Notes from the intersection of email infrastructure, engineering culture, and figuring it out as you go.
Developers using AI tools ship features faster. Designers iterate more quickly. Data scientists analyze in minutes what used to take days. More output per person means fewer people needed for the same goals. Which means fewer managers.
The reality is often far different — rather than being a mechanism for the employee to share questions and concerns, a 1:1 can easily become a mechanism for the manager to get status updates, share information on upcoming projects, and solve problems. It becomes a command performance that, far from putting the employee at ease, raises their stress level.
I reached for a trick I’ve used many times when learning new computer languages. I decided to build something interesting but hard. It needed to be something that would require me to use the language’s features.
I thought I was the one who had to get the work done — to be the expert, to guide the technical direction of the team, to be the idea guy. In football terms, I saw myself as the running back — give me the ball and watch me score the touchdown. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Engineering Manager at Klaviyo, leading Email Platforms. I write about the lessons I've learned navigating tech management — the wins, the failures, and everything in between.
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