author: Patrick Newman; date: 2021-03-19; revised: 2023-10-22

email me at patorick002@gmail.com

In my experience it's very difficult to achieve all of this simultaneously, but a reasonable thing to strive for.

This list isn't meant to be exhaustive, nor is every item listed here applicable all the time. It's meant to give a basic framework to help managers, particularly less experienced ones, think about balancing their responsibilities.

Section 1: Managing the team	
1	every member of the team knows what they should be working on
2	every member of the team knows what to do if they finish a task, or get blocked
3	every member of the team has had a meaningful career conversation within the last six months
4	every member of the team receives timely, meaningful, actionable performance feedback
5	work that needs to get done aligns with work that is rewarded by the promotion process
6	performance reviews never contain surprises
7	team members are able to express ideas for new projects or changes to the way the team works
8	the team is able to give input on roadmaps and plans
9	the team is staffed adequately and work is evenly distributed
10	the team, overall, has the level of functional expertise required to do the work, and a reasonable number of stretch goals are available
11	conflicts are resolved in a fair and respectful way
12	diversity is represented and embraced; a broad spectrum of views are considered
	
Section 2: Managing peer relationships	
1	key team peer relationships are identified and regularly maintained through regular healthy, productive meetings, and effective written communication
2	groups dependent on team's work can trust the commitments the team makes
3	key peer teams have a clear idea of how they can request work to be prioritized by your team, with transparency into what the tradeoffs are
4	team is able to get work required from dependency teams prioritized with a reasonable expectation that commitments are honored
5	agreements are documented in writing
6	progress and set backs are reguarly communicated to key stakeholders
7	when collaborative projects are completed, credit is shared among the contributors
8	there is a clear, mutually-respectful escalation path for issues that cannot be resolved between peer managers/engineers
9	managers are able to discuss issues privately in a psychologically safe manner
	
Section 3: Managing senior mgmt relationships	
1	direct management has clear visibility into the progress of the team
2	direct management/management chain is appropriately involved in issues requiring special attention
3	you are able to advocate for specific prioritization decisions; priorities are set with transparency
4	clear agreement on goals and definition of success
	
Section 4: Managing yourself	
1	Your own work-life boundaries are respected
2	Your immediate and long-term career goals are documented in writing
3	You are not stagnating, even if your immediate career goals don't involve a promotion
4	impact is primarily expressed in achievements of the team and the growth of the team members