Whoa an EM that talks to clients? A rare treat. I just got a browbeating because I (an IC) didn't jump at the chance to do more (that) for ~free~ growth. Ahem.

Mind you, we have piles of both kinds of PMs: product, project. Best I can tell, they play video games between calls/status updates. Forgot the blur on more than one occasion. Clownshow, myself included.

I wholeheartedly agree with point 7 Your goal is for your team to thrive without you.

I spent a lot of time also playing a Scrum Master role in addition to my regular duties. So much so that some managers asked me to pursue this full time. I always explained that my goal is to be there just as a point of contact and that the team should be able to manage itself.

Sadly, I see so many managers, scrum masters, or even regular engineers consider this as a dumb approach to make yourself replaceable. If you don't hoard knowledge then you'll be laid off when the company's numbers look bad.

Damn, this person looks like a good manager.

These are all things I have seen in my good managers over the years when I had them.

I completely agree with point 9

This is clearly a good EM. Agreed with pretty much everything, being on the engineering side. Stuff that seems trivial and obvious but that a lot of EMs miss.

Why do people espouse goals like “not to be needed?” I never understood that. It sounds like LinkedIn virtue signaling. It’s a capitalist talking point along the lines of “I seek to be good and inexpensive capital for my corporate masters.”

My goal is to help my team succeed in such a way as to keep my job or else get a better one. Being “not needed” hardly serves that goal.

Look around you. We are in a world that is turning away from middle managers. Don’t play into their hands.