Start Managing! — Quotidian — 491
(Transcript of video originally posted on 11 Aug 2023)
About seven years ago, a movie called “The Boss Baby” hit the screens. “The Family”. No Reaction! “Management”! What is Management? Why do people look at it with scorn, fear, and mockery? Shall we take a look?!
Namaste! Without wasting a single second extra, Become a Manager. How do we start managing?! Before we get down to answering that, let us first look at the “steps on the staircase” towards Managing.
Everybody talks about “Career Progress”. First, you start as a Follower. Just do what you have been told to do. Even Swami Vivekananda talked about it. “He who wants to command must first learn how to obey.” So, you start as a Follower. Then, you become a Collaborator. You join hands with a few other people. Let me do this, while you do that. Together we can work some magic, we tell ourselves. And then, you become an Instructor. You don’t know why, but you’ve been told to get this done, you take it from above, you give it below, you track, you report, that’s an Instructor. You know how to do it, you share and teach to others. At the next level, is where the Manager comes in. He/she has an understanding of the bigger picture, and is able to optimise, fine-tune, perfect, a process, help a person grow in their career, that’s the Manager. A level after that comes the Influencer. This person doesn’t even have to SAY, their behaviour, their personality, their demeanour, the way they handle things, the nuances in the words they use, just a hint is enough.. they are an Influencer. Beyond all this, at the pinnacle, at probably the unreachable summit perhaps, is where the Leader sits. Oh, Leaders don’t sit by the way! That’s the ladder.
I have two sources that I want to share with you. One is Build. By Tony Fadell. The magician who created the iPod for Apple. Hardware Engineer. He talks about management, in that book Build. The other book, the Making of a Manager, is by Julie Zhuo. She happens to be the first ever intern at Facebook! Way back in 2006, when Facebook was just getting started, she was an intern, the first intern. And, she became a manager at Facebook at the ripe old age of 25! 25 is typically two years out of college. She was a Product Designer, a user-interface design, usability expert. They make her a manager, and she recounts that story in this book. Tony and Julie. We have seen these two books already, but in the context of learning what Management is, and what tips and tricks to carry along with you, what warnings, I thought it is good to bring a contrasting study. That is what we are going to do now.
We will start with our man Tony. He has written a full chapter about Management, in this book. And, he lays out six items one after another, like firing bullets. What are they?!
First thing you need to know, it is not a natural, automatic career path, progression, next step. I have finished all this.. Am I going to have to become a Manager next? I have done all this.. I need a hike. I need a promotion. I just have to become a Manager? No. Not necessarily. Particularly, in high tech environments, in modern day economies, that is only one of the many paths available to you. You can become a people person, you can become a process person, you can become a manager who takes care of just ensuring that the culture and the chemistry in the place is upheld. You can become a project manager. Various different kinds of alternatives. You can become an architect, a technical architect. Focused completely on the technology stack. So many different ways! So, don’t unwillingly become a Manager and cause hell to the people around you and under you.
Remember, like Sachin here, what got you there, what skill you had, you will get very little time to use that skill ever again. Your time has come and gone. If you are a programmer who loved programming and you have now been made Manager, don’t think you can continue to program… on the side! Sorry! Your task is to help others do better programming! Optimise, make their work easier, that’s what your focus should be. You can sit around and watch. Clap your hands. Appreciate. Criticise, in private. But, you have to stop with that. You won’t have time. If you have time, there are hundred other things that I want you to do. Meet me!
Management.. is not something that falls on your lap, all by itself. Nobody is born a great Manager. Practice, Practice, Practice, perhaps after much more practice, POSSIBLY you can become a good Manager.. Perfect is almost unreachably hard! Possibly you can become a good Manager. So, the good news is, anybody can aspire and try to acquire those skills. Bad news is, don’t put on an air and assume it comes naturally to you! Sorry!
That word, “Micromanagement”? I think we have started using it a bit too much.. Abusing it, almost. Any random question the manager levels at us, we tend to retort with a “Don’t micromanage me!” Expecting good quality delivery, expecting timely delivery, Quality on Time, asking for that IS NOT micromanagement, please.. Asking for What! What exactly do you want — asking that of a team member, is NOT micromanagement! But.., getting into the Why and the How.. How to do this.. The little tidbits, that makes it micromanagement. From the perspective of a Manager, the magnifying glass gives an insight into the little tidbits, but look at it from the employee’s point of view.. from the team member’s point of view.. When they look up, through the “reverse” of that magnifying glass, 1.. they only look at a very large EYE. They miss the big picture. And 2.. Heat! Focused heat. The light that comes in naturally, when it focuses and converges, it sears the person. Avoid these!
Your style could be of any type. All the way from that, to this! You are left.. That freedom is left to you. There are no style guidelines laid out, as to how a Manager should behave and work. Be yourself. But, the footnote there is, Preserve Integrity. Integrity, I often say, is walking the talk. To do what you say. And, to say only what you will do! Hey, that’s Rajini right there! Integrity is keeping your word. Not doing one thing one day, and talking or doing something else some other day. Being predictable. That is the hallmark of a manager.
And finally, “Drop your Jaw”! Looking at the performance of a team member, not just your team members, but you too, once in a while, should be shellshocked in a positive way! “Oh my god! How did you do that! How did you turn the clock back? How did you walk on water? How did you swallow that sword?! How did you write that code! How did you come up with this marketing slogan?!” Could be any of these! But, they should run circles around you! Focus your management skills on people who are thousand times better than you, after attracting them and retaining them around you! Don’t be concerned or panicked that somebody in your team is doing a job that’s good enough. As good as you! They should be far better. That’s the balance! — he says. These were words from a hardware engineer, an entrepreneur, who got into Management because he was an entrepreneur who was trying to get a hardware device ready, and then he got acquired by Apple, that was his path.
Alright, what does this lady say? A designer. A UX engineer. In Facebook. A software person. Thrust into Management very early in her career. She gives loads of advice too, in the book, but as a designer, she has chosen to use cartoons, very simple cartoons, as title pages. Her chapters, each one of them, begins with a simple cartoon. Don’t do this. Do this instead. Let us flip past that series, quickly!
Number One. The same thing that Tony said! It is a myth to think that Managers are born.. They are made! A stork doesn’t deliver a fully baked Manager, they are MADE, like this..! She makes this case very strongly. Which means, anybody can be a Manager.. Which also means, anybody to become a Manager, has to put in a lot of practice.
Then, about Feedback. “It’s time for our annual performance review. Here’s how you’ve been doing for the PAST YEAR. This is what you did on January 31!”… No! Don’t do that! Instead, Micromessages..! “Can I share some feedback for you from that meeting THIS MORNING?” Privately.. Micromessaging, then and there, strike when hot.
Then she says, Management is not all about other people. First, learn to manage yourself. Take care of yourself. Look at you! Inwards. While you are sinking in complete chaos and confusion, if somebody asks you how you are doing, will you say “Never been better”? A lie? Instead, tell them, “I am stuck, and I need your advice. I am sure you have seen situations like these.” Talk with your peers. Talk with your seniors. Communicate!
About meetings! If you are going to commence with “Hmm.. Who’s got something to talk about?!”, that guy in the corner wants to know when lunch is. Another person is concerned about the schedule. One person observes that another is so negative, while being evaluated at the same time by the other person as self-centered! That’s how it will be. Each will have their own desires, their own dreams. Their own ways for how to do things. This is hunting.. What do we do?? — is a hunt. Most of the time, you will return empty-handed. Instead, go in with an agenda. “Let’s review everyone’s progress against our timeline. Each of you answer THIS question”. I’m ahead, I’m on track, I’m behind, I’m behind, I’m on track! So, bring the question. Yes, ask for answers, but bring the question! If you are calling for a meeting, the person who has worked the most for it must be YOU!
About getting things done, look at the comparison. In one case, “This is everything we need to do. All laid out. Come. Here is the key. Start driving.” That is one kind of approach. On the other hand, a better approach would be.. “Okay, this is our plan of attack. This is our vision. Identify and understand what the priorities are. What are the challenges? Come up with a game plan. Share it with me. Once I approve it, once we brainstorm on it, take it forward”. That dialogue. Give the other person an opportunity to have his stake in the game. Very important!
How to lead a growing team? Again, don’t break things down too much for me. “I need you to do X, Y, and Z.” No. Instead, “Here’s the situation: A, B, and C are problems right now! What do you think?” “No problem Sir, No problem Madam”, comes back the answer! “I will do X, Y, Z, what do you think?” will be their answer! I would tell my teammates, “Give them the opportunity to surprise the hell out of you.”
And finally, culture.. How to nurture it? No, it is not by standing a person down. Breathing down their back. Dominating. And saying… See how this manager is shouting at his subordinate about not shouting at people! Instead, take them to a private place, meet them at eye level, and talk about the culture in third person. That’s a beautiful lesson.
Finally, at the end of the book, she gives us an epilogue. And that’s what I love most about the book. She says, “I have arrived. I have completed it. I did it. I am a great manager now. Go me!” is not the right attitude. At Facebook, particularly, along the corridor, there used to be this huge poster, she recounts. That poster says, “Only one percent of what we set out to do has been completed”.. You are only one percent done. So, instead of thinking “I did it! I have achieved it”, it is this. You come to a place, and from there, that vantage point, newer places, greater challenges, newer vistas open up, and.. with new vigour, you punch through! Wasn’t that cool?!
By the way, .. Management.. Melaanmai.. We considered the thoughts from this person. We looked at the lady too. They had great things to share, both of them. But, you must have read all those statistics.. Higher you climb in an organisation, particularly if it is a high-tech organisation, there seem to be much more men than women. CEOs.. Countably small.. Where are all the others? Where do they vanish? What holds them back? We have read so many such.. Why this male dominance? While thinking about this.. Well, I liked both the books! Tony’s book, Julie’s book, both were amazing! I liked the overlap too! So many things in common! Both were reiterating the same concepts! And, while thinking about it, I realised that there was a more fundamental problem perhaps.. Did you see that? MANagement.. MelAANMAI.. It seems the etymology.. if you go looking for the roots of it, Management comes from Manage, comes from Man, Manus.. which means HAND! That hand.. as if you are doing it with your hands.. Manual. By hand.. That’s where it comes from. And, Melaanmai — Aanmai — means success. Virility. Success. Achievement. Melaanmai comes from there. First thing we gotta do is rewrite the words for this!! Management.. Melaanmai. What do you think?! We will meet again soon! Thank you!
