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Charity Majors

What Charity Majors thinks about management

@charity-majors · 56 positions · 1 change of mind · On ppll ↗

Co-founder and CTO of Honeycomb, previously an infrastructure engineer at Parse, Facebook and Linden Lab. Co-author of "Database Reliability Engineering" and "Observability Engineering". Writes at charity.wtf about on-call, hierarchy, hiring and the engineer/manager pendulum.

Charity Majors did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Charity Majors on management. See everyone on management

14 dated positions, 2017 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Charity Majors has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingKind leaders usually do beat sociopaths in the same role, but only if they are also good at business.

    Their wordsit's it's not enough to be a good person. I believe that people who are kind and care about people can and and usually do do better than sociopaths in the same roles, but only if they're good at business.

    ↗Stop being skeptical about AI for development with Charity Majorsyoutube.com 25th of 26 in this recording

  2. 20 months earlier

  3. Our reading"Hire great people and get out of their way" is dangerous advice for anyone in a leadership role.

    Their wordsEarlier this year I started writing a piece on why “hire great people and get out of their way” is such terrible, dangerous, counterproductive advice to give anyone in a leadership role.

    ↗“Founder Mode” and the Art of Mythmakingcharity.wtf 1st of 8 in this piece

  5. Our readingNeither running everything through the founder nor pushing decisions down is the better way to run a company; each only works if it fits that company’s own resources and values.

    Their wordsEither can work. Both have tradeoffs and implications. If you try to import either philosophy wholesale, it will break in unexpected ways; if you try to mix and match, it will probably be an unfettered nightmare.

    ↗“Founder Mode” and the Art of Mythmakingcharity.wtf 3rd of 8 in this piece

  6. 11 months earlier

  7. Our readingHierarchy is not intrinsically authoritarian: it is a property of self-organising systems that emerges for the benefit of the parts.

    Their wordsBut hierarchy is not intrinsically authoritarian. Hierarchy did not originate as a political structure that humans invented for controlling and dominating one another, it is in fact a property of self-organizing systems, and it emerges for the benefit of the subsystems.

    ↗Questionable Advice: "My boss says we don’t need any engineering managers. Is he right?"charity.wtf 1st of 5 in this piece

  9. Our readingIf building the organisation is nobody’s first job, it will not get done well.

    Their wordsIf you aren’t making building the organization someone’s number one job, it won’t be anyone’s number one job, which means it probably won’t get done very well.

    ↗Questionable Advice: "My boss says we don’t need any engineering managers. Is he right?"charity.wtf 2nd of 5 in this piece

  11. Our readingFlat, manager-free organisations do not deliver the equality they promise: they get abandoned, and the informal power left behind is unaccountable.

    Their wordsOn the other hand, the manager-free experiments I’m aware of (e.g. holacracy at Medium and GitHub, or “Choose Your Own Work” at Linden Lab) have all been quietly abandoned or outgrown.

    ↗Questionable Advice: "My boss says we don’t need any engineering managers. Is he right?"charity.wtf 3rd of 5 in this piece

  13. Our readingA few larger teams under experienced engineering managers outperform many tiny teams each led by a working tech lead.

    Their wordsBut everything I have ever experienced leads me to believe that a fewer number of larger teams, each helmed by an experienced engineering manager, should way outperform this gaggle of tiny groups.

    ↗Questionable Advice: "My boss says we don’t need any engineering managers. Is he right?"charity.wtf 4th of 5 in this piece

  14. 15 months earlier

  15. Our readingTreating the org chart as a ladder on which higher is always better is the central lie of hierarchy.

    Their wordsThe “Big Lie” of hierarchy is that your organizational structure is a vertical tree from the CEO on down, where higher up is always better.

    ↗The Hierarchy Is Bullshit (And Bad For Business)charity.wtf 1st of 3 in this piece

  16. 3 months earlier

  17. Our readingEngineers should own their code in production, and it is management’s job to make sure that on-call does not suck.

    Their wordsIt is engineering’s job to own their code in production. It is management’s job to make sure it doesn’t suck.

    ↗Why On-Call Pain Is A Sociotechnical Problemcharity.wtf 2nd of 5 in this piece

  19. Our readingBeing woken up two or three times a year on call is reasonable, and more than that is a management failure rather than an engineering one.

    Their wordsIt’s reasonable to be woken up two to three times a year when on call. But more than that is not okay.

    ↗Why On-Call Pain Is A Sociotechnical Problemcharity.wtf 3rd of 5 in this piece

  21. Our readingOn-call is part of an engineer’s job rather than something to be paid extra for, except where paying for it is the only way to make management fund the reliability work.

    Their wordsI generally come down on the side of ‘no, it’s part of the job,’ just like it is for doctors.

    ↗Why On-Call Pain Is A Sociotechnical Problemcharity.wtf 5th of 5 in this piece

  22. 5 years earlier

  23. Our readingMaking management the only path to career progression is a mistake that costs a company the senior engineers it needs.

    Their wordsFuck the whole idea that only managers get career progression.

    ↗The Engineer/Manager Pendulumcharity.wtf 1st of 4 in this piece

  25. Our readingThe best engineering managers are never more than two or three years away from hands-on work, and the best individual contributors have done time in management.

    Their wordsThe best frontline eng managers in the world are the ones that are never more than 2-3 years removed from hands-on work, full time down in the trenches. The best individual contributors are the ones who have done time in management.

    ↗The Engineer/Manager Pendulumcharity.wtf 2nd of 4 in this piece

  27. Our readingA manager’s calendar and an engineer’s calendar are incompatible, because management is interruptive and good engineering requires blocking interruptions out.

    Their wordsManagement is highly interruptive, and great engineering — where you’re learning things — requires blocking out interruptions. You can’t do these two opposite things at once.

    ↗The Engineer/Manager Pendulumcharity.wtf 4th of 4 in this piece