The things engineers are desperate for PMs to understand | Camille Fournier (author of “The Manager’s Path,” ex-CTO at Rent the Runway)

"Platforms are products ultimately. You should be thinking about how do I create sort of coherent offerings that make this company more productive?"

"I think one of the challenges is that people create these platform teams and think that they can be sort of divorced from having an impact focus, because it's like, you just got to run the infrastructure and, you know, make sure it works."

"You can have a lot more engineers per PM on platform teams. Yeah, I think that's right because I think a lot, so much of the work in a platform team is not exactly product work."

"It's crucial to verify the sources of quotes you come across; many are interestingly phrased but not authentic."

"Generally, don't assume what AI is telling you is true; it's making things up, and while often correct, it may also mislead."

"You may have like one really unhappy stakeholder and five really happy ones. And all you're saying to your unhappy one is, 'well, everybody else is happy.' This often leads to a disconnect, as you're not acknowledging the unhappy stakeholder's perspective, which can create further issues down the line."

"Trying to just rely on one-on-one management of that is actually not very productive in a lot of ways. As the number of stakeholders increases, it becomes increasingly unmanageable to provide individualized attention for every feedback, leading to potential gaps in stakeholder satisfaction."

"You're kind of at everyone's mercy... and that is true; the dynamics shift in a manner where management effectiveness gets diluted when structured in a way that doesn't recognize the nuances of individual stakeholder relationships."

"Management is much more of a service job than a leadership role. You are serving the team, the company, and your role is to help make things better rather than to dictate orders."

"In any engineering role, it's essential to invest in understanding both operational challenges and how to scale solutions in a complex environment. This perspective can be the difference-maker for success."

"When you step into management, it can feel like your freedom is diminished because you must now navigate the needs of your team and your organization, which can often seem limiting."

"Building a platform team is not just about writing code. It involves fostering a culture of collaboration and understanding operational needs to adapt effectively as the company evolves."

"A platform team needs to think about what functions should be centralized to maximize efficiency. This is critical in getting everyone aligned and focusing on the core capabilities that drive value."

"The reality is that you don't just tell people what to do. It's about creating a culture where creativity can flourish and the team feels safe to express their thoughts."

"When you take engineers out of the creative loop entirely, they're going to find that creative outlet somewhere else. And it's actually kind of bad for the product."

"Levels.io is one of the most successful indie engineers where he just works on his own thing, all by himself, never raises money and just launches products that make money."

"I think maybe the challenge is to just keep rewriting to the newest frameworks, because sometimes you don't need to obsess over every novelty but rather focus on what works."

"What works as a one-person show doesn't always work in a scaled organization, and that’s where many tech projects falter when they try to apply small-team solutions to larger settings."

"You have this tension where a lot of the job of any management role is being in meetings, right? Filtering stuff so that people who are in focus mode can focus and get things done."

"If you're finding your middle person too much, then it may be time to connect people directly. I know the reasons PMs often are afraid of this."

"Engineers sometimes think that they don't get the credit for their work because the PM takes all the glory and all the credit for the project that they really worked very hard on."

"You know, when you have engineers feeling like they're doing all this work and they just feel like this is my work, I’m not getting any credit for it. And this person is hogging all the glory."

"So, the best project managers I find are the ones that talk the least and encourage other people to do the presenting and announcing. That's a really good reminder to let your engineers be that."

"When evaluating a change to a system, you have to ask yourself, 'Is it worthwhile to change it at all?' This highlights the importance of weighing the benefits against potential disruptions."

"Often organizations underestimate what their old systems actually do before making significant changes, which can lead to unexpected complications."

"You know, there are a lot of people who never really gained the mastery. They go into management, they lose it, and some of them are still perfectly good managers and look, there are good managers who were never technical to begin with."

"I think it’s particularly important to kind of develop that internal confidence in your abilities before you make this sort of scary leap, which is scary for everyone. If you're still having fun, writing code, don’t rush becoming a manager."

"It's essential to approach system rewrites delicately, understanding that just because you can build something new doesn't mean it will solve all your problems immediately."

"I find the best PMs are the ones that talk the least and encourage other people to do the presenting."

"I think the biggest thing that helps is if you just sort of maintain a level of confidence in your own technical know-how and what it means to be a good engineer. It's like, that kind of empathy to what it means to be in the trenches really will stay with you and help you maintain a level of…"

"Surround yourself with smart technical people. Stay in touch with them, whether it’s through group chats, tech news, or discussions about technology."

"Just make you a lot less anxious about being hands-off even though everybody who makes that transition… for a year or two, especially if you're really like... can't be hands-off."

"When they just don't understand the details and act like they don't matter, it just shows a real lack of empathy for the work that engineers are doing."

"If your development teams are all facing similar challenges and struggles, the lack of coordination and overlap in efforts can result in slower development cycles and hinder productivity."

"You have to recognize when you've hit either a lot of inefficiency or a scaling issue that starts to really necessitate a dedicated team to solve. This dedicated team would ideally address the challenges that arise when scaling beyond a certain point."

"AI is very top of mind for a lot of people and I'm always curious how people are finding it valuable in their work or in their life."

"Ask AI for quotes, but be careful. It can generate information that seems valid but isn't real. For instance, I experienced scenarios where I needed quotes and the AI failed to provide accurate ones."

"When you're looking for key insights, ensure you're verifying the information, especially with AI. Just because it sounds good doesn't mean it's factual."

"Learning to delegate is vital because team members feel empowered when they are given a chance to take on responsibility. This not only helps in scaling but also fosters a sense of ownership among team members."

"As I said, I've got has gotten weird so I think probably LinkedIn is the easiest way for this kind of stuff. And I read somewhere that scamille is rooted in your love of ska music back when you were younger is that right?"

"If you're not regularly auditing your time and trying to knock things off that list, you're probably wasting a lot of time on things that don't matter."

"You know, I hope that if you read it and enjoy it and learn something from it, you will let me know and tag me on some social media. I think that's just awesome."

"You have to teach people whatever it is that you're trying to get them to do. Not always do those surprise you and they're better at it than you are."

"I love it when people buy my books. I love when people share them with others."

"To effectively maintain focus, I've developed certain caffeine rituals that involve drinking tea in the morning, which has replaced my need for coffee. These habits help provide me the necessary boost to engage deeply with my work."

"I find that using instrumental music, like tracks from Fortet, is essential for my concentration. The absence of lyrics allows me to immerse myself in my tasks without distraction."

"I really am a very strong believer that platform engineering has to involve software engineering. If you don't have any software engineers on your platform team, and you only have like, operation systems, engineers, DevOps, SRE, which I realize there are some SREs that are software engineers, but they tend to not want to write like big software."

"I think you're kind of missing the picture. So, you know, platform engineering is not just like maintaining cloud infrastructure; it's about understanding how to balance internal and external needs of the software and teams."