5 ms·

Google spent ten years researching what makes the 'perfect' manager

90 points by truth_seeker 7y ago

simonswords82 7y ago
All this article tells me is that good managers manage their staff well. This is clearly more of the usual click-bait nonsense from Business Insider.
tshanmu 7y ago
will downvote this if I can :) not good enough to be on HN frontpage...
- dontbenebby 7y ago
  I don't think you can downvote front page articles, just comments. I seem to have hit the threshold to vote on individual posts, not sure if there is a higher threshold for articles. Edit: and speaking of voting, since this got downvoted: I wasn't the person who downvoted you. I felt bad you got marked down and wanted to let you know since sometimes on HN people can be weird about "HN is not Reddit" :)
  - nvrspyx 7y ago
    Posts use “flags” instead of downvotes. There’s no threshold to flag a post either.
    - dontbenebby 7y ago
      I thought flags are for TOS violations, not pure disagreement. Or should I go back and flag all those who emacs users who besmirch Vi? ;)
      - nvrspyx 7y ago
        You're correct. I can no longer edit my post, but I should have specified. There's no true "equivalent" of downvoting posts, just the flag system which downweights posts like downvotes do comments. After it reaches a threshold, the post becomes hidden. It is supposed to be used strictly for posts that violate the guidelines (i.e. off-topic, reposts, incorrect titling, etc). If a user keeps flagging content inappropriately, action may be taken against the user instead.
  - tshanmu 7y ago
    thanks :)
arkitaip 7y ago
Skip the blog spam and go directly to Google re:Work where they publish tons of useful research about office work, recruiting and management: https://rework.withgoogle.com/ https://rework.withgoogle.com/
wjossey 7y ago
Original content: https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/the-evolution-of-project-oxygen/ https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/the-evolution-of-project-... Project Oxygen is a really great resource for any of you out there looking for more information on this stuff. One thing I’ll call out from this particular summary: > "I love to be micromanaged," said no employee, ever. One thing to think about is how to junior / in training mode your current team member is. Your level of management involvement scales (micro to macro) as your team member becomes more senior, and you’re able to trust their work, and they’re able to trust your direction. I’ve made this mistake where I had a junior employee, gave them tons of autonomy and freedom, and they floundered and felt “unmanaged”. To me, I was just “not micro-managing” them. To them, I just wasn’t managing at all. Management isn’t one size fits all, and the techniques we use has to vary based on each person on our team. There is no “One True Way”. Coaching is an interesting topic for a lot of people, as I see this as a gap for a lot of the managers I work with through my mentoring program. We teach coaching during our leadership cohort program ( https://connect.eagerlabs.com https://connect.eagerlabs.com ) for this very reason, and I’ll be curious how many of our graduates actually look to start taking ICF workshops or certifications coming out of it (or some other coaching certification network).
- Aromasin 7y ago
  To add anecdata to further your point, I wasn't sure engineering was for me until I found a manager who could guide me as a junior. I was fully prepared to quit and change careers, as I felt completely out of my depth and questioned my own competency. Luckily, I decided to try one more work-place and ended up with the fantastic boss I have now. I'm sure for Google, who generally hire incredibly talented engineers right off the bat, a 'no-micromanagement' policy works well; but for a fresh-faced undergraduate straight out of a second-rate university, micro-management and mentorship is crucial. Something that might take a junior hours to do can be solved in minutes with a bit of guidance. I think sometimes the senior engineers I work with underestimate how much knowledge they have to share, and overestimate how much knowledge a 20-something year old engineer with one internship under their belt has.
  - devnullbyte 7y ago
stirfrykitty 7y ago
One thing I took away from growing up a military brat and then being an NCO myself in the military: You lead people, you manage things. People are not managed, they are either led well or poorly. Good leaders lead from the front, right alongside their charges. This is one thing I miss from my military time. Leaders should be working, not sitting in an office breathing rarefied air and distant from their charges. I'm thankful my current "boss" is happy to simply let me and my one colleague run with it. Should we need something, we ask, but otherwise we know what to do and the road map is clear. We work with a sense of urgency, get things done and keep the boss happy. He looks good, we look good. Another thing that is detestable is too many meetings for the sake of meetings. Have a purpose for the meeting. Allow feedback, take constructive criticism (leaders, I'm looking at you), and actually lead with your troops, not away from them. My sole colleague and I get more done in one day than I did in a week at my previous position because the bureaucracy would not get out of the way. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
- bespoke_engnr 7y ago
  This is so true. Another thing I've seen great NCOs do: When someone has to do something boring/dirty/ugly, never let them do it alone. Sometimes having a buddy help you with shit work can actually turn it into something fun.
  - stirfrykitty 7y ago
    So true. When I served, the occasional crap job would come around and everyone was expected to chip in. We had to field day the barracks every Thursday night. There was no liberty until it was done and inspection complete. As an NCO, I made sure that myself and other NCOs took turns on the buffers, mops/buckets right alongside the Privates and Lance Corporals. There is no "I" in team. This is one thing about the Marine Corps I miss. A very few people could move mountains. The Corps is able to do so much with very little.
- zaphirplane 7y ago
  An interesting comment about leading from the front since most military colonels onwards are desk bound What you are referring to applies very well to frontline leadership which is the NCO type
sunstone 7y ago
Having identified the characteristics I would be interested to know how successful they were in training new managers to be like this who didn't have a lot of these traits to begin with. My guess is, not very successful.
chid 7y ago
Is there a paper or presentation (with methods/data) on this? I've been looking but I haven't found much.

90 points by truth_seeker 7y ago

All this article tells me is that good managers manage their staff well. This is clearly more of the usual click-bait nonsense from Business Insider.

tshanmu 7y ago

will downvote this if I can :) not good enough to be on HN frontpage...

dontbenebby 7y ago
I don't think you can downvote front page articles, just comments. I seem to have hit the threshold to vote on individual posts, not sure if there is a higher threshold for articles. Edit: and speaking of voting, since this got downvoted: I wasn't the person who downvoted you. I felt bad you got marked down and wanted to let you know since sometimes on HN people can be weird about "HN is not Reddit" :)
- nvrspyx 7y ago
  Posts use “flags” instead of downvotes. There’s no threshold to flag a post either.
  - dontbenebby 7y ago
    I thought flags are for TOS violations, not pure disagreement. Or should I go back and flag all those who emacs users who besmirch Vi? ;)
    - nvrspyx 7y ago
      You're correct. I can no longer edit my post, but I should have specified. There's no true "equivalent" of downvoting posts, just the flag system which downweights posts like downvotes do comments. After it reaches a threshold, the post becomes hidden. It is supposed to be used strictly for posts that violate the guidelines (i.e. off-topic, reposts, incorrect titling, etc). If a user keeps flagging content inappropriately, action may be taken against the user instead.
- tshanmu 7y ago
  thanks :)

arkitaip 7y ago

Skip the blog spam and go directly to Google re:Work where they publish tons of useful research about office work, recruiting and management: https://rework.withgoogle.com/ https://rework.withgoogle.com/

wjossey 7y ago

Original content: https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/the-evolution-of-project-oxygen/ https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/the-evolution-of-project-... Project Oxygen is a really great resource for any of you out there looking for more information on this stuff. One thing I’ll call out from this particular summary: > "I love to be micromanaged," said no employee, ever. One thing to think about is how to junior / in training mode your current team member is. Your level of management involvement scales (micro to macro) as your team member becomes more senior, and you’re able to trust their work, and they’re able to trust your direction. I’ve made this mistake where I had a junior employee, gave them tons of autonomy and freedom, and they floundered and felt “unmanaged”. To me, I was just “not micro-managing” them. To them, I just wasn’t managing at all. Management isn’t one size fits all, and the techniques we use has to vary based on each person on our team. There is no “One True Way”. Coaching is an interesting topic for a lot of people, as I see this as a gap for a lot of the managers I work with through my mentoring program. We teach coaching during our leadership cohort program ( https://connect.eagerlabs.com https://connect.eagerlabs.com ) for this very reason, and I’ll be curious how many of our graduates actually look to start taking ICF workshops or certifications coming out of it (or some other coaching certification network).

Aromasin 7y ago
To add anecdata to further your point, I wasn't sure engineering was for me until I found a manager who could guide me as a junior. I was fully prepared to quit and change careers, as I felt completely out of my depth and questioned my own competency. Luckily, I decided to try one more work-place and ended up with the fantastic boss I have now. I'm sure for Google, who generally hire incredibly talented engineers right off the bat, a 'no-micromanagement' policy works well; but for a fresh-faced undergraduate straight out of a second-rate university, micro-management and mentorship is crucial. Something that might take a junior hours to do can be solved in minutes with a bit of guidance. I think sometimes the senior engineers I work with underestimate how much knowledge they have to share, and overestimate how much knowledge a 20-something year old engineer with one internship under their belt has.
- devnullbyte 7y ago

stirfrykitty 7y ago

One thing I took away from growing up a military brat and then being an NCO myself in the military: You lead people, you manage things. People are not managed, they are either led well or poorly. Good leaders lead from the front, right alongside their charges. This is one thing I miss from my military time. Leaders should be working, not sitting in an office breathing rarefied air and distant from their charges. I'm thankful my current "boss" is happy to simply let me and my one colleague run with it. Should we need something, we ask, but otherwise we know what to do and the road map is clear. We work with a sense of urgency, get things done and keep the boss happy. He looks good, we look good. Another thing that is detestable is too many meetings for the sake of meetings. Have a purpose for the meeting. Allow feedback, take constructive criticism (leaders, I'm looking at you), and actually lead with your troops, not away from them. My sole colleague and I get more done in one day than I did in a week at my previous position because the bureaucracy would not get out of the way. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

bespoke_engnr 7y ago
This is so true. Another thing I've seen great NCOs do: When someone has to do something boring/dirty/ugly, never let them do it alone. Sometimes having a buddy help you with shit work can actually turn it into something fun.
- stirfrykitty 7y ago
  So true. When I served, the occasional crap job would come around and everyone was expected to chip in. We had to field day the barracks every Thursday night. There was no liberty until it was done and inspection complete. As an NCO, I made sure that myself and other NCOs took turns on the buffers, mops/buckets right alongside the Privates and Lance Corporals. There is no "I" in team. This is one thing about the Marine Corps I miss. A very few people could move mountains. The Corps is able to do so much with very little.
zaphirplane 7y ago
An interesting comment about leading from the front since most military colonels onwards are desk bound What you are referring to applies very well to frontline leadership which is the NCO type

sunstone 7y ago

Having identified the characteristics I would be interested to know how successful they were in training new managers to be like this who didn't have a lot of these traits to begin with. My guess is, not very successful.

chid 7y ago

Is there a paper or presentation (with methods/data) on this? I've been looking but I haven't found much.