Minimum Viable Manager

Three Essential Skills for Leading Technical Teams That Solve Big Problems

Engineers are built to lead.

How often have you heard that engineers don’t make good managers? Many engineers, their teams, and even the HR professionals who support them believe technical people aren’t wired for leadership. That assumption is wrong. In Minimum Viable Manager, Matt Gjertsen reveals how technically minded people can move past solving problems and take the first steps towards being exceptional leaders.

Through his experience as a US Air Force pilot instructor and later as a manager of training and development at SpaceX, Matt learned, often the hard way, what effective management requires. He scoured the research, learned from world-class leaders (and a few cautionary examples), and built a practical understanding of how technical professionals can lead others to solve big problems—because, after all, engineers are trained problem-solvers who apply well-known tools to well-defined challenges. Managing people is simply a different kind of problem that requires a different set of tools.

In this practical guide for leaders at any stage, you’ll gain tools for building trust, setting clear expectations, and giving effective feedback—the deceptively simple skills that determine success and are rarely taught. Matt explains the psychology behind each skill, illustrates them with real-world examples, and includes self-reflection questions in every chapter so you can immediately apply what you learn.

The shift from solving problems yourself to helping others solve them can be difficult. Yet to drive breakthroughs in medicine, energy, space travel, AI, and countless other fields, we need leaders with deep technical expertise guiding the work. In Minimum Viable Manager, Matt Gjertsen shows you how to become a more effective leader who accomplishes more by doing less, and who builds stronger teams without burning out.

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