Skippers — Number Four
Skippers are a curated set of articles I found interesting. I originally shared a similar set of articles with some commentary among the leaders in our R&D team (aka “The Skippers”). To goal was to help us become better leaders and managers, or at a minimum be thought provoking.
New Manager
If you are looking for a book for new engineering managers, check out Leading Snowflakes by Oren Ellenbogen. It discusses many topics new managers wonder about and explains them in engineering terms. How do I switch between maker and manager? How do I delegate without losing product quality? How can I code review my management decisions?
I have both the PDF version of the book, as well as the audio book, for those long strolls in the mountains.
Another book for new manager is The Manager’s Path, a guide for tech leaders navigating growth and change, by Camille Fournier.
New Grad Rotation Program
The MongoDB engineering team posted an article about The New Grad Rotation Program: Optimizing Team Fit And Enhancing Collaboration. If other teams are looking for engineers, trained in the product, in the R&D team, it may not be a bad idea to involve them in the on-boarding early and develop a rotation program.
Mental frameworks for making decisions
Managers need to learn how to make timely decisions with imperfect information. This is one of the more difficult aspects of becoming a manager.
When an employee asks us to make a decision, our natural tendency is to jump in right away. We knew how to do this job. So, naturally, we want to dig into the details and “help”.
In doing so, we both take on a lot of the work and stress, and also miss an important teaching opportunity. Rather than “make the decision”, could we coach the employee to reach the conclusion.
This article provides some tips on how to handle the stress of making decisions.
Does it get better or worse with time?
Do I have any control over it?
People managers can read a nice coaching example how to enable employees resolve their own problems. As a manager, you are not the magic key to solve all problems. Your team is more scalable when you are not the linchpin.
If team member A comes to you with a problem about team member B it’s easy to take on that burden and promise to help them solve it. Do that three or four times and you’re quickly overwhelmed carrying the weight of everyone’s issues.
So instead, when team member A approaches you about the problem, you listen carefully. When they finish you say:
“I’m going to assume that you’re either telling me this because….
A. You need to tell someone in order to get your thoughts clear before you have the direct conversation with your co-worker or…
B. You’re worried about that how that conversation will go and so you want someone else to be there as an observer or to help keep the conversation on track.
So, which one is it and when are you going to have the conversation?”
What just happened here is pure magic. Instead of taking on their entire emotional burden, you listened to their case and then channeled it toward the only thing that can get long-term results: a direct conversation.
Bad boss or Leadership Deficit Disorder?
You can read volumes and volumes of books on effective leadership. This succinct blogpost covers three fundamental issues of poor leadership and their remedies.
I don’t know who is accountable.
Tell-tale sign: A question is asked of the team, and you all look at each other waiting for the somebody (anybody!) to answer. “It’s definitely not my place to speak up here,” you think. “But who should?”
My teammates don’t trust each other.
Tell-tale sign: You ask your teammates for an opinion, and are met with silence. Or meetings that end with a “let’s meet again to discuss further” because nothing was decided.
Our purpose and priorities are unclear.
Tell-tale sign: You know what you’re doing… but you have no idea why.
Where do we suffer these symptoms in your team?
The article also covers a good remedies:
- project kick-offs
- structured leadership and the DACI framework
- clearly defined roles
- tracking the team health
