As engineering managers, often what we see is from a window. We’re likely (and unknowingly) missing a lot.
We’re juggling a million-and-one objectives: maintaining a healthy culture within the organization, discussing career growth, mitigating any inter-team conflict, OKRs, incidents, All-hands, cost forecasting, long-term planning, short-term planning, performance reviews, hiring, creating internship opportunities, managing up, managing to the side, countless 1:1s, and the list goes on. While accomplishing the work described in this lengthy, and exhausting list, you’re still able to ship software to production – mainly thanks to your engineers.
Now, at any moment those engineers may become free agents, in search of more interesting projects, more money, more flexibility, more anything.
