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The #1 job of a manager (in all fields) is to keep his people working. It doesn't matter if it is engineering, manufacturing or the local burger joint. A mana

The #1 job of a manager (in all fields) is to keep his people working. It doesn't matter if it is engineering, manufacturing or the local burger joint. A managers #1 job is to keep his people working.

halfmatthalfcat 6y ago
s/his/their/
pojzon 6y ago
What to do when people dont deliver ? In my current company mgrs say “we did our best”, when in fact I see ppl slacking as hell (days of doing nothing).
- peterwoerner 6y ago
  I didn't say that it was the only part of the job, just that it was the most important thing. Hopefully you have some knobs you can turn. At my current company if people can't deliver you try to hook them up with more mentors and if they still can't deliver, you stop giving them direct labor to work on and eventual force them out because they don't have any work and they stop getting pay raises (or you fire them usually they push them out).
yowlingcat 6y ago
Hmm. I think the #1 job of a manager is to hire, motivate and let go of people the right way. It's up to them to keep working, and it's up to the manager to figure out how to do that no more often than required. If you do it right, it's like 90% teambuilding and 10% line management, IMO. When that ratio is inverted is where you see mediocre management.
aynsof 6y ago
But you need to take a very long position on this. Someone's beloved cat died? That's your problem, because it's affecting the way they work. You need to help them through it. Someone's working well? That's great, but you can't rest on your laurels. You need to help them grow into a more senior position so they don't get bored or disillusioned.
madeofpalk 6y ago
To keep their people working. Women can be managers as well. Edit: I understand other languages might have gendered nouns for words like Manager, and when learning English it can be difficult to break these habits. In English, we have gender neutral pronouns to use when were talking about "generic people" where the gender isnt known. Managers are not just male, so when a sentence is gendered like that I struggle to parse it because I think I've missed a the reason why this hypothetical manager is male.
- eklavya 6y ago
  Maybe we should lighten up a bit and not bring in politics into everything. The writer could be a male and this would be natural for them just like it would be for a female and her.
  - madeofpalk 6y ago
    How is it “political” to acknowledge that women can be managers?
    - eklavya 6y ago
      Can you point me to the part where I or the original poster said that women can or can’t be managers? Is that what was being discussed at all before? Please reflect on whether this is the best you can contribute to a thread about being an engineering manager.
      - halfmatthalfcat 6y ago
        Using male pronouns instead of genderless/more inclusive pronouns in your speech is indicative of a bad managing style (or just bad style all together). As a manager you should be inclusive of all genders both directly and indirectly, which includes how you use whatever language you speak. The people you manage could easily identify with a gender that is not physically obvious and using incorrect pronouns leads to a less inclusive and potentially more hostile workplace. This is Management 101.
danielheath 6y ago
That’s a “utilisation” view, and it’s a terrible model. People who already have work to do are not responsive to new input. By ensuring everyone is working all the time you also ensure nobody can respond to the unexpected. The counterpoint to utilisation thinking is latency thinking (“how fast can our team respond to requests”). An instance of utilisation thinking: “Our roads are not always full of traffic, how can we get more cars onto them?”. This is clearly absurd; why is “developers have work to do” a goal when “roads have cars on them” is not?
dionian 6y ago
I would agree and add: working on the right thing and delivering results

halfmatthalfcat 6y ago

s/his/their/

pojzon 6y ago

What to do when people dont deliver ? In my current company mgrs say “we did our best”, when in fact I see ppl slacking as hell (days of doing nothing).

peterwoerner 6y ago
I didn't say that it was the only part of the job, just that it was the most important thing. Hopefully you have some knobs you can turn. At my current company if people can't deliver you try to hook them up with more mentors and if they still can't deliver, you stop giving them direct labor to work on and eventual force them out because they don't have any work and they stop getting pay raises (or you fire them usually they push them out).

yowlingcat 6y ago

Hmm. I think the #1 job of a manager is to hire, motivate and let go of people the right way. It's up to them to keep working, and it's up to the manager to figure out how to do that no more often than required. If you do it right, it's like 90% teambuilding and 10% line management, IMO. When that ratio is inverted is where you see mediocre management.

aynsof 6y ago

But you need to take a very long position on this. Someone's beloved cat died? That's your problem, because it's affecting the way they work. You need to help them through it. Someone's working well? That's great, but you can't rest on your laurels. You need to help them grow into a more senior position so they don't get bored or disillusioned.

madeofpalk 6y ago

To keep their people working. Women can be managers as well. Edit: I understand other languages might have gendered nouns for words like Manager, and when learning English it can be difficult to break these habits. In English, we have gender neutral pronouns to use when were talking about "generic people" where the gender isnt known. Managers are not just male, so when a sentence is gendered like that I struggle to parse it because I think I've missed a the reason why this hypothetical manager is male.

eklavya 6y ago
Maybe we should lighten up a bit and not bring in politics into everything. The writer could be a male and this would be natural for them just like it would be for a female and her.
- madeofpalk 6y ago
  How is it “political” to acknowledge that women can be managers?
  - eklavya 6y ago
    Can you point me to the part where I or the original poster said that women can or can’t be managers? Is that what was being discussed at all before? Please reflect on whether this is the best you can contribute to a thread about being an engineering manager.
    - halfmatthalfcat 6y ago
      Using male pronouns instead of genderless/more inclusive pronouns in your speech is indicative of a bad managing style (or just bad style all together). As a manager you should be inclusive of all genders both directly and indirectly, which includes how you use whatever language you speak. The people you manage could easily identify with a gender that is not physically obvious and using incorrect pronouns leads to a less inclusive and potentially more hostile workplace. This is Management 101.

danielheath 6y ago

That’s a “utilisation” view, and it’s a terrible model. People who already have work to do are not responsive to new input. By ensuring everyone is working all the time you also ensure nobody can respond to the unexpected. The counterpoint to utilisation thinking is latency thinking (“how fast can our team respond to requests”). An instance of utilisation thinking: “Our roads are not always full of traffic, how can we get more cars onto them?”. This is clearly absurd; why is “developers have work to do” a goal when “roads have cars on them” is not?

dionian 6y ago

I would agree and add: working on the right thing and delivering results