The Dueling Myths of Business

I've never read anything like this before... a fascinating and helpful way to look at the business world

Bad Bosses, Picking Your Fights and Saying 'I Don't Know'

Celebrity CEO Carol Bartz shares some good thoughts

The Five Hats of a Software Development Manager

I've been recently trying to distill what it is a Software Development Manager should be spending their time on. I've come up with "five hats" that we should be wearing -

1. The Leader
2. The Manager
3. The Troubleshooter
4. The Ambassador
5. The Coach

I'm sure these roles are already evoking ideas in your mind. I will go through them one at a time over the coming months, and provide a little more detail.

A good boss can make all the difference

We all know that's true - but how *much* difference, exactly? A study of 23,000 workers in a technology based company has given the answer. The average boss adds 1.75 times as much output as the average worker. And replacing a bad boss with a good boss will increase output by at least 10% (in a 10 man team, that's like having a whole extra headcount!)

What is the most important task a boss should be doing? You might be surprised, but it is teaching/coaching! There are skills you have that your employees need - or if you don't have them yet, you have the time and ability to acquire them and pass them on.

The whole idea of coaching freaks out some Software Development Managers, because their technical skills are necessarily less current than their staff. You shouldn't worry about that - you can buy books or videos for your staff, or send them on training courses.

You have lots of stuff to teach them besides technical specifics. For a start, there's the 20 years of software tips and tricks you've picked up during your software development career. Many of the same problems you were facing back in your COBOL days ;-) are the same sorts of things derailing software projects today. Poor estimation, users who don't know their mind, senior management who won't commit - there really is nothing new under the Sun.

Even outside of project stuff there are things you can teach them, about time management, about dealing with people, about developing their careers, about problem solving, about dealing with difficult clients, about written and verbal communication etc. etc. You can probably add a few more to the list.

Have a look at your calendar tomorrow. How many hours per week do you spend training, coaching and mentoring your staff. One study suggests a good manager spends 20-40% of their time on coaching. That might seem out of reach, but why not start with 5%, and work your way up?

Why honesty is the best policy

Barry Schwartz talks about his new book, "Practical Wisdom".

You Don't Need A Thick Skin

I wish Phil Haack posted a bit more often, as he always has good things to say. His latest post is called You Don't Need A Thick Skin. His main point is that we usually respond to criticism in one of two ways - either we get defensive, or we ignore it (the titular "thick skin"). Sounds about right!

Phil suggest we need to go a third way, and "embrace" the criticism. If someone says your software sucks, try and put yourself in their shoes. And perhaps you will say, "You are right, that does suck. It's not good enough."

As a leader, I'm sure you relate to this. We've all had difficult staff who we've given constructive criticism too, and either they get aggressive or the criticism slides right off. We long for them to take ownership.

But forget your staff - what about you? Do you always have excuses when you fail (and if you never fail, you are not trying hard enough!) Do you grit your teeth when you are criticised, then forget it all once you walk out the door? When was the last time you said to someone, "You are right, this is not good enough. We will fix this and do better."

A world without managers?

Phil Haack feels good - very good - after a year at GitHub. He loves the fact that there are no managers, and wonders if this is the way of the future. He points to the super successful Steam as another IT example of no-managers, and also to Gore & Associates as an example of a large and established company doing the same.

Well, what are us manager types to think of this? Do our careers have a use-by date? Are our days numbered? Well, I wouldn't worry too much. For a start, these ideas are not new. Gore has been running things that way for over 30 years, and it hasn't really caught on. Why? Because it is really, really hard to do!

What about GitHub and Steam? How have they pulled it off? They are both high-margin, high-profile businesses. That is, they attract absolutely top-tier talent, and have the cash to compensate them. Obviously a group of super-smart, super-motivated, super-skilled people are able to get by with loose structures, and still achieve success.

But there is more to the story. Gore may not have "managers", but they still have leadership. Project teams form around "sponsors", who seem to combine project management with product management, though not traditional line management. Gore have also been forced to put in more structure at the upper levels as the company has expanded.

My point is not that GitHub/Steam/Gore are doing something wrong. On the contrary, I think it is very right - for their contexts. I also note that, though they may have abolished managers, they have not abolished leadership. Leadership has good currency, and is always in demand.

The First 100 Days of a New CIO

McKinsey Quarterly set out a plan for the first 100 days of a new CIO (free registration required). The key points are -

1. Start the first 100 days before your first day
2. Clarify and strengthen your mandate
3. Build relationships with business unit executives and agree upon priorities
4. Understand the upside and downside
5. Develop the plan
6. Build your team
7. Rally the IT organization
8. Demonstrate leadership through visible results and actions
9. Continue your personal journey

Leadership 101: Throw People in Over Their Heads and See What Happens

This is pretty straightforward, but true. Note, though - they must be *good* people for this to work. B players will struggle.