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Management

Here, I write about my management learnings, both good and bad. I have been quite fortunate to work with great managers, and this has inspired me to incorporate a lot of their wisdom into the way I work.

Manage to help​

After being both in a position to manage and being managed in my career, I have noticed a reactive trend among managers. I think this trend, where a lot of the development is being put on oneself might be self-defeating. I get it, the motivation and reasoning behind it is good, that the one responsible for their development is the one taking charge of it, and that might be on paper a good thing. It most certainly is in line with the current zeitgeist of the times.

However, I think we are missing a crucial aspect of management, which is a manager, you are supposed to have a broader perspective. I for one, did not know that I had weaknesses within one or other segments and could work on new things. I think as a manager, it is important to guide those you are managing to become the best they can be. And to do that, you need to give input. You should take the responsibility to identify the areas where there is room for improvement, and if the person do not have a grasp of where they want to go (understandably), you need to show them how.

As a manager, do not start personal development discussions as an open book, have a set of possible actions to take, and help the person identify the path instead of letting them figure it out. They will eventually figure it out (I most certainly did), but why make it cumbersome?

Coaching

I would like to write a little bit on the role of coaching and mentorship as a way to develop as a manager.

I believe that coaching is one of the most underrated skills a leader can have. Coaching is challenge and empathy, mixed together. Working with people and coaching them is

In one of the places I was very lucky to work in, there was a concept called delivery coach (It was a consultancy). The concept was that a lot of the time, having a sparring partner was a huge boon to the productivity of the consultant. Having a veteran who lent their time to the project helped the juniors immensely to

Dunbars Number​

Dunbar´s number is about the maximum amount of relationships one can have. As with all things related to psychology, one must take it with a grain of salt, but a manager needs to understand that the higher one reaches into the corporate ladder and the more people you have under you, the less time (and energy) you will have to enable those you are responsible to excel. So you need to have a plan about not only how you can enable the ones "beneath" you to excel but also if you have the capacity to enable them to succeed. If not, you need to help them.

Links

Thoughts

  • This is also quite related to my experience as a tech lead.
  • "Leadership matters, and leadership is not sufficient". Consider this when working in organizations.