A Different Kind of Promotion

I thought I understood leadership. I’d spent years as an architect designing systems, mentoring teams, and shaping delivery. Then I was promoted to manage other managers (we call them engineering & delivery leads), and discovered I’d changed professions entirely.

It felt less like climbing a ladder and more like switching from engineering to diplomacy. This post is about that leap: what changes, what breaks, and how to rebuild yourself into the kind of leader who creates other leaders.

This is Part 1 of a 10-part series on transitioning from engineering to management. Over the coming weeks, I’ll share practical lessons on delegation, financial literacy, client management, and building systems that scale. These are the things I wish someone had told me when I made the leap from architect to manager of managers.

The Myth of Promotion

Most engineers see management as a higher rung on the same ladder. It isn’t. It’s a lateral transfer into a new discipline with different success metrics, incentives, and failure modes.

When you step into management, the unit of work changes from code to people. When you step into managing managers, the unit changes again: from people to systems.

You stop asking “How do I solve this problem?” and start asking “How do I design a structure where this problem gets solved without me?”

It took me too long to figure out this one myself.

Skipping Steps and Paying for It

I didn’t become a manager after being a senior developer. I went straight from architect to manager of managers. That shortcut gave me visibility and responsibility, and left a few blind spots.

I’d spent years as a team lead, so I knew how to give feedback and run 1-on-1s. But I’d never managed salaries, promotions, or budgets. I’d never had to decide who gets a raise and who doesn’t. I’d never had to balance headcount against delivery capacity.

If you’ve skipped the same steps, fill the gap intentionally:

Ask to review/attend/observe budget planning sessions. See how headcount, salaries, and margins connect.

Learn how promotions really work. Understand the criteria, timing, and political dynamics.

Shadow compensation conversations. Watch how senior leaders discuss raises and leveling.

Build empathy for line managers before you start directing them. Understand their daily pressures.

Architects think in diagrams. Managers think in calendars. Managing managers requires mastering both.

New Accountabilities: People, Profit, and Predictability

Architects own design quality. Managers own delivery quality. Managers of managers own everything else.

1. People

You’re responsible for hiring, retention, and the culture that keeps the lights on. Your best code review now happens in hiring interviews, sales proposals and budget discussions.

2. Profit

You’ll start hearing about utilization, rates, and margins. At first it feels uncomfortable, almost mercenary. Then you realize that profit is what funds growth, raises, and innovation. Ignoring it isn’t noble, it’s negligent, even stupid.

3. Predictability

Your organization’s reputation now depends on consistency. A healthy system delivers without drama. Stakeholders will forgive mistakes, but never surprises.

What You Need to Unlearn

Your biggest challenge isn’t what you don’t know. It’s what you can’t stop doing.

Stop being the hero. If you’re still fixing everything, you’re the bottleneck.

Stop chasing elegance. Perfect solutions rarely scale under business constraints. Volume (just doing more, rather than perfect) will get you up to speed quicker than perfection.

Stop measuring yourself by your individual throughput. Your job now is to build throughput in others.

Start thinking in systems. Policies, rituals, and incentives are your new architecture diagrams.

Start measuring trust. When people bring you bad news early, you’re doing it right.

Preparing for the Shift

You don’t need an MBA to think like a business leader, but you do need curiosity about how value flows.

Six practical moves:

Seek mentors outside engineering. Your DM, heads of units, directors, finance partners, delivery leads, etc. will expand your lens.

Include more business books in your reading list. Next one on mine is The Goal.

Try making yourself a part of budget and/or proposal reviews. Exposure demystifies numbers fast.

Keep a leadership journal. Track what decisions worked, not what tasks finished.

Reflect on your identity. You’re no longer paid for your code but for your clarity.

Know your place. Don’t be like one of the mayoral candidates speaking about international relationships. Focus on taking care of your DM’s workload you are responsible for, and enabling those you manage to do the same for you. Expand only after you have this under control.

Final Thoughts

Once you start thinking in outcomes rather than outputs, you’ll never look at engineering the same way again. Management isn’t the reward for good technical work. It’s the consequence of wanting wider impact, and being willing to learn a whole new craft.

Engineering teaches you to build systems. Leadership teaches you to build the people who build systems.

✅ Key Takeaway

The transition from architect to manager of managers isn’t a promotion, it’s a profession change. You’ll need to unlearn hero mode, embrace business thinking, and measure success by the systems you create rather than the problems you solve directly.

This article is part of my series “From Engineering to Management.”

Full Series:

• Part 1: A Different Kind of Promotion (this post)
• Part 2: Delegation, Leverage, and the Myth of Control (Coming October 30)
• Part 3: The Manager’s New Metrics (Coming November 3)
• Part 4: The Business of Engineering (Coming November 6)
• Part 5: Beyond Delivery: Contracts, Upsells, and Renewals (Coming November 10)
• Part 6: Packaging and Positioning (Coming November 13)
• Part 7: Market Awareness as a Leadership Skill (Coming November 17)
• Part 8: Managing Expectations (Coming November 20)
• Part 9: People Leadership in a Business Context (Coming November 24)
• Part 10: From Manager to Business Leader (Coming December 1)

Have you made a similar transition in your career? What surprised you most about moving from technical work to managing managers? I’d love to hear about your experience and what you wish someone had told you before you made the leap.