Archive stories

1:1s – Don’t Follow my Advice

Leadership Management

Last year, I wrote a post after about 6 months being a manager of a rather large team (two pizzas would definitely not be enough to feed them). I wrote about the types of questions I ask during 1:1s. Here’s a little update as to why you shouldn’t really follow my advice anymore. Following a […]

6 Things to do when training Engineers to be Managers

Essay Leadership Management

I was recently given the opportunity to train an engineer in my team to take over my role. This engineer volunteered to become a people manager. Now, obviously, not everyone is cut out for people management. This is just a few of the steps I took to help transition the engineer. 1. Determine their motivations […]

1:1s – Questions

Leadership

When I started my 1:1s a few months ago, I kept asking the same questions over and over. In fact, I found that I wasn’t really learning anything new about my team. So, I want to go over some questions that I’ve experimented with and see what questions you may ask during your 1:1s. Was […]

1:1s How I Learn to Support

Leadership Management

Quick intro: I recently switched my career path. I was a tech lead, which basically means that I lead a project but I had no reports, and now I’m an Engineering Manager. As an Engineering Manager, I longer “lead” a project in the technical sense, I am responsible for people. What I want to talk […]

Leading Remotely

Leadership

I went rogue! I did it. I led a team remotely (within the same country, of course). But to be honest, I can’t say too much changed while I was away from the office. It was, as it should be, business as usual. Now, I can’t say I’m an expert on this, because I’ve only […]

Being a Remote-Enabled Team

Leadership

Being a remote-enabled team doesn’t mean you are remote-first. It means that you’re open to your colleagues occasionally working (or maybe full time) from home (or wherever). Today, I’m going to explain how my team at Careem is a remote-enabled team and what that means for our work and culture. It’s scary Having employees work […]

How to Give Feedback

Leadership

At Careem we like to give feedback as often as possible and as honest as possible. It can be quite a shock for those who are new to the company. You may be confronted over something you’ve done, or you’ll get a shout out at the next company meeting. In this post, I’ll go over […]

I am a Good Manager

Essay Leadership

When we think about managers, we think about people we know (or knew) who have shaped us. We think about people we either look up to or despise. We think about people who are incompetent, and you could do their job better, or those you are amazed at their time management skills. I’d like to […]

Onboarding New Engineers

Leadership

Onboarding is the most important time for establishing company culture and keeping your employees. It’s a time when new joiners form opinions on the team that they’re working with, management, and processes. If you mess this up, you’ll have to work to fix the opinions of your newbies. I’ve been onboarded now a few times, and […]