Manager.dev: The Engineering Manager Newsletter

Weekly insights for engineering managers.

Written by Anton Zaides

146 posts

Apr 1, 2025

The 13 software engineering laws

Hyrum's law, Conway’s law, Zawinski's law, and 10 others.

238.2k

Mar 3

Don't become an Engineering Manager

Should you become an engineering manager?

93.2k

Jun 24, 2025

The software engineering "squeeze"

Becoming a software engineer was a life hack. The best profession on earth deserved the wake up call

69.6k

Nov 12, 2024

The slow death of the hands-on engineering manager

And how to combat it. The story of an EM who created a ChatGPT for the internal docs in a few hours

62.7k

Apr 30, 2024

Distracting software engineers is much more harmful than you think

Why software engineers MUST have no-distractions time

58.9k

Feb 13, 2024

Improve your SQL skills X2 in 5 minutes

SQL for managers is an underrated skill

39.1k

Apr 29, 2025

5 Powerful Persuasion Methods for Engineering Managers

Insider tips to drive results, accelerate decisions, and build consensus from a former Google Engineering Director

36.3k

Mar 17

The unwritten laws of software engineering

Last April, I wrote a well-received article about the 13 software engineering laws - Hyrum’s, Conway’s, Zawinski’s, and 10 famous others.

34.6k

Mar 26, 2024

The Guide to Stock Options conversations

Why every manager should talk to their employees about stock options

32.2k

Jun 16

The "I don't know, Claude wrote this" pandemic

When Claude drives you off the cliff

31.6k

Mar 5, 2024

Feature flags are ruining your codebase

The dangers of letting PMs control them

31.2k

Dec 10, 2024

Using fake deadlines without driving your engineers crazy

The 5 most common mistakes of managers and how to avoid them

31.2k

Jul 8, 2025

Stop forcing AI tools on your engineers

What software engineers really need from their managers right now

28.7k

Apr 7

Engineering Managers are going to hate OpenClaw

A ChatGPT-like wave of hype is about to hit us, and you should be afraid

28.5k

Oct 29, 2024

Why sprints are taking the joy out of building software

A short rant about broken sprints and possible alternatives

26.9k

Jan 23, 2024

Hiring ONLY seniors is the worst policy in the software industry

Why you should hire a junior for your next open position

26.6k

Dec 16, 2025

5 engineering dogmas it's time to retire

A few months ago, I wrote about 13 software engineering laws, which are observations about how software projects behave.

26.3k

Jul 7

The software engineering war

Most of us picked a side and won't budge. Which one are you on?

25.9k

Aug 12, 2025

Engineering Management in the Age of Agents

Why I'm very optimistic about Engineering Managers

25.1k

Nov 18, 2025

Shadow work in engineering teams

And the price your team pays for it

24.1k

May 19

The un-hateable engineering managers

The lie of Radical Candor and ruining an engineer's day

24.0k

Aug 6, 2024

"20% for tech debt" doesn't work

5 traps will stop your technical vision from happening

23.8k

Sep 26, 2023

How I destroyed the company's DB

And survived to talk about it

23.6k

Apr 8, 2025

The 7 must-read Engineering Management books

Written by Engineering Managers, for Engineering Managers. All you need to know about your job.

23.3k

Sep 15

The broken windows theory of coding agents

When my most experienced engineer got tired of our shitty code

23.3k

Jul 14

Explaining to business people why building software is still hard

Manager.dev

Explaining to business people why building software is still hard

23.0k

Jul 29, 2025

Team got cut. Scope didn’t.

When you are asked to "do more with less"

22.3k

Oct 21, 2025

The price of mandatory code reviews

Challenging the unwritten law of software engineering

21.7k

Oct 6, 2025

Build your engineering team like a dungeon party

What's your ideal engineering team mix?

21.4k

Jan 9, 2024

Product Management is broken, a change is coming

It started as a promising concept:

21.3k