Author: Slava Imeshev
Setting Up Effective Meetings
Too many meetings consume valuable time without producing meaningful results. This episode introduces a five-part series on setting up meetings that deliver results. We’ll cover five essential components: defining a clear meeting objective and subject, creating an actionable agenda, selecting participants based on their contributions, establishing the desired outcome and success criteria, and ensuring participants are prepared. We’ll also discuss common pitfalls to avoid. The goal is practical: eliminate wasted time, make meetings productive, and free up more time for getting things done and taking care of your team.
Managing Overwork Effectively
Overwork prevents engineering managers from getting results, developing their teams, and maintaining their physical and mental health. Constant firefighting, back-to-back meetings, and reactive execution leave little time to think, plan, and lead effectively. In this episode, we explore practical strategies to reduce overwork: using the think-plan-execute approach, prioritizing tasks, delegating responsibilities, managing your calendar, and building team independence. Learn how to distinguish genuine emergencies from ordinary work, reclaim your time, and maintain a healthy work-life balance while continuing to deliver results and take care of your team.
No Upward Feedback
Should you ever give feedback to your boss? The short answer is no. In this episode, we unpack why upward feedback is broken by design, why management pushes for it, and the hidden risks to your career when you speak up. Learn how the organization tries to persuade you to participate and how to protect yourself when asked.
Micromanagement: The Silent Threat to Engineering Teams
Micromanagement is a hidden but damaging force in engineering teams, eroding trust, autonomy, and innovation. In this episode of the Effective Engineering Manager podcast, Slava and Adam explore the roots of micromanagement - poor delegation, fear of failure, and lack of trust - and its consequences for morale, productivity, and retention. They also share strategies for organizations and managers to address micromanagement, from coaching and role adjustments to practical ways of shielding teams from its effects.
Ani Mishra: Effective Cross-functional Collaboration
Our guest, Ani Mishra, engineering manager at DoorDash, shares how engineering managers can become true force multipliers by orchestrating cross-functional collaboration. From treating PMs, designers, and data scientists as partners to using proactive communication, escalation, and trust-building, Ani lays out practical ways EMs can align teams, remove bottlenecks, and prepare for an AI-driven future.
Driving Lasting Change in Engineering Organizations with Manju Abraham
Engineering leader Manju Abraham shares proven lessons from NetApp, Delphix, and HPE on how to lead organizational change that sticks. Discover why most transformations fail, how to build trust and emotional safety, and practical steps for co-creating vision, empowering champions, and turning change into culture. A must-listen for engineering managers driving real results.
Jeremy Franzen: Operations and Engineering
We are featuring a guest Jeremy Franzen, an Operations expert with over 30 years of experience running Ops at public companies and startups. Jeremy shares his expertise in building strong collaboration between software engineering and operations teams through open communication, shared goals, feedback loops, joint automation and monitoring, shared security practices, knowledge sharing, and coordinated approaches to incident and change management, all tracked by common performance metrics. In the end, Jeremy provides a checklist that our listeners can start using today to build and run quality production environments together with their Operations teams.
Engineering Management and AI – Part 2/3 – Jobs
In this second episode of three, we continue with a practical introduction to AI for engineering managers. We share possible impact of AI and Large Language Models, or LLM on the jobs. In the end we provide a checklist for engineering managers to help to stay ahead of the AI curve.
Handling Conflict for Engineering Managers
Conflict is an inevitable part of any workplace, especially in fast-paced engineering environments. As engineering managers, you are tasked with the dual responsibility of caring for your team while delivering results. Handling conflict effectively requires a careful balance between maintaining composure and ensuring issues are addressed constructively. Here, we provide a comprehensive guide to navigating workplace conflict, emphasizing emotional intelligence and self-control to foster a positive and productive environment.
Engineering Management and AI – Part 1/3 – Value
In this first episode of three, we provide a practical introduction to AI for engineering managers. We share that value AI and Large Language Models, or LLM, offer to engineering managers and their teams. In the end we provide a check list for engineering managers to start get value from AI today.
Maintaining Team Morale Through Tough Times
In this episode, we talk about what causes tough times for companies and how being smart with money and saving up can help keep the business healthy during downturns. We focus on how leaders can boost team morale when things get tough, using tools like one-on-one meetings, positive feedback, kudos programs, and team outings. We also cover the importance of strong engineering leadership, coaching, and career development when facing changes in the organization. Tune in for practical tips and strategies to keep your team motivated and resilient through the rough patches.
Managing Hyperperformers
We dedicate this episode to managing hyper performers. We define who the hyperperformers are, what distinguishes them from the rest of the team and how to manage hyperperformers for the maximum results while retaining them. We share management practices to avoid. In the end provide a checklist that our listeners can use to manage hyperperformers effectively.
Effective Dependency Management
We share how to manage project dependencies in a way that brings results. We are going to define what a dependency is and how to manage your dependencies to ensure that projects you are a part of are delivered on time and with quality. In the end we will provide a checklist that our listeners can use to ensure that their dependencies are always satisfied.
Managing Up: Complaining
We are starting a series on managing up. In this episode we talk about how not to communicate work issues to your boss. We define what complaining is and why complaining is ineffective. We provide a checklist that our listeners can use to see if their upward communications are in the complaining territory.
Effective Remote Work
In this episode, Adam and Slava discuss the new normal of the remote workplace. We discuss the challenges in working remote, key benefits to being remote, and provide guidance for managers to effectively manage remote teams and maximize healthy productivity.
Effective Goal Setting
It’s that time of year again for managers and directs to start planning goals and executing on them for the new year. In this episode, we will discuss the challenges with goal setting and provide guidance for making the goal setting process more effective.
Getting Things Done: Taking Time Off
We share the effective way for taking time off. In the end we offer a check list that consists of
- Designate a substitute
- Prepare your substitute
- Set up the Out of The Office response in your email client
- Have a sync up meeting with your direct report after you come back
Getting Things Done: Staff Meetings
We share what staff meetings are, why they are important for keeping your team accountable for their deliverables and how they help you to stay on top of everything the team is doing. We provide guidance on how frequently you should run them and how to make them effective. In the end we provide a checklist that our listeners can use to start running effective staff meetings.
Building Managers: Implementing The Plan
In this episode we present a practical, step-by-step implementation guide for transitioning engineer's career to the engineering management track.
Building Managers: Not A Promotion
Our guest speaker, Anand Safi, shares how transitioning a career from an engineer to an engineering manager is not a promotion. Also, Anand shares a checklist on what to do first 90 days as a new engineering manager.
Root Cause Analysis with 5 Whys
We share blameless Root Cause Analysis, or RCA, as one of the most powerful tools available to engineering managers that help to eliminate production incidents and resolve quality challenges. We go over what an RCAs is, the benefits, the process of doing RCAs using "5 Whys" technique, and the best practices. In the end, we provide a checklist to help engineering managers to implement the RCA effectively.
Performance Reviews: The Easy Way
We share a low-effort, highly effective approach to creating great performance reviews that we call Engineer's Diary.
Team Building: Know What You Need To Build A Team
Learn how to identify what you need based on the team you currently have.
Effective SDLC: Engineering Checklist
We provide a do-or-die checklist for an effective SDLC that allows teams building software that customers love to use and engineers never have to worry about.
Team Building: No All-Star Teams
We provide guidance on how to understand and avoid building All-Star Teams. In the end we share a checklist that engineering managers can use to build complementary teams, not all-star teams.
Effective One-One-Ones: 1:1s with New Boss
We provide practical guidance on avoiding risks associated with 1:1s with a new boss. This continues the series on the Effective One-On-Ones. We also recommend checking out EEM episode "Practicing Observe and Absorb" that will help you to plan and implement a strategy for managing 1:1s with your new boss.
Effective One-on-Ones: Structuring 1:1s
Practical suggestions on structuring 1:1s. Structure your 1:1s as 20 minutes to be your directs' and 10 minutes to be yours. Let your direct reports decide what they want to talk about. Avoid assigning work during your 1:1s.
Effective One-on-Ones: Don’t Skip Your 1:1s
The more 1:1s you miss, the longer will be your next one. One-on-ones are the most effective people management tool. When it's used right, it's allows engineering managers building lasting relationships with their direct reports that pay in great performance. When done wrong, 1:1s can become ineffective or even harmful. The first episode in the series The Laws of One-On-Ones we talk about the impact of skipped 1:1s and practical techniques to avoid missing 1:1s, for managers and their direct reports.
Engineering Process: Gap Analysis
Gap Analysis is an effective approach to identifying challenges in the areas of engineering processes, people and tools. Gap Analysis allows engineering managers to address challenges that prevent the team from delivering high quality software on time. In this podcast we provide a step-by-step guidance for conducting Gap Analysis and resolving the identified gaps.
Engineering Process: Think-Plan-Execute
Think-Plan-Execute is an effective technique for getting things done. In this podcast we discuss how it helps engineering managers and software engineers to deliver working software on time, with quality, and provide practical examples of how to implement Think-Plan-Execute.
Developing Skills: Guided Self-Study
In this podcast we share the practice of guided self-study, discuss how it helps busy managers to elevate team’s skills, and provide practical recommendations on how to run the guided self-study practice. In the end, we share an approach to install the guided self study at your team and provide a checklist that engineering managers can use to self-check that they are executing guided self-study effectively.
Engineering Process: Effective Design Reviews
In this podcast we share the practice of effective software design reviews, discuss why they are important and provide practical recommendations to engineering managers on how to run design review meetings that deliver high quality software architectures. We provide guidance for executing one-on-one reviews, accommodating input, running team reviews and public reviews, and sharing the final designs. In the end, we share an approach to install the effective design reviews and a checklist that engineering managers can use to self-check that they are running their design reviews effectively.
Effective Engineering Meetings
In this podcast we define effective effective engineering meetings, discuss why they are important and share practical recommendations to engineering managers on how to run meetings that deliver results. We provide practical guidance for setting meeting goals, defining agendas, preparing participants, building invite lists, managing the meetings and sharing the results. In the end, we share a checklist that engineering managers can use to self-check that they are running their meetings effectively.
Welcome to The Effective Engineering Manager Podcast
In this inaugural episode we share why we decided to start the Effective Engineering Manager podcast. Our motivation was to share 25+ years of our combined engineering management experience in getting stuff done. We provide proven solutions and best practices to software engineering managers who are responsible for building and maintaining effective engineering teams that allow them to deliver software on time and with quality. Practices we share apply to all levels, from frontline engineering managers to directors and above.