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I've seen type #1 managers alienate top notch developers due to a lack of being able take constructive criticism, and in general not knowing jack about software

I've seen type #1 managers alienate top notch developers due to a lack of being able take constructive criticism, and in general not knowing jack about software development. I've seen fantastic people who were canned due to minor technical disagreements with management while poor performers were left around to cause damage in addition to poisoning moral. I've seen people get the "we expect you to be doing X, Y, and Z at your level, none of which you are" talk, and when they those folks leave, everything falls apart, because either the expectations were bogus, or it really was a personal issue with the boss and the person in question. I've seen junior developers (with talent and potential) languish because they were given zero guidance, yet expected to perform at the level of a senior dev by a type #1 manager without any expectations being presented. I really don't think you can group managers into these two distinct camps. Maybe you need to have an axis or two extra for rating things like technical competence and interpersonal skills...

larsberg 15y ago
That's certainly true, and I apologize if I made it seem like I was encouraging type #1, in particular the "tends to micro-manage, frequently overrules consensus with his own views." Micro-managing your reports is a sign that you're either working on the wrong problems, your organization has span of control issues (i.e. you only have three directs), or you've got too many extremely junior/new-college hires who aren't yet capable of independent work. And if you need to overrule consensus, you failed to be clear about what success would be measured against when you delegated. These are pretty basic issues, but shops can certainly get them wrong. I guess, if nothing else, I'd argue that managers need training. I'm of course biased, but the training they provided at MSFT, particularly at the manager-of-managers level, was just fantastic. I only wish it had been available to people lower on the hierarchy so they could have learned about these mistakes as their scope grew and not after it had!

larsberg 15y ago

That's certainly true, and I apologize if I made it seem like I was encouraging type #1, in particular the "tends to micro-manage, frequently overrules consensus with his own views." Micro-managing your reports is a sign that you're either working on the wrong problems, your organization has span of control issues (i.e. you only have three directs), or you've got too many extremely junior/new-college hires who aren't yet capable of independent work. And if you need to overrule consensus, you failed to be clear about what success would be measured against when you delegated. These are pretty basic issues, but shops can certainly get them wrong. I guess, if nothing else, I'd argue that managers need training. I'm of course biased, but the training they provided at MSFT, particularly at the manager-of-managers level, was just fantastic. I only wish it had been available to people lower on the hierarchy so they could have learned about these mistakes as their scope grew and not after it had!