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I think it's good to note, as Derek does, the distinction between "2 cents' worth" and larger changes that do require senior input - otherwise you're just being

I think it's good to note, as Derek does, the distinction between "2 cents' worth" and larger changes that do require senior input - otherwise you're just being the manager that the team create ducks for [1]. This is where coaching skills as a manager can prove useful. If you feel there are some minor changes that could be an improvement, but don't want to impose your will/opinion, coaching ('ask') can be a better response than managing ('tell'). For example, you might ask "If you had to improve anything, what would you change?" It's an open-ended question that will encourage your team member to think. They can reply "Nothing" if they're confident in the final solution, or they may propose some tweaks they weren't fully happy with - "I'm not sure if that's the right shade of blue" or "I think that's the right call to action, but maybe we could get another opinion". If those are reasonable improvements, empower them to implement the additional change; if you disagree with the extras they raise, tell them you consider the version they proposed to be superior, which empowers their original decision. Just don't be the manager who expects a detailed response and change every time ... then you're right back to where you started. [1] See point 5 https://blog.codinghorror.com/new-programming-jargon/ https://blog.codinghorror.com/new-programming-jargon/

thesz 10y ago
The open question does not always work. I'd say it never works, even. If I take "coaching" attitude, I will take attitude of sports coach - observe, measure and explain why corrective action is needed. The action itself is a choice, mostly, but manager and coach should present a basis for it. Continuing my my rant, I emphasize that manager and coach are external to the team, they view performance from outside (and often prohibited to look under the hood). This is the reason why open questions do not work - difference in view points creates difference in the context.
- vanderZwan 10y ago
  I thinks specific questions would work well. To use the bad boss example: > I like it! Really good. Maybe just a darker shade of blue there, and change the word ‘giant’ to ‘huge’. Other than that, it’s great! Let's change this to: > I like it! Really good. Can you briefly work me through the design process behind it? I'm particularly interested in how you settled on the colours over there, and your ideas behind the word 'giant'. (This honestly still needs a bit of work, but is getting there) In this phrasing we show interest in the designer's work, respect their choices and don't assume our ideas are better than theirs. Instead we assume they know what they are doing and give them the space to convince us and also tell us what parts of the design do and do not matter to them, before engaging in giving proper feedback. The big issue with the cited bad example is that the boss doesn't say why the design needs a darker shade of blue, or why the word ‘giant’ has to change to ‘huge’. It doesn't give any other feedback than "this is wrong, this is the fix". It's not open for debate.
  - jnbiche 10y ago
    >> I like it! Really good. Maybe just a darker shade of blue there, and change the word ‘giant’ to ‘huge’. Other than that, it’s great! >Let's change this to: >> I like it! Really good. Can you briefly work me through the design process behind it? I'm particularly interested in how you settled on the colours over there, and your ideas behind the word 'giant'. Take note, all ye entrepreneurs! This advice is just as applicable for software engineers as for designers, extremely so. So many issues could be avoided with people I do contracts for if they just approached issues in this way. Usually, it's "change this, do that". So I have to reply with "OK, well, we could do that but it'll take 20 days and cost $3000 dollars". The entrepreneur, displeased yet unwilling to pay that much or give up that much time: "hrmph. well...". Automatically, something that could have been a collaborative process has been turned into a confrontation. If he/she had instead approached the problem in the way you recommended, I perhaps could have found out what was driving the desire for change, and recommended a cheaper/faster solution to the problem. Usually, I'll end up in that place eventually, but by that time what could have been a collaborative process has turned confrontational, with my client thinking "ugh, programmers" and me thinking "ugh, idea guys". That said, this has given me some ideas about how to respond in this types of situations. Perhaps with something like, "can I walk you through the reasons why I did/chose this?". Might be worth trying.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - vanderZwan 10y ago
      > That said, this has given me some ideas about how to respond in this types of situations. Perhaps with something like, "can I walk you through the reasons why I did/chose this?". Might be worth trying. Right, there's no reason the designer/software engineer shouldn't take the initiative
  - thesz 10y ago
    You are not presenting a quantitative basis for a change. That "work me out of a design" is as diminishing as direct request. Please, answer to me why are you concerned with such minutiae next to project completion? Is the Statement of Work you have prepared with designer not detailed enough? The only reason I, as a manager, would like to ask questions about "blue and huge" is to provide a way to me to experiment or allow some other people to experiment and fine tune (think A/B experiments). But that would be in SOW in first place.
- sumo89 10y ago
  Saying "this is how to improve" is fine and all, but it's much more effective when the methods to improve are thought of by the person they're for. That's what coaching is, helping people realise the steps they need to take to get to the end goal.
  - thesz 10y ago
    I cannot agree more. This is why I propose measurement and observations with the report of the results to the people who should change. Probably, with a set of options of "how to change", just to spark a thinking or discussion.
- tedmiston 10y ago
  > The open question does not always work. I'd say it never works, even. IMO whether it works varies a lot by the employee's experience level. For a long time I tried to help junior engineers in the same way I would want to be helped (minimally, open ended, high focus on code quality), then got frustrated when the results weren't what I expected. Catering your message to the audience is one of the best pieces of management advice I've received. I'm not actually a manager, but as a senior dev, similar situations arise in code reviews.
icelancer 10y ago
>For example, you might ask "If you had to improve anything, what would you change?" It's an open-ended question that will encourage your team member to think. Yeah. They think you're too weak-willed to just outright state your opinion and instead passively-aggressively point out what you really mean.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  I think some people would enjoy life more if they didn't think passive-agressive all tbe time. Passive-agressiveness exists but reading everything into that context just makes for poor workplace performance IMO.
  - jamesroseman 10y ago
    Passive aggression. I was searching for the noun of passive aggressive recently and someone corrected me, and I'm glad they did! (Hopefully this is helpful not hurtful).
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      To late to edit. That said: Don't worry about me. Only three people I know have managed to seriously annoy me over the last >15 years and they all had to work for it (although it seemed to be quite effortless for at least two of them : )
- syshum 10y ago
  This... I hate being slow rolled to idea or opinion.. If you have criticism about my work come out with it, I am not some delicate little snowflake, if there is better way I want to know.
  - DecoPerson 10y ago
    You have less control over your mind than you believe you do. Guidance (or "slow rolling") helps with strong/deep learning and enables opportunities for conversation. If you trust your boss/coworker, considering letting them continue when they start such discussions. If you don't trust them or feel frustrated/patronised while they're talking, then you have other issues...

thesz 10y ago

The open question does not always work. I'd say it never works, even. If I take "coaching" attitude, I will take attitude of sports coach - observe, measure and explain why corrective action is needed. The action itself is a choice, mostly, but manager and coach should present a basis for it. Continuing my my rant, I emphasize that manager and coach are external to the team, they view performance from outside (and often prohibited to look under the hood). This is the reason why open questions do not work - difference in view points creates difference in the context.

vanderZwan 10y ago
I thinks specific questions would work well. To use the bad boss example: > I like it! Really good. Maybe just a darker shade of blue there, and change the word ‘giant’ to ‘huge’. Other than that, it’s great! Let's change this to: > I like it! Really good. Can you briefly work me through the design process behind it? I'm particularly interested in how you settled on the colours over there, and your ideas behind the word 'giant'. (This honestly still needs a bit of work, but is getting there) In this phrasing we show interest in the designer's work, respect their choices and don't assume our ideas are better than theirs. Instead we assume they know what they are doing and give them the space to convince us and also tell us what parts of the design do and do not matter to them, before engaging in giving proper feedback. The big issue with the cited bad example is that the boss doesn't say why the design needs a darker shade of blue, or why the word ‘giant’ has to change to ‘huge’. It doesn't give any other feedback than "this is wrong, this is the fix". It's not open for debate.
- jnbiche 10y ago
  >> I like it! Really good. Maybe just a darker shade of blue there, and change the word ‘giant’ to ‘huge’. Other than that, it’s great! >Let's change this to: >> I like it! Really good. Can you briefly work me through the design process behind it? I'm particularly interested in how you settled on the colours over there, and your ideas behind the word 'giant'. Take note, all ye entrepreneurs! This advice is just as applicable for software engineers as for designers, extremely so. So many issues could be avoided with people I do contracts for if they just approached issues in this way. Usually, it's "change this, do that". So I have to reply with "OK, well, we could do that but it'll take 20 days and cost $3000 dollars". The entrepreneur, displeased yet unwilling to pay that much or give up that much time: "hrmph. well...". Automatically, something that could have been a collaborative process has been turned into a confrontation. If he/she had instead approached the problem in the way you recommended, I perhaps could have found out what was driving the desire for change, and recommended a cheaper/faster solution to the problem. Usually, I'll end up in that place eventually, but by that time what could have been a collaborative process has turned confrontational, with my client thinking "ugh, programmers" and me thinking "ugh, idea guys". That said, this has given me some ideas about how to respond in this types of situations. Perhaps with something like, "can I walk you through the reasons why I did/chose this?". Might be worth trying.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - vanderZwan 10y ago
    > That said, this has given me some ideas about how to respond in this types of situations. Perhaps with something like, "can I walk you through the reasons why I did/chose this?". Might be worth trying. Right, there's no reason the designer/software engineer shouldn't take the initiative
- thesz 10y ago
  You are not presenting a quantitative basis for a change. That "work me out of a design" is as diminishing as direct request. Please, answer to me why are you concerned with such minutiae next to project completion? Is the Statement of Work you have prepared with designer not detailed enough? The only reason I, as a manager, would like to ask questions about "blue and huge" is to provide a way to me to experiment or allow some other people to experiment and fine tune (think A/B experiments). But that would be in SOW in first place.
sumo89 10y ago
Saying "this is how to improve" is fine and all, but it's much more effective when the methods to improve are thought of by the person they're for. That's what coaching is, helping people realise the steps they need to take to get to the end goal.
- thesz 10y ago
  I cannot agree more. This is why I propose measurement and observations with the report of the results to the people who should change. Probably, with a set of options of "how to change", just to spark a thinking or discussion.
tedmiston 10y ago
> The open question does not always work. I'd say it never works, even. IMO whether it works varies a lot by the employee's experience level. For a long time I tried to help junior engineers in the same way I would want to be helped (minimally, open ended, high focus on code quality), then got frustrated when the results weren't what I expected. Catering your message to the audience is one of the best pieces of management advice I've received. I'm not actually a manager, but as a senior dev, similar situations arise in code reviews.

icelancer 10y ago

>For example, you might ask "If you had to improve anything, what would you change?" It's an open-ended question that will encourage your team member to think. Yeah. They think you're too weak-willed to just outright state your opinion and instead passively-aggressively point out what you really mean.

reitanqild 10y ago
I think some people would enjoy life more if they didn't think passive-agressive all tbe time. Passive-agressiveness exists but reading everything into that context just makes for poor workplace performance IMO.
- jamesroseman 10y ago
  Passive aggression. I was searching for the noun of passive aggressive recently and someone corrected me, and I'm glad they did! (Hopefully this is helpful not hurtful).
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    To late to edit. That said: Don't worry about me. Only three people I know have managed to seriously annoy me over the last >15 years and they all had to work for it (although it seemed to be quite effortless for at least two of them : )
syshum 10y ago
This... I hate being slow rolled to idea or opinion.. If you have criticism about my work come out with it, I am not some delicate little snowflake, if there is better way I want to know.
- DecoPerson 10y ago
  You have less control over your mind than you believe you do. Guidance (or "slow rolling") helps with strong/deep learning and enables opportunities for conversation. If you trust your boss/coworker, considering letting them continue when they start such discussions. If you don't trust them or feel frustrated/patronised while they're talking, then you have other issues...