Transition to Management, Retain Your Soul: Leading with Reason & Ethics When Business Has Neither

Are you a dev transitioning to management, or a new manager struggling to succeed? The constraints of business, whether you’re in an agency or on an internal team, can conspire against your success and your peace of mind at every turn. But here’s the good news: by starting with ourselves, we can fix it. I'll talk about 9 lessons I learned on the road to managing with decency and humanity, from some very smart people, a couple bummer jobs, and some (occasionally cringeworthy) lived experience. 

• Lesson One: Kill your vision 
  Why if anybody starts calling you a visionary leader, you should definitely start to worry
• Lesson Two: Get over yourself 
  Management is a learned skill, and it starts with learning who you are...yeah, even the icky parts.
• Lesson Three: Advocate-Leaders wear combat boots
  Want to be an 'advocate-leader'? Learn how to kick down some doors! (Figuratively, of course.)
• Lesson Four: Diversity and inclusion are not Google AdWords
  Making your org walk the walk, advocating for others, and using privilege for good
• Lesson Five: “You are responsible for other people’s children, don’t screw up” 
  Solid advice from my Mom about accepting responsibility for those who depend on you
• Lesson Six: Getting your org to commit (to open source)
  Contributing back is part of your job, and what to do if your org says no
• Lesson Seven: The good, the bad, and the vaporware
  Vendor management is a skill; how to protect yourself, identify good partners, and hold on to them
• Lesson Eight: Enough with the disruption already
  Its not enough to build Cool Stuff. You have to build Cool Stuff That Matters.
• Lesson Nine: You are the means of production
  Your physical and mental health matter, and so do those of your employees.