Managing an underperformer, career frameworks, promotion cases, and handling a top performer's stagnation.
3 questions in Engineering Management.
Define senior as a scope of autonomy and influence rather than a tenure or a skill list, agree the two or three gaps in writing, engineer assignments that produce evidence of exactly those, keep a running log of it, and say plainly what you control and what calibration does.
Diagnose the cause before acting — skill, will, unclear expectations, or an environment or health problem you can remove — then give specific behavioural feedback, write down one expectation with a date, and make sure a formal performance plan, if it becomes necessary, is never a surprise.
Deliver it as your own message tied to specific evidence, never as a committee's verdict you privately disagree with. If it is a surprise, treat that as your failure and say so, give one concrete thing that would change the next cycle, and refuse to trade a promise you cannot keep for their staying.