First-Time Manager Playbook
From IC to people leader
Who This Is For
New managers, recently promoted ICs, tech leads becoming managers
First 6-12 months of management
You've been promoted and suddenly your job is about other people's output, not your own
The biggest mistake new managers make is continuing to do IC work. Your job now is to make your team successful, not to be the hero. If you're the smartest person in every meeting, you're doing it wrong.
1. Build the Relationship
Your effectiveness as a manager is directly proportional to the trust you build. Start with 1:1s.
Running Effective 1:1s
1:1s should be used to monitor an employee's 'recovery' and joy to ensure long-term high performance...
View Skill → →Building Team Culture
Successful high-stakes partnerships (like co-founders) require clear domain separation and a commitm...
View Skill → →Onboarding New Hires
Publicly documenting your philosophy and mental models acts as a passive onboarding system for futur...
View Skill → →2. Give Feedback
Feedback is a gift. Learn to give it clearly, kindly, and frequently. Don't save it for reviews.
Having Difficult Conversations
Managers often avoid giving sensitive but critical feedback on presence and perception, which can st...
View Skill → →Coaching Product Managers
The guest discusses specific educational frameworks like Bloom's Taxonomy to diagnose and level up P...
View Skill → →Post-mortems & Retrospectives
A pre-mortem is only effective if it results in 'kill criteria'—pre-determined signals that will tri...
View Skill → →3. Let Go of the Work
The hardest transition: your job is no longer to do the work, it's to multiply others.
Delegating Work
True delegation (leverage) occurs when a report drives their own department's progress without const...
View Skill → →Managing Timelines
Overcome 'productive procrastination' by committing to just five minutes of your most important task...
View Skill → →Cross-functional Collaboration
In content-heavy organizations, cross-functional teams should include subject matter experts (like e...
View Skill → →4. Navigate the Organization
Now you're responsible for representing your team up and across the org.
Managing Up
Organizational dysfunction often stems from the simple power asymmetry where subordinates feel they...
View Skill → →Stakeholder Alignment
Growth leaders must bridge the gap between rapid experimentation and product craftsmanship to gain o...
View Skill → →Running Effective Meetings
Ending meetings with standardized questions ensures alignment and prevents the need for 're-meetings...
View Skill → →Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Doing the work yourself instead of delegating
- Avoiding difficult conversations until they explode
- Treating 1:1s as status updates instead of coaching
- Trying to be liked instead of being respected
- Not giving feedback until the annual review