Switching Hats

I have noticed in the past that switching between IC and management is a struggle. When I am spending a lot of time coding, it’s hard for me to wear my project manager hat, or to focus on processes, or thinking about improving the team’s productivity. This is quite evident in 1:1s - I am unable to provide meaningful feedback. Tunnel-vision sets in and I become a worst manager and leader because of that. If I try to do both, I am doing two things half baked. Either my code output drops dramatically, or my mind is not fully on the other duties - both suffer.

The role of a manager in a small company is a bag of random unrelated things. Small coding tasks are part of the responsibilities. But because I haven’t coded consistently for a while, even a small task can take double the time it would usually take. It deeply frustrates me and imposter syndrome settles in.

This is a problem I am still trying to figure out.