“The Manager’s Path” maps out the technical management career ladder, from mentoring junior engineers to navigating the C-suite. Camille Fournier delivers on her promise: a practical guide through each stage of engineering leadership.
What makes this book valuable isn’t just its completeness; it’s that you can return to it at each career transition. Think of it as a field guide that grows more relevant as you progress.
“Feedback works best when you, as a manager, pair that feedback with coaching.”
Feedback is perhaps the most underutilised management tool. Done well, it improves performance, prevents problems from festering, and establishes clear standards. Fournier nails the psychology: “When they believe that their manager sees the good things they do, they’ll be more open to hearing about the areas where they might improve.”
The shift from individual contributor to leader requires a fundamental reorientation: your impact now flows through others. Feedback becomes your primary lever for multiplying that impact.
“One-on-one meetings with your manager are an essential feature of a good working relationship.”
Fournier makes the case for one-on-ones early and often, and she’s right to do so.
She identifies two core purposes:
- Create a human connection between you and your manager
- Provide a regular opportunity for private discussion about whatever needs addressing
These aren’t just nice-to-haves. Without regular one-on-ones, you lose your primary channel for coaching, feedback, challenging conversations, and understanding what’s really happening with your team. The urgent always crowds out the important unless you protect this time.
Fournier also shares a great piece of wisdom:
“Skipping one-on-ones because you’re too busy with other things is a great way to miss the warning signs of an employee who is going to quit.”
“It’s unrealistic to think you can or should shield your team from everything.”
The conventional wisdom tells managers to shield their teams from organisational chaos. There’s truth here, constantly dumping stress on your team destroys focus and morale.
But Fournier offers a more nuanced view:
“Sometimes it’s appropriate to let some stress through to the team. The goal is not to stress them out but to help them get context into what they’re dealing with.”
People need to understand the why behind their work. Context drives better decisions, increases ownership, and helps teams navigate ambiguity independently.
The art lies in calibrating how much context to share. Too little, and your team makes decisions in a vacuum. Too much, and they’re paralysed by organisational drama.
Fournier’s reminder cuts through the paternalism: “You are not their parent.” Treat your team like the professionals they are. Include them in challenges and decisions. They’ll surprise you with their ability to handle complexity when given the chance.
“Starting new reporting relationships off right”
For new hires, Fournier advocates for structured onboarding through 30/60/90 day plans:
“This can include basic goals, like getting up to speed on the code, committing a bug fix, or performing a release. The more senior the hire, the more they should participate in creating this plan. You want them to have clear goals that will show whether they’re learning the right things as they get up to speed.”
A good 90-day plan serves double duty: it speeds up productive contribution while surfacing hiring mistakes early. Clear milestones remove ambiguity about performance for both manager and new hire.
The plan should reflect reality: your codebase complexity, your team’s current projects, and the seniority of the role. Generic onboarding checklists miss the point. Tailor expectations to your actual environment, and you’ll set people up for success.
The path forward
“The Manager’s Path” succeeds because it resists the temptation to offer universal truths. Instead, Fournier provides frameworks and principles that adapt to your context. The book acknowledges what many management books ignore: that technical leadership is fundamentally different from general management, and that the path isn’t linear.
Each chapter builds on the last, but you don’t need to read them in order. Skip to what you need now. Return when you face new challenges. The book’s structure mirrors the reality of management growth, sometimes you’re thrust into situations before you feel ready, and you need guidance fast.
What stays consistent across all levels is the emphasis on human connection, clear communication, and deliberate practice. Whether you’re mentoring your first junior engineer or navigating board meetings as a CTO, these fundamentals don’t change. They just get applied at different scales and contexts.
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