“Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.”
Simon Sinek
As a software engineer working in distributed teams for the past five years, I’ve seen how my manager’s actions (or inactions) affect my motivation. In my opinion, I succeeded in my role despite some of these challenges, but it was harder than it needed to be. While there are plenty of resources offering guidelines for engineering managers, they often don’t address the specific challenges of remote work.
Table of Contents
Have weekly 1:1s
There were times when my manager either canceled our 1:1s or didn’t set them up at all. With many tasks and projects on my plate, I needed a space to discuss work, challenges, and receive feedback. We also needed to align on expectations, priorities, future goals, and growth.
Action: Consistently meet your reports for 30-minutes, each week. Reschedule if needed, don’t skip.
Delegate more
I’ve had some managers who were overwhelmed more often than not, and their absence became an obstacle to growth and impact for me and the rest of the team. I understand it’s not always easy to delegate and trust the team with more, but it’s not as difficult as it seems.
Action: Start assigning your low-risk tasks to team members as soon as you’re moderately confident that they can do them (check-in and coach them as needed).
Respond to messages in time
As a manager, your role is to make the team effective. Yet, I’ve had managers who were slow in responding to messages, leaving me waiting for hours or sometimes a full day. I often wondered if they had even seen my message. While I learned to switch to other tasks while waiting, the second-guessing and task-switching could have been avoided.
Action: Make your communication preferences clear and aim to respond to messages promptly, even with just a quick “I’m busy, I’ll get back to you in x hours”.
Share your thought process
Sometimes, decisions came without any explanation. I did the work, but without fully understanding the bigger picture. When I had the bandwidth, I’d ask my manager to explain the thought process behind their decisions. In those moments, I learned a lot about our processes, business, and goals.
Action: Share the context and thought process more often. In my experience, it will take more effort and energy, but it pays back quickly by providing more autonomy and alignment with that person.
Ask for feedback
None of my managers asked for feedback on their performance. I made it a habit to set up feedback agreements during my first meetings with new managers, but if I didn’t offer feedback voluntarily, they didn’t explicitly ask for it. And let’s be honest, giving unsolicited feedback to the person who controls your promotions can be uncomfortable.
Action: Ask “Is there anything I could do or stop doing that would make it easier to work with me?” By asking for feedback from your team you’ll create a team culture of trust and continuous improvement.
Have career conversations
I was rarely asked about my passions, the type of work I enjoy, or what I wanted to work toward. I slowly brought up these topics during 1:1s, but it wasn’t a structured process, and I’m sure important things were missed. A few times I worked on projects I didn’t care about, and maybe I missed opportunities to join exciting ones where I go above and beyond.
Action: Be proactive and constant in discussing the interests and career goals of your team members, don’t do it only as part of the formal review process. This template is a great start.
Assign at least two persons per project
I’ve been assigned solo projects, and while I got the job done, the isolation took a toll. I overextended myself and became the only person who fully knows the project, making me a ‘bus factor of 1’ (not ideal for long-term sustainability). I documented as much as possible, but nothing beats hands-on experience.
Action: Ideally, the team should be working on one project at a time. Worst case, assign at least two team members per project to increase the quality of the solution (two heads are better than one) and ensure that the project is maintainable in the long run.
Acknowledge the effort
Maybe I have high standards, but I appreciate it when my work is recognized. After finishing a task or project (especially the gnarly ones) I hope for some acknowledgment. I didn’t need an award, just a simple “Hey, that was tricky, great job.” Without that, it’s easy to start wondering if the work was noticed, which can lead to a dip in motivation.
Action: Regularly acknowledge team members’ contributions (for example, do it in 1-1s).
Conclusion
If you’re an engineering manager working with a remote team, consider these simple actions to keep motivation high. While most people will manage without them, imagine how much more effective your team could be if you started doing these actions.
Are you part of a remote team? I’d love to hear about management mistakes that you’ve noticed.