Peak, Plateau, Progress
How engineering managers can identify and overcome their leadership comfort zones
As managers, we all start our journey experimenting with different methods and evaluating what works best for our teams. Over time, however, there's a significant risk of getting stuck in what we can call a "local maxima"1 - a comfort zone where we stop challenging our assumptions and become complacent with our current approach.
Through trial and error, we discover patterns and practices that yield consistent results. Our one-on-ones start following a reliable structure, our team meetings become more predictable, and we develop a rhythm in handling conflicts and challenges. This predictability, combined with steady results, leads us to believe we've mastered our craft. The infrequent nature of formal feedback - typically through quarterly surveys or annual reviews - rarely challenges this perception. We settle into our methods, comfortable with the stability we've achieved.
But this comfort can be deceptive. Just as a mountain climber might mistake a lower peak for the summit, we might be operating well below our potential. There could be better approaches, more effective techniques, or innovative methods that we're missing simply because we've stopped actively seeking them. Our reliable but rigid patterns might be preventing us from discovering new heights in our leadership journey.
Recognizing the Pattern
Remember the last time you discovered a new band that completely blew your mind? That euphoric feeling of finding something fresh and exciting, leading you down a rabbit hole of their entire discography until 3 AM? Now compare that to your usual routine of putting on your favorite playlist - comfortable, reliable, but perhaps missing that spark of discovery and excitement.
As engineering managers, we need to chase that same feeling of discovery in our leadership journey. Yet, too often, we find ourselves falling into predictable patterns:
Template-Driven Leadership
One of the most recognizable signs appears in our one-on-ones. We develop templates and stick to them religiously: "How are you doing? Any blockers? How's the current sprint going?" While structure can be valuable, when was the last time you tried a completely different approach to these sessions? When did you last experiment with new questions or formats that made both you and your report think differently?
Recycled Solutions
Another tell-tale sign is how we handle challenges. When faced with team conflicts, declining performance, or motivation issues, do we find ourselves reaching for the same playbook every time? Perhaps it's always scheduling a team building exercise for conflicts, or invariably suggesting a personal improvement plan for performance issues. While these solutions might work, defaulting to them without consideration for alternatives suggests we're stuck in our comfort zone.
The Copy-Paste Calendar
Take a look at your calendar from three months ago and compare it to this week. If they're nearly identical - same meeting structures, same rhythms, same formats - you might be plateauing. A growing manager's calendar should show evidence of experimentation: new types of team sessions, different meeting formats, varied feedback mechanisms.
The Unquestioned Process
When was the last time you challenged your team's fundamental ways of working? If your retrospectives always follow the same format, If your sprint planning meetings feel repetitive and unproductive, or if your architectural reviews have become mere checkboxes to tick, you might be missing opportunities for meaningful improvement.
You might be stuck in a local maxima if you catch yourself saying things like:
"This is just how we do things here"
"We tried something different once, and this works better"
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
"Let me share my template with you"
The irony is that these patterns emerge precisely because they worked well in the past. But just as a scientist wouldn't stop experimenting after one successful trial, we shouldn't cease exploring new approaches to leadership simply because we've found one that works.
Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone
In computer science, there are various techniques to help gradient descent2 algorithms break out of local maxima, such as random restart, simulated annealing, momentum, and adding noise to the inputs. Similarly, as engineering managers, we need to find ways to break out of our comfort zones and challenge our assumptions.
Here are several techniques that can help us challenge ourselves:
1. Reading
There's no better way to challenge the status quo than to continue learning through reading. Every book contains different ideas employed by other people in the industry. This exposure allows us to:
Adopt different techniques
Get inspired by new perspectives
Adjust our own methodologies
It's important not to limit ourselves to just management or leadership books. Reading from other domains like psychology, philosophy, or history can provide fresh insights that may help improve our approach. We should keep an open mind and be willing to experiment with new ideas.
Additionally, don't focus solely on recent publications. Many of the local maxima we find ourselves in have likely been discovered by others in the past. Reading classic books allows us to learn from the experiences and wisdom of those who came before us, helping us avoid common pitfalls and discover new ways to improve our leadership style.
2. Shadowing
Nothing beats being an observer while someone else is leading - being the proverbial "fly on the wall." Shadowing a colleague or peer is an excellent way to break out of your local maxima as it allows you to:
See how others approach similar challenges
Observe different leadership styles
Study various problem-solving approaches
Learn new communication techniques
Remove personal biases
This technique not only benefits your own methodology but also allows you to provide feedback to your peers if they're open to it. This mutual learning helps improve both parties and, by extension, the overall team or organization.
There is one caveat: not every situation is suitable for shadowing. For instance, it would be inappropriate to be present during a personal improvement plan3 conversation between an engineering manager and a low-performing engineer, as your presence would alter the atmosphere.
Remember that shadowing works both ways - having a peer observe you and provide feedback can offer valuable insights from an outside perspective.
3. Learning from Examples
Exposing yourself to more real-world examples is another effective method. Resources like the Rands Slack channel4 provide opportunities to observe many engineering managers discussing their challenges and solutions. This exposure to different approaches to similar problems can help you break free from your local maxima.
4. Teaching
One of the most powerful ways to discover new insights about ourselves is through teaching our craft to others. As an engineering manager, you'll often encounter engineers who aspire to become managers themselves. Creating a personal development plan5 for these individuals forces you to deeply introspect on your own methodology.
When you teach others:
You discover better ways of doing things
You find gaps in your own knowledge and skills
You're forced to articulate and justify your approaches
You gain fresh perspectives from your students' questions and challenges
5. Replaying
Drawing inspiration from Oren Ellenbogen’s 'Leading Snowflakes' one powerful technique for breaking out of your management patterns is "replaying." The concept is simple yet profound: document a specific situation you've encountered - perhaps a difficult conversation, a team conflict, or a critical decision point - and share it with another colleague to understand how they would have handled the same scenario.
This method is particularly powerful because it:
Provides direct comparison of different leadership approaches
Reveals your own biases and default patterns
Uncovers alternative solutions you might not have considered
Helps build a library of varied approaches to common situations
For example, you might replay a scenario where a high-performing engineer was becoming disruptive in team meetings. While you might have addressed this through direct feedback in a one-on-one setting, another engineering manager might suggest addressing it through team dynamics exercises, or by channeling that energy into a technical leadership role. Each alternative approach helps you question your default responses and broadens your management toolkit.
The key to effective replaying is detailed documentation - capture not just what happened, but also the context, the personalities involved, and the constraints you were working under. This allows other leaders to provide more meaningful alternative approaches.
The Path Forward
The key to breaking free from local maxima is maintaining a mindset of continuous improvement. Here are some practical steps you can take:
Regularly schedule time for learning and reflection
Seek out opportunities to shadow other managers or be shadowed
Actively participate in engineering management communities
Look for opportunities to mentor aspiring managers
Challenge your current practices and assumptions regularly
Remember that the goal isn't to completely abandon what works - it's to continuously explore whether there might be better approaches available.
Conclusion
Breaking free from our local maxima as engineering managers requires conscious effort and a willingness to step outside our comfort zones. Through reading, replaying, shadowing, learning from examples, and teaching others, we can continue to grow and improve our leadership abilities.
The journey of an engineering manager is one of continuous learning and adaptation. By actively seeking ways to challenge our assumptions and broaden our perspectives, we can better serve our teams and organizations while continuing to grow as leaders.
Remember: what got you here won't necessarily get you there. Keep pushing beyond your local maxima to discover new heights in your management journey.