A Masterclass on Managing Up Shreyas Doshi

Click to expand the mind map for a detailed view.

Key Takeaways

Regular Communication: Maintain constant and regular communication with your management through status updates and one-on-ones to ensure alignment and visibility.
Escalate When Needed: Don’t hesitate to escalate issues and share the challenges you’re facing with your manager to ensure they understand the difficulty of your role.
Align with Priorities: Actively align your product and team’s priorities with your manager’s and the company’s goals, even if it requires frequent adjustments.
Delegate Effectively: Delegate tasks like status updates to team members who enjoy them, allowing you to focus on higher-impact work.
Overcommunicate Wins: Regularly emphasize your team’s successes to your manager, even if they already know about them, to reinforce your value.
Balance High Agency: While high agency is a strength, ensure you’re not overburdening yourself by failing to escalate or share frustrations with your manager.

Status Updates: Regularly send status updates to keep your manager informed, even if it feels like a low-priority task.
- Actionable Insight: Delegate status updates to team members who enjoy writing them, freeing up your time for higher-impact work.
- Actionable Insight: Use status updates as a tool to overcommunicate wins and progress, ensuring your manager is always aware of your team’s achievements.
- Actionable Insight: Balance async updates (emails, reports) with sync communication (one-on-ones) to maintain a strong connection with your manager.

High Agency Pitfall: High agency can lead to under-escalation, where you take on too much without seeking help.
- Actionable Insight: Proactively share frustrations and challenges with your manager to give them a clear picture of your job’s difficulty.
- Actionable Insight: Escalate issues early, especially when cross-functional partners are not aligned, to avoid unnecessary delays.
- Actionable Insight: Use one-on-ones to discuss not just progress but also the obstacles you’re facing, ensuring your manager is fully informed.

Manager’s Priorities: Constantly align your team’s work with your manager’s and the company’s priorities.
- Actionable Insight: Actively solicit feedback from your manager on their current priorities and concerns to ensure alignment.
- Actionable Insight: Attend meetings where you can gather real-time signals about shifting priorities and adjust your team’s focus accordingly.
- Actionable Insight: Be cautious of over-aligning with every company initiative, as it can lead to team whiplash and reduced focus on core goals.

Task Delegation: Delegate tasks like status updates to team members who enjoy them, allowing you to focus on strategic work.
- Actionable Insight: Identify team members who excel at or enjoy tasks you dislike, and delegate those tasks to them.
- Actionable Insight: Empower team members to send updates directly, reducing your workload while still keeping management informed.
- Actionable Insight: Use delegation as a way to develop your team’s skills and confidence, creating a more self-sufficient team.

Reinforce Success: Regularly highlight your team’s successes to your manager, even if they already know about them.
- Actionable Insight: Use one-on-ones to emphasize recent wins, ensuring your manager remembers your team’s contributions.
- Actionable Insight: Frame updates in a way that ties your team’s achievements to broader company goals, reinforcing your value.
- Actionable Insight: Don’t assume your manager remembers everything; overcommunication ensures your successes are top of mind.

High Agency Challenges: High agency can lead to under-escalation and overburdening yourself with challenges.
- Actionable Insight: Share your frustrations and challenges with your manager, even if you’re confident in solving them yourself.
- Actionable Insight: Use escalation as a tool to ensure your manager understands the complexity of your role and the support you need.
- Actionable Insight: Balance your high agency with regular check-ins to ensure you’re not taking on more than you can handle.

“A status update is rarely an L task, usually an N task, and often enough an O task.”
“When you have very high agency, the challenge is that you’re not afraid of any problem and you make every problem yours to solve.”
“Escalating and sharing frustrations with your manager is crucial to ensure they understand how hard your job is.”
“Aligning your product with your manager’s priorities is key, but it requires constant check-ins and adjustments.”
“Delegating tasks like status updates to team members who enjoy them can free up your time for higher-impact work.”
“Overcommunicating wins ensures your manager remembers your team’s contributions, even if they already know about them.”
“High agency is a strength, but it can lead to under-escalation and overburdening yourself with challenges.”
“In fast-paced organizations, priorities can shift quickly, so staying aligned requires constant communication.”
“Sometimes, showing complete alignment with management priorities comes at the cost of team whiplash or reduced focus on core goals.”
“Effective delegation not only reduces your workload but also empowers your team and builds their confidence.”