Continuous Learning

For engineering managers, “continuous learning” often feels like another item on an already overflowing plate. We push our teams to embrace it, to stay current with tech, and to refine their skills. But how often do we genuinely prioritize our own learning, and more importantly, how do we make it stick amidst the daily fire drills?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of equating learning with attending conferences or completing online courses. While valuable, these are often inputs – activities we do – rather than true learning – a demonstrable change in behavior or capability. This article isn't about adding more to your to-do list; it's about embedding learning into the fabric of your management practice, making it sustainable, and ensuring it actually impacts how you lead.

Why This Matters

The pace of change in our industry demands continuous adaptation. As leaders, our ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn isn’t just a professional asset – it’s the competitive advantage for our teams and organizations. However, we often neglect our own learning amidst the pressures of delivery, inadvertently creating a gap between what we expect from our teams and what we model ourselves.

The Problem with Experience: Why We Don't Always Learn

Ironically, experience itself isn’t always a great teacher. Jørgensen and Sjøberg’s 2000 paper, “The Importance of NOT Learning from Experience,” highlights a crucial point: we often reinforce existing biases and assumptions through experience rather than genuinely learning new patterns. As managers, we can quickly become stuck in “how we’ve always done things,” even when those methods are demonstrably inefficient or ineffective.

This is compounded by the speed of change in our industry. What worked last year (or even last month) might be obsolete tomorrow. Blindly relying on past experience without actively challenging it is a recipe for stagnation – for both you and your team.

Shifting from "Doing" Learning to "Being" a Learner

So, how do we break this cycle? Here’s a framework built around three key areas: Reflection, Experimentation, and Shared Learning. (Consider a simple diagram here showing three overlapping circles, each labeled with one of these concepts.)

1. Reflection: Making Time to Think

This is the most challenging, yet arguably the most important, element. We are rewarded for doing, not thinking. But without dedicated time for reflection, we’re simply reacting to events instead of proactively shaping outcomes.

• Regular Retrospectives (For Yourself): Yes, you run them for your team. Now run one for yourself. 15-30 minutes each week to review the past week: What went well? What could have gone better? What did I learn? What will I do differently next time? Don't just think about what happened, but why. It’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing solely on outcomes; dedicate time to understanding how you arrived at those outcomes, and what underlying assumptions influenced your decisions.
• Journaling: A powerful tool for surfacing underlying assumptions and identifying patterns. It doesn’t need to be extensive; a few quick notes each day can be incredibly insightful.
• "Pre-Mortems": Before launching a new initiative or process, conduct a “pre-mortem”. Imagine it's six months in the future and the initiative has failed spectacularly. What went wrong? This forces you to identify potential risks and challenges before they materialize.

2. Experimentation: Embracing Calculated Risks

Learning isn’t just about absorbing information; it's about applying it. As managers, we need to create a safe space for experimentation, both for our teams and ourselves.

• Small Bets: Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Identify a small, manageable change you can implement and measure its impact. This could be a new meeting format, a different approach to code review, or a tweak to your communication style.
• A/B Testing (For Management): Treat your management practices like a system. Try different approaches and measure the results. For example, try giving one team member more autonomy on a task while closely guiding another – observe the results and adjust your approach accordingly.
• Seek Out "Weak Signals": Pay attention to emerging trends and technologies, even if they don't seem immediately relevant. Attend webinars, read industry blogs, and engage with thought leaders. These "weak signals" can provide valuable insights into the future.

3. Shared Learning: Cultivating a Learning Organization

Learning shouldn’t be a solitary pursuit. Creating a culture of shared learning amplifies its impact and fosters innovation.

• Knowledge Sharing Sessions: Encourage your team to share their learnings with each other. This could be a formal presentation, a casual brown bag lunch, or a dedicated Slack channel.
• "Learning Buddies": Pair team members with different skill sets or experience levels to facilitate knowledge transfer.
• Post-Incident Reviews (Beyond Blameless Postmortems): Postmortems are great for understanding what went wrong. Add a section focusing on what we learned and how we will prevent this from happening again. Crucially, document these learnings and make them accessible to the entire team. This isn’t just about preventing recurrence; it's about building a collective knowledge base.
• Be Vulnerable: Share your own learning journey with your team. Admit when you make mistakes, and talk about what you’re learning. This creates a safe space for others to do the same. Acknowledging your own struggles normalizes the learning process and fosters psychological safety.

Making Incremental Advances: The Long Game

Continuous learning isn’t a destination; it’s a process. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. Focus on making incremental advances, consistently challenging your assumptions, and creating a culture of learning within your team. While quantifying the impact of these practices can be challenging, the benefits of proactive reflection and experimentation are widely recognized.

Remember, as engineering managers, our most valuable asset isn’t our technical expertise; it’s our ability to learn, adapt, and guide our teams through constant change. Prioritize your own learning, and you’ll empower your team to do the same.

This week, schedule 30 minutes for a personal retrospective. What's one thing you learned, and how will you apply it?