Managing Developers How not to suck.docx
- 文档编号:2569214
- 上传时间:2023-05-04
- 格式:DOCX
- 页数:12
- 大小:23.18KB
Managing Developers How not to suck.docx
《Managing Developers How not to suck.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《Managing Developers How not to suck.docx(12页珍藏版)》请在冰点文库上搜索。
ManagingDevelopersHownottosuck
ManagingDevelopers–Hownottosuck
Contents
YourJobisNOTTellingPeopleWhatTo Do1
DealingwiththeTeam Genius2
Don’tforgetwhatit’sliketobe 105
Thewordyouarelookingforis “People”…6
StatusReportsSuckandEverybodyHates Them7
AllDevelopersShallHaveGood Equipment10
YourJobisNOTTellingPeopleWhatTo Do
with11comments
ThispostispartofmyseriesonManagingDevelopers–Hownottosuck
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
with3comments
ThispostispartofmyseriesonManagingDevelopers–Hownottosuck
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
with3comments
ThispostispartofmyseriesonManagingDevelopers–Hownottosuck
Rememberwhatitwaslikewhenyouwere10yearsold?
Ido.Inthesummersourmotherskickedusoutofthehouseinthemorninganddidn’texpectushomeuntildinnertime,orlater.Wespentalldayridingaroundonoursinglespeedbikescausingminortrouble.Weusuallyhadlunchordinneratthefriend’shousewewereclosesttoowhenhungry;ourmotherstreateduslikeapackofwolves.Wefoundcooljunk,builtforts,haddirtclodfights;shoteachotherwithBBguns,swaminthepond,felloutoftrees,blewstuffup,shotturtles,playedinthemud,andgotchasedoutofvacantlotsbyoldmen.Itwasablast.
Ioftenaskpeople"Doyourememberwhatitwasliketobe10?
”Byfarthemostcommon
- 配套讲稿:
如PPT文件的首页显示word图标,表示该PPT已包含配套word讲稿。双击word图标可打开word文档。
- 特殊限制:
部分文档作品中含有的国旗、国徽等图片,仅作为作品整体效果示例展示,禁止商用。设计者仅对作品中独创性部分享有著作权。
- 关 键 词:
- Managing Developers How not to suck