The Cardinal Sin Of Management: Micromanaging

This segment outlines why micromanagement is a hallmark of poor engineering leadership and how effective managers empower their teams instead of controlling them. It offers a comprehensive look at how hands-off, trust-based leadership enables better team performance and growth.

• Micromanagement is a red flag: Hovering over engineers’ work or constantly asking for status updates wastes time, erodes trust, and stifles ownership.
• Effective managers lead through trust and empowerment: Autonomy allows engineers to make decisions and own outcomes, with structured check-ins (e.g., weekly or bi-weekly) to stay aligned.
• Staying out of technical weeds is critical: A manager's role should focus on people, not code reviews, engineering meetings, or day-to-day task assignments—those should be handled by tech leads or the engineers themselves.
• Micromanagement creates systemic risks: It builds dependency, slows down team velocity, and makes the manager a single point of failure. If the manager leaves, the team may lack the tools or confidence to function independently.
• Lack of trust leads to poor career growth: Engineers under micromanagement are less likely to take initiative or learn leadership skills, hindering their path to promotion and long-term development.