Some mistakes I made as a new manager | benkuhn.net
the trough of zero dopamine • managing the wrong amount • procrastinating on hard questions • indefinitely deferring maintenance • angsting instead of asking
This post was adapted from a "management roundtable" I gave at Anthropic . I had an unusually hard time becoming a manager: I went back and forth three times before it stuck, mostly because I made lots of mistakes each time. Since then, as I had to grow my team and grow other folks into managing part of it, I've seen a lot of other people have varying degrees of a rough time as well-often in similar ways. Here's a small, lovingly hand-curated selection of my prodigious oeuvre of mistakes, and strategies that helped me mitigate them. Contents The trough of zero dopamine The first thing I notice
saved by
related reading
- Attention is your scarcest resource | benkuhn.netbenkuhn.net
- How I've run major projects | benkuhn.netbenkuhn.net
- Upward feedbackcustodienda.com
- No one can teach you to have conviction | benkuhn.netbenkuhn.net
- Emotional managementscattered-thoughts.net
- Impact, agency, and taste | benkuhn.netbenkuhn.net
- Advice for time management as a managerbenkuhn.net
- 35 Impactful Questions Managers Should Ask Themselves Regularlyreview.firstround.com
- 15 principles for managing up - Wes Kao's Newsletternewsletter.weskao.com
- How To Do Lessalexturek.com
- The Two Paths of a Managerdanhock.co
- Becoming An Engineering Manager Can Make You Better At Life And Relationships – charity.wtfcharity.wtf