Epic Management Fails
“who’s able here to honestly say ‘I have a great boss’?” two hands raised… 320 persons in the room…
Via Daniel Glazman on Twitter
Although I always identify myself as a technologist, I’ve been managing people for a while and that is the primary focus of my full-time work. Managing people is an art, not a science. It’s very hard work, and I didn’t completely understand this before becoming a manager. Honestly, I don’t think most people — even managers — understand how hard of a job this can be.
I think that I’ve become a pretty good manager — with time and experience, with feedback and mentoring. There were times when I wasn’t so great, though. In an attempt at radical honesty (hat tip to Erica O’Grady), here is a list of my epic management fails and what I’ve learned from them.
- I tried to keep my hands in the code. Somewhere I once heard that coders who become managers and still try to write code only do so because they’re arrogant and they end up sucking at both. While I don’t agree 100% with that statement, I can agree that diverting focus from management responsibilities can have a negative impact on people and projects. As a manager I’ve gotten so deep into code that I’ve trampled on the responsibilities and goals of my direct reports. I’ve also made commitments to deliver production-ready code but then been so distracted by management responsibilities that I caused project deadlines to be missed. While attempting to code for production work isn’t a good idea for managers, I think that coding for practice — to keep one’s skills in shape or to have experience with what the team is working on — is definitely a good thing. A technical manager who can coach a team on both a personal and a technical level is a huge asset.
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I didn’t prepare for one-on-one meetings. One of the top priorities of a manager is meeting with direct reports on a regular basis to review expectations, set and track progress of goals, provide feedback, and coach for achievement. If you ignore this responsibility as a manager, you’re not doing your job, period.* Over time, I’ve realized that some managers avoid these meetings because they’re not prepared. I’ve certainly made the mistake of meeting with an individual without having an agenda, or without having deliverables ready. Ever had an awkward review with your boss? Chances are, it was awkward because they weren’t prepared. I find that I have to practice difficult conversations before I walk in to a meeting, and I even like to rehearse giving feedback. When I’m nervous about a meeting, I know I’m not prepared. When I realize this, I’ll try to reschedule the meeting or, worst case scenario, I’ll admit to being unprepared and beg forgiveness.
However, even if you conduct regular one-on-ones, you can do it very poorly. For example, I’ve had managers who’ve spent most of my one-on-one time talking to or emailing other people, just talking the entire time without listening, and even zoning out (staring at the ceiling, a piece of furniture). Other faux-pas include glaring at the person (or eye-rolling, laughing at inappropriate times), only giving negative feedback, never offering assistance, and never asking for feedback.
- I wanted more (or less or something different) for someone. Continue reading…