ENGINEERING LEADERS
Leadership mentoring topics
Engineering Managers,
Team leaders
With first-time leaders, my goal is to set you up for success in 3-6 months instead of letting you sink or swim for 2 years.
Is your startup development team growing from 2 to 6 people? Do you feel the pressure balancing technical scope (coding, architecture, reviews) and interpersonal responsibilities (1:1s, setting priorities, strategy, development life cycle)? To top it off, is your manager asking you to focus on hiring new people, onboarding, agility, team education, while having tight delivery deadlines?
I guide you to set up your leadership foundation and fix priorities right.
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Set me up for a new manager role! Raise my potential. Our company grows faster than myself.
- How do I educate myself and outrun others? What engineering leadership sources/blogposts/podcasts are worth following?
- What to focus on in the first three months in the team leader role? I want to ensure my team succeeds.
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I'm lost in the priorities of my team. It's more of a firefight
.
- 🤡 What is broken in my agility pipeline? Our ceremonies are a mess. We deliver half of sprints all the time.
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There is no teamwork. Our team is a bunch of individuals.
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I have an under-performer or a silent introvert in my team. What options do I have? How to involve them?
- How to cooperate with your Product manager, Agile coach, and stakeholders.
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How to communicate with your peers and your direct manager.
- Help my identify my sweet spot and land my dream job. 🛬
- Do I want to go the manager track or the senior technical track?
- How do I conduct better 1️⃣:1️⃣'s?
- Help me to plan roadmap initiatives for a successful 8️⃣0️⃣%+ roadmap delivery.
- 📐What are the right quality and success metrics? What's the best way to visualize and communicate them?
- How to move my tribe from outputs to outcomes mindset? 🧘
- How to resolve dependencies across multiple teams.
- How to lead high-potential talents? 🤝
- How to apply change management in our environment?
- I communicate with your manager and the peers like a charm. 🎙️
- Help me set up the delivery process end to end, including continuous discovery, delivery, and adoption. ⚙️
- How to set up and evaluate performance goals so that people actually ❤️ the reviews?
Engineering directorS,
Tribe leaderS
” Allow me to help you to change your mindset. Move away from being busy/operational
to thinking strategically
, and scale your teams, while hitting delivery goals in parallel.
Given you now who you are, get better at how you work.
CTO,
Engineering VP
I’m listening to validate your thoughts:
You feel alone, squeezed between two stones. The board is asking you to hit the goals, while your teams are asking for help. You’re looking for an experienced person to validate and execute your ideas.
- How do I define and measure success? Mission, product KPIs, quality and success metrics. 📺
- How do we think about structuring teams as we continue to scale? Think verticals, Conway's law.
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How to set up, execute, and evaluate the product / technical strategy? Aim to deliver
+% of the roadmap all the time.
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How do I make OKRs work in the company? Connect objectives up to tasks.
- Help me create a solid hiring pipeline, including brand and community. 💂♀️
- Moving away from a firefighting situation to a predictable environment ❓
- How to set up agility mindset, succeed to hire agile coaches and establish your agile community 🚴
- 🚀 Help me to land the right career framework for my mission, company, structure and culture. Make people learn and grow.
- How to execute performance reviews and calibrations?
- 💰How to allocate budget? Predictable payroll/non-payroll costs.
Engineering leader mentoring guide
An initial mentoring session is free of charge.
Each subsequent session has a clear outcome summarised at the end, with agreement on a principal follow-up action item for the mentee to progress towards their North star ⭐️
Location
On-site: Národní 135/14 110 00, 1, 110 00 Prague, Czech Republic.
Remote: video call.
Rule no.1
You are hungry to grow. 🌳 If interest or progress is low, the lessons will be canceled. My aim is to help those who express a high level of motivation. Our time on Earth is expensive.
Rule no.2
All specific topics and personal issues are not be communicated outside of our sessions. What’s said between us, stays between us. 🙉
Rule no.3
We are well organised. We clearly define a top follow-up topic. We check the progress at the beginning of each session.
Scope
1️⃣ At the first session, we aim to get to know each other, understand the motivation, and draw a set of initial milestones on the timeline to ensure we'll be heading in the right direction.
2️⃣ The following sessions primarily tackle specific operational issues a mentee expects to cover.
3️⃣ After we pass 4-5 sessions, I tend to steer the focus towards our pre-agreed goals, moving away from operational to strategic thinking.
⬆️ Get even more inspiration from the most in-demand topics above. Though you must already have a good starting point since you've come to this page
Cadence
I recommend a one-hour weekly or bi-weekly frequency so that the mentee has enough time to digest the information and action a follow-up item.
After three months, we’ll debrief to review progress and provide feedback, optimally with your manager. We’ll take a momentary break to keep our to-do list from getting too long.
FAQ
First and foremost, I’d be delighted for the opportunity to connect with you and mutually broaden our professional circles. During our initial meeting, the primary objective is to assess whether a mentoring relationship would be mutually rewarding and fulfilling. We’ll also explore whether there’s a good personal rapport between us.
I will provide a comprehensive overview of my experience and the mechanics of the mentorship program.
Afterward, I’ll open the floor for you to discuss your current challenges and future aspirations.
In a nutshell, by the end of our conversation, we’ll determine if we’re both well-suited for a beneficial partnership.
This initial consultation is free of charge.
Additionally, I’d be happy to assist you in making a compelling case to your direct supervisor about the value of investing in your personal and professional growth.
The objective of our first official meeting is to uncover your driving forces and establish our guiding vision, complete with a clear definition of what success looks like for you. During this session, we’ll delve into various facets of your life, including your values, current circumstances, and future objectives. We’ll also take the time to align these discoveries with your existing personal development plan.
I think beginning with mentoring and transitioning gradually to coaching after building mutual trust is advantageous for several reasons:
Establishing a trust foundation: By starting with mentoring, a solid trust foundation is formed between the mentor and the mentee. This initial mentoring phase ensures that the mentee feels supported, understood, and guided by an experienced individual.
Addressing pressing areas: The mentoring mode in the initial sessions enables us to focus on addressing immediate and pressing areas of concern for the mentee. This involves providing advice, sharing experiences, and offering solutions to specific challenges or problems.
Transfer of knowledge and skills: During the mentoring phase, the mentor can share their expertise, knowledge, and skills with the mentee. This knowledge transfer helps the mentee develop a stronger foundation and gain valuable insights that can be applied to their personal growth and development.
Establishing a personal connection: Through mentoring, a personal connection is established between the mentor and mentee. This connection enhances mutual understanding, empathy, and rapport, which are crucial for effective coaching.
Utilizing open-ended coaching questions: Once the pressing areas have been resolved and a sense of trust has been established, the transition to coaching becomes more effective. Coaching focuses on empowering the mentee to find their own solutions and make decisions through the use of open-ended questioning. This approach encourages critical thinking, self-reflection, and independent problem-solving skills.
By starting with mentoring and gradually shifting to coaching, we create a supportive and trusting environment where the mentee can benefit from guidance while also exploring their own capabilities. This approach facilitates a smoother transition into coaching, where the mentee takes on a more active role in their personal growth and development.
We facilitate the sessions mostly online using Zoom. I love meeting clients f2f for introduction or occasionally, in Prague, Czech Republic.
Working together, we’ll probably meet our initial goals in 3-6 months. My experience is that people are keen to cover 8-12 sessions, followed by a 3-month break, co that a mentee has time to execute and adopt the choden improvement. After 3 months, we do the 1st both-party debrief, to review the outcomes and provide feedback.
First and foremost, the goal of our mentorship is to achieve tangible progress, rather than just engaging in intellectual discussions. To this end, each session will conclude with a practical homework assignment, which we expect to be completed most of the time. Secondly, open and honest communication is vital; the more transparent you are about your intentions and challenges, the more effectively I can assist you in addressing specific situations and achieving your goals. Lastly, rest assured that our conversations are strictly confidential, and no private information will be disclosed.
The most valid reference is word of mouth. Ask people in your network about me. Chances are I’ve coached some of your colleagues or friends.
If you want more, see my > testimonials.
If a certificate is your main goal, then we are not compatible.
We shoot for a different goal: boosting your skills in real, not on paper.
I offer specialized introductory sessions that include your direct manager. During this meeting, we’ll seek their approval on your proposed guiding vision (“North Star”) and what constitutes success at the conclusion of the mentorship. To maintain open lines of communication, we can mutually agree that I’ll share updates on our progress with your manager. At the end of our mentoring journey, we’ll conduct a comprehensive review with your manager to assess if we’ve achieved the previously defined success metrics, along with recommendations for future steps in your career.
Nope. The main principle of our cooperations is fairness: Pay as you go, invoice monthly. I’m not looking for any advance payments.
In 2023, 19% of my clients are self-funded. Nevertheless, I like seeing your company contributing fully or partially to your personal boost.
Most certainly, there are plenty of great coaches in the field I respect.
Nevertheless, I believe I strongly differentiate in the following areas:
1. My technical background is a great asset. I’ve been there with you. Moving from a developer over architect to a senior manager of 100+ reports. I know how it feels to be an introvert.
2. My profile is the mindset of a gardener. I grow by making people around me grow.
3. In 2203, I’ve facilitated 300+ mentoring sessions. See more data.
4. My Mentoring triangle of Strength strategy puts me in an unbeatable spot as a mentor.
5. With regard to territory, you might consider speaking with me in your native language (CZ, SVK) as an asset.
6. I don’t strictly differentiate between mentoring and coaching, leaving the battle to others. Both of the approaches have their strong points, and I love using both, depending on how far we are.
7. Pay as you go. I don’t look for any advance payments. My principle is fairness. You pay for the value. If, for any reason, we spot the mutual value is not there, I’m good to cancel the payment and rethink my tactic to improve.
If we’re comparing investing in stock options, ETFs, or housing, it could gain 8% yearly growth. I strongly believe investing in you career and uniqueness is an investment that pays off x10. By boosting your leadership skills, you will quickly prove your strengths and will become a pillar of your company in a year compared to waiting for a promotion for 4-5 years. Moreover, speaking money, your value will grow much faster and the investment will pay off in a year. The choice is yours. What’s the best investment ever? Into yourself. Well-being and education.
To broaden your inspiration, click on the list above: topics



Our first talk is rather informal. Together, we’ll dive into:
1️⃣ Giving you all the details regarding how mentoring works,
2️⃣ You’ll explain the motivation and current situation,
3️⃣ We’ll check if we have a win-win.
The intro is free of charge as we need to validate the chemistry fit first.
If anything, I’d be delighted to get to know each other more and expand our network.
PS.: There are loads of people passively waiting 🙂
How Coaching Works » Marian Kamenistak

I mentor / coach engineering leaders to grow and do product better. Software engineering leadership mentoring and coaching from engineering managers.
Course Provider: Person
Course Provider Name: Marian Kamenistak
Course Provider URL: https://www.kamenistak.com/mentoring/
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