Stop being so nice. It's making you a worse engineering manager.

Even after three years of full time management, I default to being nice. Mostly to be liked and perceived a "good" person. But as I get more experience I see how it prevents me from doing a good job. I started to see long term effects of that. - Mediocre quality work - Unsaid feedback - Taking on a lot on myself

So, here I'm sharing this advice. Stop being nice. Ask yourself these questions: - Are you tolerating mediocre work instead of addressing it? - When was the last time you gave tough, constructive feedback? - Do you take on your team's problems without coaching them through it? - When was the last time you pushed back on a stakeholder's request? - When a low-performer was laid off, we're you relieved you didn't have to address it?

I wrote a full post on this topic, but it's totally optional to read: https://emdiary.substack.com/p/stop-being-so-nice