What was the problem?

A former Android Engineer in my squad wanted to try the manager path. It came in the perfect moment as another EM left the company.

What did I do?

I created a career path pitch with him to step him up.

How did I do it?

  1. During our 1:1 calls, the engineer raised the wish to test the Management waters.
  2. Once there was a vacancy, I raised it with my manager. It seemed to be a good opportunity for him, so we agreed to update the engineer.
  3. After the engineer was convinced to test the path, I wrote a career path pitch so that we could move the case forward to leadership.
  4. It was later approved, so I began to coach the junior EM. I exposed a few topics around what being an EM means: increased scope and uncertainty, stakeholder management, etc.
  5. I shared a couple of books that inspired me to understand the extended needs of a manager.
  6. I keep weekly 1:1s to discuss executional work, as well as performance and coaching.

What did I achieve?

The junior EM is now working effectively with his new squad. I still keep 1:1s with him where we explore ways to improve his performance and find outs ways to collaborate.