tl;dr:Key takeaways: (1) Deal with technical debt: recognize it, spend time fixing it but justify it. (2) Avoid distractions. (3) Protect old hands: spend time with your senior engineers. They are more valuable than you think. (4) Recognize different skills: create a managerial path and a technical path for people, identify your senior folks as one or the other. (5) Communicate often.