This week we discussed sections 4.4 through 4.7.
4.4 — Managing in the growth plates
- Houston thought the analogy of growth plates (where middle doesn’t grow) was interesting. Jameson said that management is not excluded from needing to grow as well.
- “The most confusing places to start are midsize, rapidly growing companies.” Geoff said, “Yay,” given that’s where his company is currently. Dennis agreed, as he’s finding new opportunities as we grow and scale. There are waves of too much work, not enough to do, and things going well.
- “What folks in the growth plates need is help reducing and executing the existing backlog of ideas, not adding more ideas that must be evaluated.” Limit WIP and focus.
- “So often, we make solid executors responsible for slower-growth areas — we need the innovators in the highest-growth ones — but the opposite tends to work better.” Geoff said this goes back to the previous statement about focus and execution. Innovate in the areas that are more well-trodden.
- Lirio has the concept of changing team leaders every so often. It’s not mandatory that everyone lead. If people do show interest, don’t just drop it on their laps; shadow or coach them to succeed.
- Houston liked the notion of no two situations being identical, and that you need different solutions for different problems. This is wise even outside your job.
4.5 — Ways engineering managers get stuck
- Dennis stated you can’t have just one manager, as so single manager has all the answers.
- Camille Fournier’s book How Do Individual Contributors Get Stuck was mentioned. Geoff highly recommends her other book The Manager’s Path.
- Houston pointed out that the wording in this section makes is hard to figure out whether the author is saying “do this” or “don’t do this.”
- The author says to unlearn focusing on team size, yet he devoted attention to perfect team size earlier in the book.
- Geoff disagreed with the trap that experienced managers spend too much time building relationships. If you do anything with other humans, relationships are the oil in the machine. Ignore this and you will lose people. Houston said maybe it’s the problem of “too much time.” If you’re focusing on execution, you don’t get much time to build relationships. Jameson asked about whether social things outside of work counted. Dennis said it doesn’t have to be just execution or just relationship building; for example, pair programming is a high-leverage activity to do both.
- Doing what worked at their previous company… Jameson has felt that before from management and individual contributors. We chatted about companies where we’ve learned to not do things like they were done previously. You’re more likely to learn from the bad experiences.
- On letting other people manage their time… Houston noticed managers get little time to be heads-down.
- The notion that managers can confuse authority with truth really resonated with Geoff. We typically work with smart folks who will quickly see through you when you throw your title around. Jameson: “I’m the boss and we’re doing it this way” may not be the best approach.
- If you only look for problems, that’s all you’ll find. There’s a difference between the problem- versus solution-oriented mindset. Jameson mentioned that Sarah from The Phoenix Project did this. Dennis said not to forget the good work we’ve done; don’t just focus on what’s not done.
4.6 — Partnering with your manager
- Geoff said the list of things your manager should know about you is a good starting point. A good manager will ask these of you; a poor manager will need you to provide these things without being asked.
- It makes a difference for managers to ask about people and define how you can fail and win. Nebulous management is frustrating.
- On the notion of keeping managers informed… Geoff has managed up and down in different ways. The key question to ask your manager is, “How do you want me to keep you informed.” This is especially important if you don’t see your manager daily, or one of you is remote.
- Geoff has a monthly calendar reminder to update his job description.
- Jamie doesn’t thrive when his manager is too hands-off; manage him, not the work. It’s useful to know how you want to be managed.
- Excellent things to know about your manager: What are their priorities? How stressed are they? What can you do to help? What’s their manager’s priority? How are they trying to improve themselves?
4.7 — Finding managerial scope
- “…you can always find an opportunity to increase your scope and learning, even in a company that doesn’t have room for more directors or vice presidents.” “…look for a gap in your organization or company that you can try to fill.” Geoff said this goes back to our comment about doing good where you are by being your amazing self.
- Look for ways you can demonstrate leadership abilities. This takes patience, as these opportunities aren’t always present.