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No. Cultural adaptation takes time, especially coming into a leadership position. Newly recruited managers should do a couple of things to get up to speed. 1.

No. Cultural adaptation takes time, especially coming into a leadership position. Newly recruited managers should do a couple of things to get up to speed. 1. Meet with all your direct reports, even if it's 5 minutes, introduce themselves, ask what they're working on, what the holds up are, etc. You're leading them, make an effort to get to know them. (I'm a big fan of peopleware in this regard). 2. Take the time to read everything. A former boss of mine gave me this tip and said when you walk into a management role at a new place, your first job is to read everything and understand what's going on. Reading the docs (business and technical) gives you insight into what's going on and brings you up to speed. 3. Figure out the politics. Every office has them and the higher up you go, the more you have to play them. 4. Learn the tech stuff as needed. Understanding how team's tools work helps you, as the manager, when it comes to cost/time estimates and understanding your team. Ramp up sessions explaining the processes behind major tools and the tradeoffs are valuable in this regard. I disagree with brudgers that management is supposed to focus on management and not understand the technical side. If you're managing tech people, the easiest way to understand how to smooth the path and get out of the way is to know which way things are going and how the tech works. Management isn't about micro controlling your people, whose got time for that? It is about understanding what they're working on, running interference, and helping them develop towards their professional goals. (Peopleware is a great book in this regard)

brudgers 12y ago
I'm not advocating not understanding the technical side. Given the way that the question is framed, I am advocating not doing developer things as a manager (nails and hammers so to speak). I am advocating fully pursuing the things that a manager is in a unique position to pursue and not pursuing activities for which responsibility can be delegated, e.g. development when managing a team of developers. Part of being a good manager requires a willingness to walk away from direct production tasks. In particular one difference between what I am suggesting is that the manager's role is not to play politics but to protect their team from the negative effects of office politics. That means managing upward is as important as managing downward. Doing that right leaves little time for micro-managing the team's work.

brudgers 12y ago

I'm not advocating not understanding the technical side. Given the way that the question is framed, I am advocating not doing developer things as a manager (nails and hammers so to speak). I am advocating fully pursuing the things that a manager is in a unique position to pursue and not pursuing activities for which responsibility can be delegated, e.g. development when managing a team of developers. Part of being a good manager requires a willingness to walk away from direct production tasks. In particular one difference between what I am suggesting is that the manager's role is not to play politics but to protect their team from the negative effects of office politics. That means managing upward is as important as managing downward. Doing that right leaves little time for micro-managing the team's work.