Managing Developers How not to suck.docx

Managing Developers How not to suck.docx

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ManagingDevelopersHownottosuck

ManagingDevelopers–Hownottosuck

Contents

YourJobisNOTTellingPeopleWhatTo Do1

DealingwiththeTeam Genius2

Don’tforgetwhatit’sliketobe 105

Thewordyouarelookingforis “People”…6

StatusReportsSuckandEverybodyHates Them7

AllDevelopersShallHaveGood Equipment10

YourJobisNOTTellingPeopleWhatTo Do

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I’vehadmanypeopletellmetheywouldliketobeamanager.ThefirstquestionIaskis‘why’?

Theabsoluteworstanswerisanyvariantof‘BecauseIwanttotellpeoplewhattodo’.Theymightanswer‘SoIcanhavedirectinfluenceovertheteam.’,or‘SoIcanprovidedirectleadership’.

Anythingremotelylike‘becauseIwanttotellpeoplewhattodo’isthewronganswer.Thesepeoplearenotreadytobemanagers–theyarefarfromready.Organizationsthatmakepeoplelikethismanagersaremakingahugemistake.

Yourjobasamanageristoenableyourteam.Youarepayingthemtothink,solveproblemsandgetstuffdoneontime.Letthemdoit.Yourjobisnottellingpeoplewhattodo.

Enablingyourteammeanssettingthemupforsuccess,makingsuretheydotheirbestworkwithgoodcontinuityovertime,notjustatcrunchtime,or‘whenitcounts’.Ifyouarethinking,“Yes!

Amanagersjobistomakepeopledotheirbestwork.”Thenyouarenotunderstandingthisadvice.

MerriamWebsterdefinesenablelikethis:

∙torenderableasinenableapersonto

∙givepower,strength,orcompetencyto

∙tomakepossible,practical,oreasy

∙togivetheopportunityto

Thetermmakeisdefinedlikethis:

∙tocausetoactinacertainway.Tocompel

Makingpeopledothingsistellingthemwhattodo.Enablingthemisanentirelydifferentthing.Therearelotsofwaystodothis.Icoversomeoftheminthisseriesofposts.Hereareafewinnoparticularorder

∙Don’tforgetwhatitsliketobeanindividualcontributor（post）

∙Alldevelopersshallhavegoodequipment（post）

∙Don’ttreatpeoplefungibly（post）

∙Knowwhentoshutupandjustlisten.

∙DependingonHeroicsis“EpicFail”

∙Praiseinpublic,criticizeinprivate

∙Makesurepeopleknowwhattoaccomplish,bywhenandwhat‘done’lookslike

∙Beyourteam’schampion,nottheirdefender

Thismaynotsoundtoohard.Butletmemakeitharder–youcan’tdothissometimes,likejustatcrunchtime,orjustwhenthebugcountishigh,orwhentherequirementschange.Yourjobistohelpyourpeopledelivertheirbestworkallthetime.Itsoundsimpossible,butthecloseryoucome,thebetteritisforeveryone.

Now,thisdoesn’tmeanyoucanavoidmakingdecisionsoryoucannotcorrectmistakes.Thesearebothpartofamanager’sjobandsometimespeoplewillnotlikesomeofyourdecisions,orbeingcorrected.That’sok.Thereisabigdifferencebetweenreluctantlydoingthiswhennecessary（andwithgoodreasonandexplanation）–andbeingadictator.

HereiswhatI’dlikeyoutoremember.Ifyoufeelyourroleistohelpyourteam,youareontherighttrack.Ifyoufeelavisceralneedtoorderpeopleabout,thenyouwillsuckasamanager–notmatterhowgoodyouareateverythingelse.

-Foredecker

DealingwiththeTeam Genius

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We’veallworkedthematonetimeoranother–theloud,opinioned,authoritative,hardworking,smartcapable,typeAdeveloper–theonethatalwaysseemstohaveanopinion…oneverything.Theguywho’scodereviewfeedbackisusuallysomethinglike‘thatcodedoesn’tlooklikemycode’.Theydudewhowrotethesuper-complex-only-he-can-understand-itcodeyourentireproductdependson.Youknow,thecodeonlyhecantouch.Thecodethathasnocommentsbecauseitsallselfdocumenting.Hetellsyouhedoesn’thavetimetowritecommentsanyway

（1）.Theyguythatgetsloudandupsetatthedropofahat.Theguythathastousethemostcomplex（beautifulhesays）algorithmforeventhemostmundanetasks.Theyguythatwriteshisowndebuggerbecauseexistingonejustisn’tgoodenough.Theguythatwrotehisowndomainspecificlanguage（usingregularexpressions）becausetherewasnootherwaytosolvetheproblem.TheyguythatusesLINQexpressionsforeverythingbecausetheyare‘fluent’.Theyguythatgetsimpatientwhenotherpeoplecan’tinstantlyunderstandhiscode.Thisistheguythattofixabug,worksstraightthroughaweekendandcompletelyre-writesabigchunkofcodebecause‘thecodeneededtobere-writtenanyway.’Theguythatinsistsheistheonlyonethatseesthebigpicutre.Thisistheguythatalwaysexpectsan‘A+’performancereview–everysingletime.

Youknow–theteamgenius.

Theonlyproblemisthatheisprobablyisn’treallyagenius.Yes,heisprobablyprettysmart–andhecertainlyisloud.Yes,theteamdependsonhim,andyeshegetsalotofworkdone,andheworksalotofhours.Butmostlikelyheisreallyquitedisruptiveandinrealitynottheteamgeniusbuttheteamprimadonna.That’sagreatphrase.Itmeans:

…apersonwhofindsitdifficulttoworkunderdirectionoraspartofateam.Onewhoisimpatientofrestraintorcriticism.

Letmeaskyoutwoquestionsaboutyourteamgenius.

1.Howmuchtimedoyouandtherestofyourteamspendfeedingthegenius.

1.Whatwouldyourteamlooklikeifhequittomorrow?

Inmyexperienceteamgeniusessoakupanawfullotofotherpeople’stime.I’vespentwaytoomuchtimecajoling,soothing,arguingwith,andotherwisedealingwiththeteamgenius.Thinkaboutitthisway–comparedtootherpeopleonyourteamhowmuchtimedoyouspenddealingwiththegeniuscomparedtoothersonyourteam?

Howmuchtimedootherteammembersspenddealingwiththegenius?

Ifyourexperienceisanythinglikemine,itisdisproportionallymuchhigher.

Howmuchdoesthegeniusannoy,frustrateorsimplypissoffothersonyourteamorpeopleonanotherteam?

Howoftenhaveyouhadtosoothanotherteammemberandmakeexcusesforthegenius?

Doothersonyourteamavoidworkingwithhim?

Aretheycarefulwhattheysaytohiminmeetings?

Howaboutyourself?

Areyouhappytoseethegeniusinyourdoorway?

Ordoyoucringewhenhewalksinyourdoor?

Thinkabouthiscodeisitreallygeniuscode?

Orisitmerelyoverdesignedandoverimplemented?

DidthatproblemreallyrequiretheuseofC#expressiontrees?

Orahandrolledrecursivedecentparser?

Didhereallyhavetowritehisowndebugger?

DidhereallyhavetowritehisowncustomtemplatebasedXMLde-serialize?

Really?

I’llbetifyouwentbackandlookedathisdesignwork–hisoverdesignwasn’tjustifiedatall.Isuspectthatitjustwasn’twortharguingwithhimaboutit.

Thinkaboutthesecondquestion–whatwouldyourteamlooklikeifthegeniusquittomorrow?

Yourfirstreactionisprobably‘ohcrap’.Butthinkaboutitsomemore…wouldthequietguywhoisoftenovershadowedbythegeniusbeabletoshine?

Wouldthefrustrationandfrictionlevelsonyourteamgodowndramatically?

Couldyoureplacehimwiththatsmartkidformthetestteamwhoreallywantstobeadeveloper?

Wouldyouhavemoretimetospendwithyourotherteammembers–evenafterreplacinghim?

Ifyourexperienceislikemine,thenthegeniusislikelynotasnearlyasbeneficialasyouorothersmaythink.Itslikelythatheisreallyquitedisruptiveandthetechnicalvaluehebringstotheteamnotreallythatsuper-awesome.

Asmanager,yourjobistohelpthegeniusmaximizehisbenefittotheteamwhileminimizingoreliminatinghisdisruptivebehavior.Youmusthelphimunderstandthatthecostsofhavinghimontheteamareonlyalittlelowerthanthebenefithebringstotheteam.Helphimseehowmuchtimehecostseveryoneelse.Forexample,helphimseethatthecostsofrewritingthatbigpileofcodecoststhetestteamtwoweeksofregressiontesting,andthatsomebodyneedstore-writealltheunittest.

Thisisn’teasy.Theteamgeniusdoesn’ttakeconstructivecriticismwell,isvolatile,stubbornandwillalmostneveragreewithyou.Butyoumusttryanywaybecausethereisachanceyoucanhelptheteamgeniusbecomeasolidteammember.That’sagreatoutcome.

Evenifthisdoesn’twork,youreffortswillbenefittherestofyourteam.Theywillseeyouashelpingthembyworkinghelpthegeniusbelessdisruptive.Thiscandowondersforteammoralandtheteam’strustinyou.

Thereallyhardpartcomesifthegeniussimplydoesn’tcomearound.Ifthishappens,youneedtogetthegeniusofftheteam–theyarejustnotworthit.Reallytheyaren’tworthit.Disruptivepeoplearesimplydeathtoanotherwisegoodteam.

Afterallissaidanddone,youmaybestuckwithyourgenius.Perhapsyourmanagementchainlikeshim.Inthatcaseyoumustsimplyworktominimizehisdisruptivenessandmaximizehisvalue.

-Foredecker

Don’tforgetwhatit’sliketobe 10

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Rememberwhatitwaslikewhenyouwere10yearsold?

Ido.Inthesummersourmotherskickedusoutofthehouseinthemorninganddidn’texpectushomeuntildinnertime,orlater.Wespentalldayridingaroundonoursinglespeedbikescausingminortrouble.Weusuallyhadlunchordinneratthefriend’shousewewereclosesttoowhenhungry;ourmotherstreateduslikeapackofwolves.Wefoundcooljunk,builtforts,haddirtclodfights;shoteachotherwithBBguns,swaminthepond,felloutoftrees,blewstuffup,shotturtles,playedinthemud,andgotchasedoutofvacantlotsbyoldmen.Itwasablast.

Ioftenaskpeople"Doyourememberwhatitwasliketobe10?

”Byfarthemostcommon