Engineering Managers

What training do we recommend for Engineering Managers?

CREDIT Values

At GitLab we see CREDIT everywhere, it is in our 360 Feedback, Annual and Mid Year Performance Reviews and in Promotion Documents. It is important to have evidence for this CREDIT but the training below provides opportunities to learn more about how Engineering Managers can live our CREDIT values.

Working Remotely

We are experts in working remotely, so our handbook is the best resource for this area.

The Create Engineering Managers lead by example. This page shares how the EMs live GitLab values.

Collaboration

• Bi Weekly EM Meetings
• Quarterly meetings with Stable Counterparts
• Recognition of team members through Discretionary Bonuses, Sync Team Meetings, Thanks Channel or Individual Team Channels

Results

• Development and implementation of Quarterly OKRs
• Planning Sprints with Product Managers
• Manage Employee Development
• Propose Cross Team or Cross stage Initiatives
• Strive for 70-80% Create Say / Do Metrics
• Participation in Working Groups
• Regularly Review Dashboards
• Host Team Retrospectives
• Continuously refine and improve team processes based on feedback from Retrospectives, Skip Level Meetings, 1-1’s, 360 Feedback and Employee Engagement Surveys
• Support Team Members in their Employee Development

Efficiency

Communications

How do we lead 1-1 meetings efficiently?

The Engineering Manager 1-1’s are held weekly on Tuesdays. They are 30 minutes each in order to make an efficient usage of everyone’s time. Synchronous time at GitLab is a very valuable commodity. It should always be regarded as an opportunity to connect, communicate and collaborate. Working remotely, these ideas become even more important. Consequently the time should be well respected through planning and preparation prior to the meeting.

How do we monitor how we are doing?

The Create Stage uses logs as a type of asynchronous retrospective. When there is a metric that we are focusing on improving, we will take the additional step to begin logging behaviors related to that metric. We look at the metric, and ask ourselves, “What is the story behind this number?”

Stories lead to trends

Looking at metrics across a team, across the stage or across an organization begins to tell a story. Each metric is a breadcrumb. As you piece the story together, if you are lucky, you will recognize trends. Once you identify trends, you can begin making changes and measuring the impact of those changes. Those changes in turn may or may not change metrics or trends. It is a big experiment and an opportunity to learn and improve!

Cascading OKRs

GitLab OKRs allow us to align our work to the overall GitLab objectives. Create Stage OKRs are typically derived from the Sub Department, Department and Division where it resides. Impactful OKRs outisde of this cascade are allowed to be set provided a signoff is gotten from the Stage.

1. GitLab OKRs.
2. Engineering OKRs.
3. Development OKRs.
4. Dev OKRs.
5. Create Stage OKRs.

Team OKRs

• Code Creation
• Code Review
• Editor Extensions
• IDE
• Source Code

OKR Authors

Senior Engineering Managers, Engineering Managers and Staff Engineers are all responsible for creating OKRs.

What books do we recommend for Engineering Managers?

New Managers

• The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter

Recognition of Team Members

• Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

Time Management

• Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day
• The Surprising Science of Meetings: How You Can Lead Your Team to Peak Performance

Results

• The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
• Failing Forward

Diversity Inclusion & Belonging

• Wisdom at Work
• The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business

Coaching

• Multipliers
• Challenging Coaching: Going Beyond Traditional Coaching to Face the FACTS
• The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

Leadership

• Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
• Accelerate: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations
• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
• Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders
• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You