The Importance of Succession Planning

One of the most important things a manager can do for their team is to always have a successor under way to take over the team in the event that you’re “unavailable.” When you first step into an existing team, it will be unclear as to who that replacement could or should be, but as you go through your 1:1s and as you get to know your team members, it will generally make itself clear who is interested in taking on a role like yours, and who is able to do so. (Those two groups may have different members within them, by the way; hopefully there’s at least some overlap, but it’s not guaranteed.)

Once you’ve identified who the interested parties are, start talking to them about what it means to be an engineering manager. Point them to your favorite books on ...