We promoted our top software engineer to the engineering manager seat. He gets the seat and has the technical capacity, but he hates managing people and has openly admitted he does not want that part of the job. He wants to go back to coding but we have no other management candidates. How do we handle this GWC issue?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Promoting your best technical performer to a management seat is a common trap. If your top software engineer gets the engineering manager seat and has the capacity to do the work, but hates managing people, they fail the Want portion of the GWC test. You cannot motivate someone to want a seat they dread.

Keeping them in this seat is a recipe for disaster. They will likely neglect their management duties to focus on coding, leading to disengaged direct reports and operational bottlenecks. You must have the courage to admit the mistake and move them back to an individual contributor seat.

To do this without demoralizing them, reframe the move as a strategic alignment of their strengths. Create a high-level individual contributor seat on your Accountability Chart, such as Lead Architect, that allows them to focus purely on high-level coding and technical strategy without any people-management responsibilities. This protects your star performer while freeing you up to find a manager who truly gets, wants, and has the capacity to lead the team.