In this episode of the Managing Up Show, Brandon, Travis, and Nick talk about meetings. How did they get a bad reputation? How can they be better? And no, the answer is not to abolish meetings, but rather to put the effort into making them actu

Moving Past "Hero Culture"

Feb 15th, 2023 58m 35s

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk "hero culture" and how that affects teams. What are the drawbacks of encouraging hero culture? How do you draw the distinction between necessary heroism and chronic hero culture? What's the difference between hero

Actually Managing Up

Nov 16th, 2022 1h 2m

OK, fine, y'all win. We finally did the episode of "Managing Up" about managing up. In it, Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about techniques for managing up, how they're similar to managing your own team members, and how it is sometimes very diff

How We've Changed the Way We Manage in the Pandemic, with Estella Gonzalez Madison

Jun 13th, 2022 1h 2m

The Managing Up Crew is joined by Estella Gonzalez Madison (@chicagoing) to discuss how they've changed the way they manage since the start of the pandemic 2+ years ago. They discuss tactical changes and how they've changed philosophically duri

Pain, Learning Organizations, and Trainwrecks

Feb 16th, 2022 1h 5m

Nick, pondering the Texas electric grid and the 2021 power crisis posits the question to Travis and Brandon: What role does pain play in leading teams? What is the role of a manager in managing and reacting to pain on our teams? What are the da

Accountability & Trust in a Distributed World

Jan 19th, 2022 1h 2m

Travis, Nick, and Brandon discuss the word "accountability". What does it mean? Why has it developed a negative connotation? What's the connection between "trust" and "accountability"? They discuss the sometimes uncomfortable conversations that

One on Ones: Beyond the Basics

Sep 29th, 2021 59m

Nick, Travis, and Brandon revisit the one-on-ones topic from several years ago and go beyond "1:1s 101". The hosts dive past the scripts and formulas to discuss challenges with regular one-on-one meetings with your team. How do you discern "gri

"Marketing" Your Team as a Manager

Jul 7th, 2021 42m 55s

Nick, Brandon, and Travis discuss the term "Marketing" and the myth that doing good work will speak for itself. How can you advocate for your team's work authentically without feeling like you're bragging? They talk about using tracking documen

Inviting Feedback and Creating Psychological Safety

Jun 16th, 2021 53m 41s

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about how they increase psychological safety on teams to create space for a variety of voices, starting by debating the value of "strong opinions, weakly held". They explore the questions: How do you bootstrap tru

Is "Resources" a Dirty Word?

Apr 28th, 2021 56m 29s

In this episode, Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the word "resources", thinking of humans versus abstract notions of people, and balancing company needs with individual needs. What changes as your role moves further from managing individua

Just Culture, Blame, and Accountability

Nov 11th, 2020 43m 50s

In the last episode we recorded in the "before times", Nick and Brandon discuss the connection between blameless culture, systems thinking, and just culture. Nick explains how blame robs learning, and how to foster an environment that allows th

How Much Process Is Enough? How Much Is Too Much?

Oct 21st, 2020 57m 54s

In another episode recorded in the "before times", Travis talks about finding the balance between not enough and too much process. Is Scrum too much process? How do you tell when process is designed to help versus be a remote control for a team

The Manager's Calendar

Sep 30th, 2020 48m 4s

In an episode recorded in "the before times" that we feel is still relevant, Nick suggested we talk about what to do when you can't do it all. Nick, Brandon, and Travis discuss how the game of "Calendar Jenga" is symptomatic. What happens when

Getting Clarity in Times of Change

Sep 9th, 2020 51m 8s

Travis, Nick, and Brandon ask: what do you do when you have a sense that things are about to change? What about when your work evaporates due to a startup pivot or major organizational change? They talk about how to help maintain a team's compo

Breaking the Cycle of "Burnout Debt"

Aug 19th, 2020 59m 52s

Burnout is a very real problem right now, and is often aggravated in our jobs as managers, ironically in our work to help others avoid burning themselves out. Nick, Travis, and Brandon ask: how do you stop the cycle of overwork that led you to

Remote Teams, Coping, and Bringing Your Whole Self to Work

Mar 18th, 2020 58m 18s

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the chaotic and downright scary state of the world and our own prior adjustments to remote work. They discuss ways to lead authentically in these times, and how remote work has helped them learn how integrat

"Big Picture Strategists" vs. "Tactical Tornadoes"

Feb 20th, 2020 1h 1m

Travis and Brandon talk about the tendency of software developers to fall into an "overly strategic" or "overly tactical" style of thinking. How do you encourage individuals and teams to consider both near and long term impact in their day to d

Seasonality and Rhythms in Engineering Teams

Jan 8th, 2020 41m 4s

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the seasonality of work and how that affects individuals and teams. They talk about how they work with low points in the cycle and how to capitalize on the high points, rather than fighting these cycles. How

Creating Self-Managing Teams

Dec 23rd, 2019 48m

Brandon asks Nick about a piece of advice he doesn't even remember giving about teaching teams to manage themselves. Nick, Travis, and Brandon explore tough questions around self-managing teams: How do you know when to let go and when to step i

Supporting Early-Career Devs and Defining "Engineer"

Dec 11th, 2019 1h 6m

Travis and Brandon talk about how teams can support early-career developers and career changers. What environments are they a good fit for? How do you set expectations for newer folks? How can you help them get and stay productive? Is the cost

Personality Conflicts and the "Us vs. Them" Mindset

Nov 27th, 2019 49m 54s

Travis, Nick, and Brandon discuss a tough-but-frequent listener question: "How do I coach senior developers and tech leads to work better with each other when they have opposing personality types or passions?" They explore the personality types

Lessons from Captain Haynes

Oct 16th, 2019 41m 59s

Nick pays homage to one of his heroes, Captain Al Haynes, who saved hundreds of lives by managing a crisis during a famous airplane crash. Captain Haynes demonstrated one of the canonical examples of Crew Resource Management and "just culture".

Summer Vacations and Self-Care

Sep 19th, 2019 50m 3s

Travis, Nick, and Brandon talk about vacations after a summer full of them. When is it OK for managers to take vacations? How do you set things up to actually let yourself relax? What if something breaks while you're gone? Nick talks about the

Should I Care about "Manager READMEs"?

Sep 4th, 2019 30m 21s

There is a healthy and active debate in the management community around Manager READMEs. Are they self-indulgent excuses for asking people to "deal with" your shortcomings? Or an essential tool to guide future conversations? Nick and Brandon ex

The Invisible Work of Management

Aug 21st, 2019 48m 57s

A thread on the "orange website" got Nick thinking: What are signs a manager is succeeding? What are red flags that they're on the wrong track? They ask the big question: How do you know when you are doing a good job? Are there any actual, usef