Slashdot Mirror
On Managing Developers
An anonymous reader writes: A columnist at TechCrunch takes a crack at advice on how to manage developers. He has some decent starting points. For example, "Basically a manager's job is to make other people more productive. What's one really good way to do that? Do the work that is getting in their way. Which means: find out what kind of important work your developers dislike the most, and do it for them." Also: "[D]on't bull$%^& anyone, ever. ... Speak the truth as you see it. Speak it diplomatically, don't get me wrong; but be trustworthy. Only then will you be able to trust others." But some of his statements are open enough to be nearly devoid of meaning: "Any particular process artifact is probably irrelevant. The finest tech team I ever worked on began every day with a daily standup; so did one of the worst, most dysfunctional teams I ever encountered. ... [T]he systems and processes you choose for any given project should be fluid, and flexible, and depend in large part on the team and the context." If you are or have been a developer, what qualities have made your managers good or poor? If you've been in position to do the managing, does you experience jive with this guy's?
...He has some decent starting points. For example, Basically a manager's job is to make other people more productive...
Well, if the summary starts off on such a wrong assumption, it can only get worse from there.
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A manager's job is not to make anyone do anything, whether it is being more productive or coming to work earlier. Indeed, TFA says just the opposite, i.e., "Just Because You’re In Charge Doesn’t Mean You’re In Control".
imo, one of a software development manager's jobs is to create an environment that allows the software developers to do their jobs. If the manager has to "make" them do their jobs or be more productive, then the wrong people are in the software developer jobs.