make requests upwards Help them see around their blind spots Learn from their strengths and complement their weaknesses Try asking for advice instead of specific feedback
32. Signs that your managing up is working
33. Context Trust Growth Problem Solving Asking your opinion often Asked to speak for them Plans for increased scope Engaging 1:1s, sounding board
34. Asking your opinion often Asked to speak for them Plans for increased scope Engaging 1:1s, sounding board You’re the last to know You’re micromanaged Work unnoticed, scope reduced Boring 1:1s, no time to discuss Context Trust Growth Problem Solving
35. When things do not go well
36. • Your manager does not support you. You are not able to get feedback or the help you need for your work.
37. • Your manager does not support you. You are not able to get feedback or the help you need for your work. • Your manager does not have time for you. Your infrequent on-on-ones are only about projects' status.
38. • Your manager does not support you. You are not able to get feedback or the help you need for your work. • Your manager does not have time for you. Your infrequent on-on-ones are only about projects' status. • Your manager is not as competent as you expect. You are concerned about not learning and how your performance is perceived by the rest of the org.
39. • Your manager does not support you. You are not able to get feedback or the help you need for your work. • Your manager does not have time for you. Your infrequent on-on-ones are only about projects' status. • Your manager is not as competent as you expect. You are concerned about not learning and how your performance is perceived by the rest of the org. • You don't like your manager’s leadership style and also find difficult to communicate with them.
40. • Your manager does not support you. You are not able to get feedback or the help you need for your work. • Your manager does not have time for you. Your infrequent on-on-ones are only about projects' status. • Your manager is not as competent as you expect. You are concerned about not learning and how your performance is perceived by the rest of the org. • You don't like your manager’s leadership style and also find it difficult to communicate with them. • You cannot stand your manager’s behavior and nothing you do seems to work.
41. Are you ready now to manage up?
42. Your homework: Try coaching people on managing up. Use your own advice, one new thing at a time every few weeks. Evaluate. Adapt. Repeat.
43. Thank you tinyurl.com/mu4plat o 4 sessions, 8:30am PT Starting on July 17th
44. • Resilient Management - Lara Hogan • An Elegant Puzzle - Wil Larson • Radical Candor - Kim Scott • Help I have a Manager! - Julia Evans • Behind Closed Doors - Johanna Rothman, Esther Derby • HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across (HBR Guide Series) • Managing your manager - Todd Dewett (LinkedIn Learning) Books, Zines and Sites
45. • How well do your manager knows your management style and the aspects where you need their help/coaching? • Does your manager act on your requests (scope, hiring budget, process changes, etc..) effectively? • Have you experienced a boss you could not manage up at all? What did you do? What worked well? What didn’t? • In which format do you communicate how your/r team/s is/are doing to your manager? Does it work? • Are you getting specific and actionable feedback from your manager? If not, what are you doing about it? • Are you leveraging your manager’s strengths? Do their less-developed areas/skills impact you in any way? • How well do you understand your manager goals and priorities? Do you agree with them? If not, why? • Does your manager recognize when you’re overworked? Do they act to address the issue? • Do you use your manager as a sounding board for your decisions? If not, what do you do instead? • Have you discussed mutual expectations with your manager? If not, do you think you should ? • What do you think your manager needs help with? Are you proactively acting on that? If not, why? • Is it clear how managers’ performance is evaluated in your org or at least by your boss? • Are your company/org goals clear enough for you to prioritize the work of you/r team/s? • What can you do, starting tomorrow, to coach your engineers about better managing you? Breakout Questions
46. Managing up... as a Manager linkedin.com/in/diego diego.quiroga@gmail.com Diego Quiroga