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Best Way to Manage Geeks?
drummerboy195 writes to tell us that he recently read a 1999 interview with Eric Schmidt, then CEO of Novell, and wondered how applicable the information was today. How much have things changed since the dot com bust in terms of management? What other good and bad techniques have Slashdotters seen evolve from both supervisory and supervised positions?
I've noticed a lot of managers trying to be super friendly and sugar coating everything they say.
just a tip..most geeks are smart and see through this.
be honest.
if I fuck up, tell me. don't make it sound like you're passing the buck from upper management, or pretend you're not mad.
I can't take any of my managers even half seriously because everything that comes out of their mouth is "corporate happy HR department" speak.
I want explicit instructions for what you want me to do. If I didn't do something it's because you didn't ask me to.
that's my 2 bits anyway.
This doesn't apply to just managing geeks, but that is the environment I work in:
1) Too many meetings. Most employees don't like meetings, at least most employees that are productive. While some meetings are necessary, it's probably way less than you think. If your entire group works in the same cube farm, a staff meeting each week (or worse, twice a week) is too much. If you sit back and evaluate it, you'll notice that very little worthwhile gets talked about because people will find eachother and talk about what they need regardless of a meeting. Also geeks are usually good with e-mail, and so can keep eachother up to date even if they don't meet face to face. Excess meetings not only drain productivity by taking up time, they also drain the will of employees to work.
2) Trying to be a friend, or head tech, rather than manager. On campus we love to make managers by promoting the most senior tech person. This rarely goes well. A manager needs to manage. That means your job is to deal with other groups, clients, bosses, etc and find out what they need and keep them happy, and deal with your group and make them do their work and keep them happy. Basically, you play politics. You need to be the buffer so that your group gets to do their work, but everyone else is happy about the feedback they get. If you are sitting around working on tech stuff, you aren't doing your job probably. Also you need to be willing to drop the hammer on bad employees. That doesn't mean being a jerk, but it means if someone legitmately isn't doing their part to work with them until they do, or if necessary replace them with someone who will.
Those are the biggest problems I see. Managers who try to get their staff involved in all the politics. So then you have a bunch of pissed off tech people sitting through lots of meetings that they don't need to be at, being involved in silly games they shouldn't be involved in. Also bad employees are just allowed to stay around working ineffectually, because the managers don't want to be mean and come down on them.
Your staff needs to be the ones fixing the servers, you need to be the one meeting the the finance department to explain why the money needs to be spent fixing the servers, and the boss to explain why the servers are down in the first place.
Nerds like to work weird hours. We like to stay up till 2am or later because we are on a roll programming and don't want to quit. Which also means that we don't feel like rolling out of bed till about noon. So let us work from 1p-9p and we'll be happy and productive. But if you start cracking down on the 8:30am policy and even so much as mention penalties for coming in late, guess what? Yep, we'll be on the phone with our headhunter at lunchtime. We'll straighten our act up for about a month. Why a month? Cause that's how long it takes to secure another job (always with higher pay).
In my case I did this for 2 jobs. I didn't have to for the first one because my boss was uber-cool. But now I realize that if you want to look like a professional you've got to fit into the corporate mold. So I go to bed around midnight whether my brain is ready to or not. My trick? Jim Beam Black!!
Oh also, if your nerdy employee pulls a few 12 hour days because he's in the groove, don't just say, "Hey try not to work too late tonight, k?" Try something he will really appreciate like, "Hey, you can come in at noon tomorrow if you want to, alright?" You will be loved.
Normal geeks are intrinsically motivated. They do the job for the joy of doing the job. They are the kind of person who will be up 'til 2 in the morning working on a project. The best way to manage that kind of person is to make sure they are on the right track and keep out of their way. Open source development is a good model for managing geeks. Top down micromanagement is the wrong way to manage geeks.
Geek gods, on the other hand, can be hard to manage. They tend to treat everyone else with contempt. Keeping them on track is quite difficult because they won't take direction, even when they're totally wrong. They won't believe you because you're dumber than them. They're a lot like star atheletes. For them, you need good coaching skills. Read a few biographies of great coaches. You'll get the idea.
People are always saying managing geeks is like herding cats. But no one ever talks about how to herd cats. Chasing them with dogs just makes them scatter, and actually puts the dogs at risk. The answer is chasing mice. Give geeks something to do that's really geeky. Like cats, you have to be sure they're fed and get their weird brand of attention and petting. But the only way to get them all moving in one direction, working together, is to put them in there with some really juicy mice. Then they'll happily stalk and pounce, living the chase, proudly returning with the trophy for the adulation of their keeper.
--
make install -not war
First, ignore all advice from computer science undergrads with no experience who make an inspid and glib list of weakly argued points and pretend to sound like they know what they are talking about. For whatever reason, that is very common on slashdot.
Then realize that the question "How do you manage geeks?" presupposes a lot of bullshit that does not apply in real life. If you are a manager and you have a question like that floating around in your head, you probably should not be managing.
The geek wants reassurances that he's doing a good job all of the time, especially when things are going smoothly.
I sure as hell don't. I'm not a needy child who needs constant reassurance. Give me work that mentally stimulating and challenging and compensate me appropriately and I'll be happy.
-everphilski-
* nerds are often disorganized or have a twisted skein of attention-deficit issues
* nerds love assessing, classifying, and defining the objects in their world
* nerds crave actionable items and roll their eyes at "mission statements" and lofty management patois
* nerds like things that work with technology-agnostic and lofi tools
* nerds like frameworks but tend to ignore rules
* nerds are unusually open to change (if it can be demonstrated to work better than what they're currently using)
* nerds like fixing things on their own terms
* nerds have too many projects and lots and lots of stuff
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
Don't be a dick. A lot of them are very smart people and if you offend them they'll find ways to slack off and get back at you. They may not ruin your career but a word here and there can do you no good at all.
Be honest. Most geeks would perfer if you told them what was going on. Don't lie to them unless you 100% have to.
Listen to them. If they say "we need a week" then go "including delays and testing?". If they say yes then give them 8 days. If they say no then add an extra couple of days (for a short project) or weeks/months for a long project. If the shits going to hit the fan because of a too short deadline you get it in the neck as well as them.
Remember they're people. If you're getting a dirnk offer to get them one, same goes for if you're making a run some where. Act like you're one of them because that way you're a friend and not "the boss". Make sure they know when you say something it really must be done (when to put your foot down, don't do it always).
And last but not least. Get a decent tasting coffee and some biscuits. A good drink gets you going in the morning, biscuits go nice with it and if you're hungry a couple will hold you till lunch. A hungry worker is one thinking of lunch, so his mind is else where.
I like muppets.
What you just said is that employees who take over those functions are more valuable than employees who don't.
Well DUH!!! But the REAL problem is that the MANAGER is not effective.
Don't blame the employee for putting in 8 productive hours a day
As can bad managers.
But don't confuse bad management with bad employees.
no shit. Mr. Salesguy gets an umpty-thousand bonus from an account that *i* worked 60 hour weeks to satisfy his promises, and i get the same paycheck as always.
... hi bingo
It's unfortunate that stereotypes of Sales people in the Tech world persist just as much as stereotypes of geeks in the Sales world.
Personally, I do both roles. Perhaps I'm fortunate, however I can see both sides.
I totally agree that there are some salespeople who believe that they are somehow superior to the technical people, who don't bother to learn or understand what they're selling, and the technical aspects of what they're selling. I have managed such people - but only briefly, normally. They haven't tended to last long with me.
Similarly, I have worked with Technical people whose contempt for sales was manifest, and whose elitist attitude made getting information about what we actually could and should sell was nigh-on impossible. Again, these people didn't last long - they had a technical manager who understood the requirements of working in partnership with Sales.
The fact is, in business we ALL need each other.
A good sales guy will work with technical to learn and fully understand his products and services. He will deliver what technical can support - and act as a buffer between the end-user and technical. If he is over-promising and causing problems for the tech - question it. Put your questions in writing, with valid explanations. Sales people should be ethical enough NOT to be causing you problems - if that is happening, then they're lying to their customers and that's something management should hear about and act on.
But Technical - you don't live in a vacuum, either. You need to be interacting with Sales. Most sales people aren't as moronic as you might think - and would welcome a deeper knowledge of what you can do. The more we know, the more information we can give our prospects - and the more we can sell.
Don't let Sales fool you - in the end, EVERYONE in the company is involved in one thing - bringing in money. Your sales rep has pressures you don't. You have pressures your sales guy doesn't. Communicate with him clearly, in language he can understand - and make sure he's doing the same to you.
If that isn't happening, make it happen.
We can work closely together - and believe me, when it's done right, everyone is happier and more productive. But little snide wars like this thread DO NOT HELP - on either side.
"This is your life - and it's ending one minute at a time" - Narrator, Fight Club