4 ms·

Don't agree with everything, but the opening for sure: "People Who Make Software Happen (you may know them as “programmers”) should have the option to progress

by fhd2 4y ago

Don't agree with everything, but the opening for sure: "People Who Make Software Happen (you may know them as “programmers”) should have the option to progress their careers without leaving the code face." I was promoted to CTO of a quickly growing company some years back. At some point I had so many offsites, strategy workshops and generally low value meetings (that the other C levels loved), that I got somewhat out of touch with what's actually going on in the code base and with the people. I was both frustrated and ineffective. Ever since I've made sure I spend roughly half my time in a CTO role reviewing/writing code or pairing. It's not about all good programmers being managers, though they should be given the opportunity if they want it. It's about all (technical) managers being decent programmers.

onion2k 4y ago
That was on you though, and by the sounds of it you realized that and fixed it. When you're a C-level you're expected to use your autonomy and agency to say no to things, and if people need you to be there (eg strategy meetings that need tech input) then they should have to work to your priorities. No one above senior dev level has too many meetings. The issue is always that they say yes to all the meetings they're invited to. Realizing that you're allowed to say no is a critical part of leadership. Possibly the most important part...
- fhd2 4y ago
  Absolutely true, it was nothing but my own failure to not follow whatever "best practices" (how I dislike that phrase) others talked me into. It's lonely to be the only technical guy in the C suite of a tech company, but that's the job. And it's important - I've seen what happens when there's nobody there.
kqr 4y ago
What surprised me when I became a manager was how high the variance of the workload was. Some days (or even weeks) I have very little administrative/communication work to do. Others I'm doing 10 hour days to catch up. Since I don't know when I will be swamped next, I'm hesitant to take on technical work lest I block someone else. How are you handling this? Have you found a way to smooth the admin/comm load? (One advice is was given is "do only low value technical work" and I've tried this but it's just not satisfying enough to keep me engaged.)
- fhd2 4y ago
  I either do low value work or, most of the time, I support others. For the juniors on the team, I make myself available for pairing so I can help train them. For the seniors, I help them by writing documentation, reviewing their work and making sure it's aligned with where we want to go (you can call it architecture but I don't like to throw that word around), or help out by resolving disagreements. Or whatever they need really. Not all of that stuff is technically "code", but to me it's not primarily about writing code myself, it's about being constantly in touch with the code base in some fashion or another. I also delegate organisational work to those on the team interested in it - I very rarely run a meeting or drive some work, I just fill in the cracks where nobody else wants to do it. The main trick is probably that we maintain a highly asynchronous communication culture - which is not for everybody and non trivial to establish and keep. But if it works, it really works.
  - fhd2 4y ago
    Oh, and for when I was running a larger ship with multiple teams, I would just focus on one team at a time, do all of the above there (with the other half of my time dedicated to more high level company wide work), then switch teams after a few months. Probably not the best way to do it, and it might not scale beyond 230 people (since I never tried), but it's what I ended up with and it works well for me.
  - spangry 4y ago
    I really like this approach - in some respects I think managers should be serving their subordinates. I've just recently become a manager of a data team, having previously been a data person myself. I find myself with very little time to do anything technical, and envy my team members when I see them doing technical work. Do you have any advice for a technical person newly turned manager? Anything you wish someone had told you when you started as a manager / leader?
    - fhd2 4y ago
      Well, I'm thinking about trying consulting so I started to offer free consultations to get better at it - see my profile. I can't think of a lot of generic advise: Sure, people I've talked to over the last 13 months of doing this face more or less the same problems, but how to best deal with them depends entirely on their situation, the people they work with and their own personality and skills. One of the most eye opening things I've learned about is Cynefin from Dave (!) Snowden - wish someone had told me about it when I just started. On the more generic side, I think the most important thing I wish someone told me is to not be _too_ humble, to trust my intuition and experience and be proud of my brand of management, not apologetic for not doing things the way somebody else read they're supposed to be done. Depending on your personality, I might as well recommend to be _more_ humble though - the balance is key for me.

by fhd2 4y ago

onion2k 4y ago

That was on you though, and by the sounds of it you realized that and fixed it. When you're a C-level you're expected to use your autonomy and agency to say no to things, and if people need you to be there (eg strategy meetings that need tech input) then they should have to work to your priorities. No one above senior dev level has too many meetings. The issue is always that they say yes to all the meetings they're invited to. Realizing that you're allowed to say no is a critical part of leadership. Possibly the most important part...

fhd2 4y ago
Absolutely true, it was nothing but my own failure to not follow whatever "best practices" (how I dislike that phrase) others talked me into. It's lonely to be the only technical guy in the C suite of a tech company, but that's the job. And it's important - I've seen what happens when there's nobody there.

kqr 4y ago

What surprised me when I became a manager was how high the variance of the workload was. Some days (or even weeks) I have very little administrative/communication work to do. Others I'm doing 10 hour days to catch up. Since I don't know when I will be swamped next, I'm hesitant to take on technical work lest I block someone else. How are you handling this? Have you found a way to smooth the admin/comm load? (One advice is was given is "do only low value technical work" and I've tried this but it's just not satisfying enough to keep me engaged.)

fhd2 4y ago
I either do low value work or, most of the time, I support others. For the juniors on the team, I make myself available for pairing so I can help train them. For the seniors, I help them by writing documentation, reviewing their work and making sure it's aligned with where we want to go (you can call it architecture but I don't like to throw that word around), or help out by resolving disagreements. Or whatever they need really. Not all of that stuff is technically "code", but to me it's not primarily about writing code myself, it's about being constantly in touch with the code base in some fashion or another. I also delegate organisational work to those on the team interested in it - I very rarely run a meeting or drive some work, I just fill in the cracks where nobody else wants to do it. The main trick is probably that we maintain a highly asynchronous communication culture - which is not for everybody and non trivial to establish and keep. But if it works, it really works.
- fhd2 4y ago
  Oh, and for when I was running a larger ship with multiple teams, I would just focus on one team at a time, do all of the above there (with the other half of my time dedicated to more high level company wide work), then switch teams after a few months. Probably not the best way to do it, and it might not scale beyond 230 people (since I never tried), but it's what I ended up with and it works well for me.
- spangry 4y ago
  I really like this approach - in some respects I think managers should be serving their subordinates. I've just recently become a manager of a data team, having previously been a data person myself. I find myself with very little time to do anything technical, and envy my team members when I see them doing technical work. Do you have any advice for a technical person newly turned manager? Anything you wish someone had told you when you started as a manager / leader?
  - fhd2 4y ago
    Well, I'm thinking about trying consulting so I started to offer free consultations to get better at it - see my profile. I can't think of a lot of generic advise: Sure, people I've talked to over the last 13 months of doing this face more or less the same problems, but how to best deal with them depends entirely on their situation, the people they work with and their own personality and skills. One of the most eye opening things I've learned about is Cynefin from Dave (!) Snowden - wish someone had told me about it when I just started. On the more generic side, I think the most important thing I wish someone told me is to not be _too_ humble, to trust my intuition and experience and be proud of my brand of management, not apologetic for not doing things the way somebody else read they're supposed to be done. Depending on your personality, I might as well recommend to be _more_ humble though - the balance is key for me.