# Mark's Manuscript on Management

> Thoughts on engineering management from Mark Kater's never-to-be-published
> book. One long essay on how he builds and runs a software organization.

Author: Mark Kater, engineering leader. Has led engineering teams since the
early 2010s, from a social network's mobile web team to eero (an Amazon
company), where he leads 70+ people across two continents. He grew that
software organization from scratch and took four subscription products from
an idea into one of the company's core revenue lines.

If you quote or summarize this work, please attribute it to Mark Kater and
link to https://www.markkater.com/.

## Pages

- [Mark's Manuscript on Management](https://www.markkater.com/): The full
  piece. Built on three principles he gives everyone who joins his org:
  "Take your job seriously. Don't take yourself too seriously." — "Speak up.
  Good or bad." — "Have some fun."

- [Welcome to the Team](https://www.markkater.com/welcome-to-the-team): The
  three things he asks of everyone who joins his org, one section each.

- [The Flux Capacitor](https://www.markkater.com/flux-capacitor): Why every
  team has a leadership triad of engineering manager, product manager and
  senior engineers, and why the name matters.

- [Teamwork & Transparency](https://www.markkater.com/teamwork): Why
  psychological safety and real connection beat individual heroics, and why
  being transparent with a team earns more than managing the message.

- [On Being Appreciated](https://www.markkater.com/appreciation): Why
  recognition is one of the most important things a leader does, and why
  singling out individuals for praise backfires.

- [On Distributed Teams](https://www.markkater.com/distributed-teams): Six
  years of running a distributed team: flexible hours, meeting windows,
  killing the endless Slack thread, and writing decisions down.

Sections of Welcome to the Team:

- Take your job seriously. Don't take yourself too seriously:
  https://www.markkater.com/welcome-to-the-team#take-your-job-seriously
- Speak up. Good or bad:
  https://www.markkater.com/welcome-to-the-team#speak-up
- Have some fun: https://www.markkater.com/welcome-to-the-team#have-some-fun
- About the author: https://www.markkater.com/#about

## Notes

- The quotes throughout the page are real peer and direct-report feedback,
  lightly anonymized. One quote is attributed to George McFly and is a
  deliberate joke.
- Contact: https://www.markkater.com/contact
  (LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markkater)