Episode 16: Management as a true calling and the three pillars of being a director with Dan Na
Mar 2, 2024
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Dan Na, Engineering Director at Squarespace, discusses his journey into management, embracing the director role, and managing growth in a tech company. He highlights the challenges of international expansion, the importance of self-improvement in leadership, and the transition to management roles. The podcast also covers parental leave management, online presence in management, and the pillars of being a director.
Management as a true calling aligns with personal traits and career aspirations.
Effective delegation and mentorship ensure team growth during parental leave.
Deep dives
Transition to the Management Track
Dan Na's journey into the management track began at Etsy under the mentorship of Laura Hogan, where he learned valuable lessons that shaped his management style. Moving from an individual contributor role to managing the accessibility engineering team was a pivotal step in his career path, leading to a realization that the management track aligned best with his skills and career aspirations.
Stepping into Senior Roles at Squarespace
Joining Squarespace, Dan Na first returned to the individual contributor track before progressing to a staff engineer position. His pivotal role in bootstrapping the international engineering effort showcased his technical leadership and strategic capabilities, navigating the challenges of a rapidly growing engineering team and setting foundational elements for the team's success.
The Career Calling of Management
Dan Na's affinity for management stems from his unique skills and resonance with the role's challenges and responsibilities. He emphasizes the importance of aligning personal traits, like effective communication and strategic decision-making, with the demands of a managerial position, highlighting the satisfaction derived from mentorship and guiding team growth.
Navigating Parental Leave and Team Management
During periods of parental leave within his team, Dan Na adopts a structured approach, emphasizing handoff documents and gradual delegation of responsibilities to ensure continuity and support for his reports. By empowering a senior IC temporarily in a leadership role, he fosters growth opportunities while maintaining operational efficiency and team cohesion.
I’ve been a big fan of Dan’s writing for a while. You might have read some of his articles on management in my Level Up newsletter. In this episode, he shines a light on how he found himself in his first managing managers role, how he sees management as his true calling, how management might not be everyone’s cup of tea and how to deal with the ambiguity of the role.
Guest Biography
Dan Na is the Engineering Director of the Market Expansion organization at Squarespace in NYC. Previously he was a Staff Engineer at Squarespace and an Engineering Manager at Etsy. He loves learning and teaching in a collaborative environment and solving both the technical and people problems of shipping software. He’s a weather-agnostic iced coffee drinker, a mediocre golfer, an NBA basketball fan and loves spending time with his family.