The Art of Leadership

Foreword

Whenever I hired a new engineer at Instagram, I would tell them: “Welcome! This is now officially the biggest team I’ve ever managed.” Scaling Instagram’s engineering team from 2 to 500 in just a few years necessitated a crash course in the principles, behaviors, and habits that make for successful teams and helpful managers. During that time I was a sponge, absorbing advice from coaches, books, articles. Top of my sponge list? Reading Lopp’s books and articles, and later getting thoughts from the man himself.

Those years of building out the team taught me that management is fundamentally about uncovering information—roadblocks your team is facing, interpersonal friction, etc.—and then slicing through the BS to find the right way forward. Doing it well means getting good at both of those. On the information front, it means asking the right questions and designing an intentional culture that fosters truth telling. In terms of finding a path forward, it means learning about the universe of possible solutions and then choosing the best one for the particular situation.

That’s the “what”; Lopp is here to show us the “how.” And the “how” is a continuous process of self-improvement built by understanding, adopting, and refining the right habits and practices—the small things, done well.

The first time you try out a new management nugget—one of Lopp’s small things—it’ll probably feel a little uncomfortable, like a new shirt that hasn’t yet been tailored. Your team might wonder ...