“Should I become a manager?”

This is a question that I’ve asked myself and have helped others considering the transition from the individual contributor (IC) to management track. In this article, I describe some considerations with the hope of helping others contemplating this move.

I have been working in the field of user experience research for over 11 years and have been a manager for over four of those years. I transitioned from the IC to management track at Google and then joined Facebook in 2014 to build the Instagram product research team.

Why did I become a manager?

There were two reasons I decided to transition to the management track:

• I could only do so much
• I felt becoming a manager was the progressive next step in my career

I was the only user researcher on the Chrome team at Google supporting Chrome, Chrome for mobile and Chrome OS. There were more questions than I could possibly answer, yet I wanted to answer them all. The way I envisioned supporting the needs of the team was to build up the research discipline. I first mentored an intern to get a taste for management. I then proposed a hiring plan outlining what we could achieve with additional headcount. We first hired a few contractors and then eventually hired full-time researchers. We were no longer as constrained and I was manager.

Like many others, I felt that becoming a manager was the progressive next step in my career. However, this is not actually true — at least at Google and Facebook, as the IC and management tracks have equivalent levels. Regardless, would you prefer to be a strong IC or weak manager? In my experience, strong performers will progress — intrinsically and extrinsically — whether they are an IC or manager.

“Should I become a manager?”

During my time as a manager, researchers have asked me this question. My response has been to ask a few follow-up questions designed to guide the questioner to an answer:

• Do you have the skills and experience?
• Are you an effective communicator?
• Are you a leader?
• Do you want to be an enabler or a doer?

In the following sections I explore these questions outlining evaluation criteria for each.

Do you have the skills and experience?

Being a manager requires that you have a core set of skills in order to be able to coach, direct and teach others. It does not mean you have to know every skill in your discipline or be the most skilled person on the team. You should however know your craft and be able to produce high-quality work in an efficient manner.

“In practice, nothing is textbook.”

Perhaps most important is having applied experience. In practice, nothing is textbook. As a manager you can often add value by sharing experiences as to what has worked or not for you in the past. Ideally you can draw upon a range of experiences applying skills across multiple projects, even on different teams and at different companies. It is difficult for a manager to empathize and help solve problems unless they have experienced similar situations.

Having a core set of skills, experiences and expertise further allows you to be a role-model inspiring others — it can even help with hiring.

You can evaluate you have the necessary skills and experiences if:

• You have applied the skills in your toolkit multiple times — ideally on different teams or at different companies
• You have produced high-quality work using the skills in your toolkit
• You can effectively and efficiently use the skills in your toolkit
• You have been able to overcome difficulties applying skills
• You have been able to adapt skills to different situations
• You are the go-to person for a skill(s) on your team or at your company — do people ask you about your work; do people ask you for advice on their own work; do you present to others about your work; are you invited to give talks about your work?

Are you an effective communicator?

As a manager you have to be an effective communicator. Managers are conduits for information. They relay information to and from their direct reports, their peers in other disciplines and leadership.

“Managers are conduits for information.”

Your communication style has to be clear and concise. The people you are communicating with need to accurately understand the information you are conveying and be able to act on it. This is particularly important when communicating with executives who generally consume high-volumes of information, have limited time and need to make high-impact decisions.

You also need to be able to adapt your communication style depending on your audience. Your colleagues and direct reports may need more granular information to do their work; executives may be more concerned with the key takeaways to justify a decision; and, people outside your discipline or team may need additional context to help them understand.

Timing is also an important element of communication. You need to ensure that information is communicated on a need-to-know basis and to people in the right sequence. Information being communicated to certain people before others can have disastrous consequences. For example, when reorganizing a team it is critical that there is a clear communication plan outlining the information to be communicated and who should know that information when.

Poor communication skills can hurt your credibility, which in turn can make it difficult for you to represent your team.

You can evaluate you are an effective communicator if:

• You can communicate information to people with them rarely asking clarifying questions
• You communicate with people across your organization, including people in other disciplines and leadership roles
• You can adapt your communication style when talking to people on your team, in other disciplines and leadership, as well as people outside your company
• You are trusted with information — you know information before others and can control the flow of information
• You are invited to speak in team meetings, all-hands and executive reviews

Are you a leader?

I will start with a few disclaimers:

• You don’t have to be a manager in order to be a leader
• You don’t have to be a leader to be a manager, but it is a natural progression, especially for senior managers

“You don’t have to be a manager in order to be a leader.”

People often conflate leadership and management. Leadership is the ability to guide and influence others. Authority is not needed to be a leader and managers should not have to pull rank in order to lead. Rather, leaders need to have a vision and convey that vision to others, inspiring them to take action.

Kevin Weil, the head of product at Instagram, once likened our role as managers to that of tugboats maneuvering a large vessel. Companies have a mission and vision that is realized by working towards strategic objectives. It is the job of a manager to ensure that their team is contributing towards these objectives, as well as being aligned with other teams.

It should not be the role of a manager to dictate how their team should achieve these objectives. Peter Deng, a former head of product at Instagram, described to me that it was my role as a manager to point out the goal in the distance and give my team the autonomy, resources and support to reach those goals.

In addition to contributing towards a company’s objectives, managers can leverage the experiences and lessons learned from their team to (re)define company objectives — this is often an expectation of leaders and senior managers.

You can evaluate you are a leader if:

• You have guided people on your team and at your company providing feedback and suggestions
• You have influenced or inspired others to try a different approach or join a project

Do you want to be an enabler or a doer?

This is the first question I ask people when they approach me about transitioning from the IC to management track. The reason being that managers enable others to do work and do not do the work themselves.

“Managers enable others.”

Some people considering to transition to the management track want to continue to do IC work. However, this is not always possible. Time spent doing IC work is time you are not focused on your team. When you first become a manager there is a steep learning curve and even a few direct reports can consume a lot of your time. My advice has been to stop doing IC work, focus on your team and then take on small projects bandwidth permitting.

Facebook has a rule of thumb that managers can do some IC work (once they have fully transitioned to the management track) up until they have five direct reports and they should consider another layer of management when they reach eight direct reports. There are of course exceptions to the rule.

As a manager you do not take credit for your team’s work. You should ensure credit is given where credit is due. Yet, you are also accountable for the work produced by your team. Quenton Longmire Cook, the head of product at Remind, once told me that he should get none of the praise and all of the criticism for his teams work. You need to hire the best people and enable them to produce their best work. You will receive credit for the work you enable.

Being an enabler means you are both:

• People-oriented
• Process-oriented

People-oriented

I have previously discussed the importance of one-on-ones. At one point during my tenure as head of research at Instagram I had twelve people reporting to me. Imagine having twelve 30 minute one-on-one every week. And this is the minimum time required, as your direct reports might need to schedule more time with you. During these meeting you will discuss their work, provide feedback, discuss problems they are facing and potential solutions. You will also have additional periodic meetings to discuss their performance and career goals. As a manager you are responsible for the growth and well-being of the people on your team.

“Your team should be your #1 priority.”

Process-oriented

Managers are responsible for both the quality and quantity of the work produced by their team. I want people on my team to produce their best work that is recognized by the company and produce the appropriate volume of work to meet the demands of the company.

I achieved this by introducing frameworks and processes. For example, creating templates that allowed the research team to more easily produce high-quality research deliverables; organizing group projects that would allow us to complete work not otherwise feasible to complete; and developing solutions that reduced the time and work required by researchers on the team to conduct research, such as removing the need to generate an Statement of Work (SoW) and Purchase Order (PO) when working with a vendor. To quote one of my direct reports at Instagram:

“A little bit of structure can go a long way.”

You can evaluate if you are an enabler if:

• You are involved in hiring people for your team and company
• You enjoy meeting and talking with people
• You help others produce their best work
• You make your team’s work lives easier
• You recognize others for their work

Considering whether management is right for you

To summarize, when considering transitioning from the IC to the management track ask yourself the following questions:

Do you have the skills and experience?

• Have you applied the skills in your toolkit multiple times — ideally on different teams or at different companies?
• Have you produced high-quality work using the skills in your toolkit?
• Can you effectively and efficiently use the skills in your toolkit?
• Have you been able to overcome difficulties applying skills?
• Have you been able to adapt skills to different situations?
• Are you the go-to person for a skill(s) on your team or at your company — do people ask you about your work; do people ask you for advice on their own work; do you present to others about your work; are you invited to give talks about your work?

Are you an effective communicator?

• Can you communicate information to people with them rarely asking clarifying questions?
• Do you communicate with people across your organization, including people in other disciplines and leadership roles?
• Can you adapt your communication style when talking to people on your team, in other disciplines and leadership, as well as people outside your company?
• Are you trusted with information — you know information before others and can control the flow of information?
• Are you invited to speak in team meetings, all-hands and executive reviews?

Are you a leader?

• Have you guided people on your team and at your company providing feedback and suggestions?
• Have you influenced or inspired others to try a different approach or join a project?

Do you want to be an enabler or a doer?

• Are you involved in hiring people for your team and company?
• Do you enjoy meeting and talking with people?
• Do you help others produce their best work?
• Have you made your colleagues work lives easier?
• Do you recognize others for their work?

You don’t have to be a manager before being able to answer these questions — you should be management material before actually being a manager.

What’s next?

If you decide that you would like to transition to the management track I recommend a few next steps:

• Talk with your current manager about potential opportunities
• Talk with other managers about their experiences
• If you have not already done so, mentor an intern or manage a contractor
• Consider reading other management articles or books; and take a management training course if your organization provides them

If you are interested in other articles related to management I recommend reading these articles by Julie Zhuo:

• So You Think You Want to Manage
• Unintuitive Things I’ve Learned about Management (Part 1 and Part 2)
• Average Manager vs. Great Manager

Being a manager is an incredibly rewarding role — you get to grow and support the people you work with, as well as contribute and define the direction of the company where you work.

Thank you Nick Merola for providing feedback on this article.

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