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I think there's an elephant in the room here, being overlooked: >The engineers would give me highly technical explanation I couldn’t understand. This would fru

I think there's an elephant in the room here, being overlooked: >The engineers would give me highly technical explanation I couldn’t understand. This would frustrate me because I did not add much value and distracted them. I have a rule which avoids this situation happening, ever, and its a controversial one, but bear with me: * NEVER accept management from someone who cannot do your job. This rule, hard and fast, has saved my ass so many times - and every single time I've broken it, things have been more painful than they should be. Seriously, think about it. How can someone who isn't qualified to do your job, actually manage you? Only if 'management' is an administrative-only task - i.e. "report your hours worked - I don't care about anything else". But if you put this rule into action and insist that your managers are able to do your job, you have a very strong, very stable organizational structure. This doesn't mean the manager has to do your job - just that they can, if they need to. You can't manage things you don't understand. So never accept management from people who don't understand the job. And if that is not happening in the organization, you've got another problem: HR are just chair-stuffing. INSIST that this not be how your org is run.

stlHusker 7y ago
> Seriously, think about it. How can someone who isn't qualified to do your job, actually manage you? When put in a leadership position, above all "resist the urge to manage". I don't want a manager, I want someone who serves the team, insulates them from unnecessary distractions, removes obstacles, etc. Someone that supports a culture of humility, respect and trust while helping to care and feed for each individual's autonomy, mastery and purpose. I've worked on some great teams and less than 1/2 of the time these leaders could not do my job yet it did not matter (of course it was a bit "easier" when they did) because they understood the above.
JJMcJ 7y ago
> NEVER accept management from someone who cannot do your job. Advice to college students and recent grads: Q: Help, I just discovered I hate programming and aren't any good at it. What do I do? A: Go in to project management. So programmers are run by people who are self-selected for mediocre skills or even outright hostility toward programming.

stlHusker 7y ago

> Seriously, think about it. How can someone who isn't qualified to do your job, actually manage you? When put in a leadership position, above all "resist the urge to manage". I don't want a manager, I want someone who serves the team, insulates them from unnecessary distractions, removes obstacles, etc. Someone that supports a culture of humility, respect and trust while helping to care and feed for each individual's autonomy, mastery and purpose. I've worked on some great teams and less than 1/2 of the time these leaders could not do my job yet it did not matter (of course it was a bit "easier" when they did) because they understood the above.

JJMcJ 7y ago

> NEVER accept management from someone who cannot do your job. Advice to college students and recent grads: Q: Help, I just discovered I hate programming and aren't any good at it. What do I do? A: Go in to project management. So programmers are run by people who are self-selected for mediocre skills or even outright hostility toward programming.