Managing Managers
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Episode 31: Closing Episode
28 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The final episode of the podcast (or at least the first season)
Episode 30: Measuring productivity with Laura Tacho
14 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Laura is not only a coach to engineering leaders but also the CTO at DX, a company focused on improving developer productivity. But Laura has been tal...
Episode 29: What CTOs look for in manager of managers with Meri Williams
31 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Meri has a tonne of experience managing managers as a serial CTO, and we chat about everything from being a non-executive director, common traps of fi...
Episode 28: Leadership skills and energy management with Alice Bartlett
17 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Financial Times (FT) uniquely combines individual contributor and management responsibilities in senior engineering roles. In this episode, I talk...
Episode 27: The challenges of being a middle manager and more with Lena Reinhard
03 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I’m so pleased I got to chat with Lena, who happens to also be based in my hometown, Berlin. In this episode, we chat about the challenges of being ...
Episode 26: Building a blameless culture, systems thinking and more with Crystal Hirschorn
20 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Although we’ve never worked together, it seems like CTO Crystal Hirschorn and I were positively influenced by many movements in tech such as XP, lea...
Episode 25: Being a leader first, then a manager with Sarah Abrantes
06 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this conversation with VP of Engineering, Sarah Pimentel Abrantes, we cover the importance of being a leader before being a manager, the challenge ...
Episode 24: Designing Team APIs as a manager of managers and more with Jess Mink
22 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Although currently Director of Platform Engineering, Jess Mink is an unusual manager of manager in tech, who’s also played a full-time product role....
Episode 23: The many flavours of managing managers with Maggie Litton
08 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Maggie Litton has held many senior management roles across many different companies and in this episode gives us an insight into some of the ways the ...
Episode 22: Ethical engineering management with David Yee
25 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this conversation with VP Engineering at the NY Times, David Yee, we cover a huge amount of ground from how delegation differs for managers of mana...
Episode 21: Splitting time and tech strategy with Anna Shipman
11 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I had the pleasure of chatting to experienced tech leader and CTO, Anna Shipman about the challenges of IC and management responsibilities combined at...
Episode 20: Navigating organisational change and traumatic times with Nivia Henry
27 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nivia has a fascinating and long history in technology and we talked about how directors can help people through organisational change, the trauma of ...
Episode 19: Finding a manager of managers role with Dr Claire Knight
13 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I really enjoyed a lot of the insights Claire shared with me in this episode - everything from getting comfortable with how other managers approach pr...
Episode 18: Onboarding and prioritising time in a 2000-person eng org with Thiago Ghisi
30 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Thiago Ghisi covers his background of moving from a consulting career to a management role, his experience of onboarding in different contexts and why...
Episode 17: A unique leadership journey and avoiding swirl with Sally Lait
16 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I have worked with so many people who have followed a non-traditional route into tech and so really enjoyed hearing Sally’s journey into tech and ho...
Episode 16: Management as a true calling and the three pillars of being a director with Dan Na
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been a big fan of Dan’s writing for a while. You might have read some of his articles on management in my Level Up newsletter. In this episod...
Episode 15: Greater scope, systems and what is a VP of Engineering and Operations with Maria Gutierrez
17 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been really lucky to meet Maria several times at conferences in real-life and in this episode, we were able to shine a light into parts of her ...
Episode 14: Naturally growing into a managing managers role with Alexandra Sunderland
03 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re interested in what it means to be manager of managers in a fully remote environment, this episode is for you. As author of the book, “Re...
Episode 13: Digging your well, the Staff Engineering Manager and managing burnout with Anjuan Simmons
20 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Anjuan taught me a few new concepts in this chat such as the saying of digging your well and what that means, what the unusual title of Staff Engineer...
Episode 12: Learning to be a manager of manager on the job with Vitor Reis
07 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When managers leave and you inherit their team, you can suddenly find yourself managing multiple teams and shortly after, a manager of manager. Find o...
Episode 11: Reasons why managing managers is not for everyone and so much more with Katie Wilde
23 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Senior Director of Engineering, Katie Wilde and I chat about her unusual path into tech, "falling" into her first managing managers role and...
Episode 10: Peer mentoring, building a support group and managing up with Nickolas Means
09 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nickolas Means is a very thoughtful and calm engineering leader who I was lucky enough to meet through a number of conferences. He's a wonderful s...
Episode 9: Serendipity, looking for future talent, and how to do no harm with Theresa Neate
25 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Theresa Neate and I have a common passion for systems thinking, so join us in this conversation where we talk about the serendipity of leadership role...
Episode 8: Introspection, spotting strengths and building great teams, not just good teams with Tramale Turner
11 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tramale Turner has a lot of leadership and management experience to share, across a broad range of fascinating companies. In this episode we cover top...
Episode 7: Role models, restructuring and living in the future with Danielle Leong
28 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Danielle Leong, a tremendous VP of Engineering and impressive portrait photographer, chats with me about what the importance of role modelling, the im...
Episode 6: Evolving the EM role, goal setting and finding support as a manager of managers with Gabriel Michels
14 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I chat to the Director of Engineering at Choco, Gabriel Michels, where he discusses the evolution of the EM role, where to get support...
Episode 5: More responsibility, less control and how the first team changes with Anita Singh
30 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I chat with Anita Singh, who stepped into a managing manager role at the rapidly growing ultrafast grocery delivery company Gorillas ...
Episode 4: Hypergrowth leadership, the pendulum swing and attention management for managers with Phil Calçado
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode description In this episode, I chat to an engineer director who has done the pendulum swing (from manager to individual contributor to back to...
Episode 3: Global, remote management and the impact of coaching with Cate Huston
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode description In this episode, I chat to an experienced engineering leader who has worked in a global, remote context managing other managers, h...
Episode 2: From high-growth startup to high-growth Shopify with James Stanier
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode description In this episode, I chat to the person who literally wrote a book on Engineering Management, about his journey into managing other ...
Episode 1: Welcome to the podcast
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the Managing Managers podcast. This short episode is an introduction to your host, Patrick Kua, for the podcast and the intention behind it...