BossTalks.com Tag: manager

green on "Why "manager" has to be better?"

green — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:17:13 +0000

Better manager is nothing without better team. This is my point. Either both are great, or no one can be "better"

susanvarghese2007 on "Why "manager" has to be better?"

susanvarghese2007 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:01:19 +0000

Man- ager! What a "coveted"title! The above thoughts are noble, fair and frank...and it depicts the thought process of a new era of generation...However, ask someone who comes from a different world- the "third world" namely- coming in with a baggage of oppression and suppression and in many cases, still continuing in the same social and cultural sphere. They'll tell you the manager is the be it and end of of the so called life. In fact for many in the third world- (that's a considerable population)...this title is what many dream for their sons and daughters...a metaphor for superiority, class and honor!

Why manager has to be better- ?? duh! try working with a spineless one, and you'll know. Yes- to all those who are saying, "been there, done that"...till you experience it- you'll never know the insanity that can drive you to misery! Decision- making; strategizing; to a certain level- a task master and to a higher level- some one who can inspire! Not every employee is intrinsically motivated...and not every one are doers-( forget "go-getters")- till they are told what to do- sometimes even the best and brightest of lot! A man-ager is essential- a better manager is inevitable!

(read more)

green on "Why "manager" has to be better?"

green — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 09:24:47 +0000

While working with different and diverse developers from all around the world I noticed one common thing. Many of them see management position as an ultimate necessary and the only right goal of their career. But why is that? I spent some time thinking about that, but still no nice and reasonable answer. I can see that many developers think that "manager" sounds better and more impressive. Many developers see "manager" to be the guy to act bossy and tell everybody what to do. Somebody who have power. Is it just the human nature to be more powerful comparing to other people? "Status" kind of thing?

But in reality to be good manager is an hard job to do. And it's none of what people like to think about it. I am developer, manager and whoever you want to call it. I do not care really much about titles, until I do what I like. And when you manage other people, you have to admit they are the main workforce. Not you. You are the guide, may be the bridge closing some gaps. But those people are the best, because they are important and really meaningful.

This is also one of the reasons why startups can be built by developers, not managers. Well, it can be built by manager who has some money to hire developers. ;-) But to launch from the ground, to built from scratch, to make it happen - you need to be hands on. That's why no matter how deep in managing I am digging, I still remain hands on the coding. I do my own code, fix others, review... Learn new things - because it's a never ending process. You always have something to learn.

The best management goal is to give developers and opportunity to do their job. Just ask them, show right directions, and keep within it. If they are the best (but you hire best, right?) they'll really accomplish the job perfectly. Well, if they are not -- you'll have a lot of job on mentoring and guiding... imagine you have several "not best" developers, and it'll mean you have to work really hard. But it's not management then, again. ;-)

What do you think? Any comments are highly appreciated!

(read more)

white on "Do Extreme strategies leave managers alone?"

white — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 15:26:39 +0000

I am not mixing these, I'm just trying to look at things with more wide angle then you do. Yes, we can divide any process into some parts, but they are stay interconnected. Development process is fine. However, didn't you ever see a very qualified person, a senior technical specialist, who lacks knowledge how to manage people or time? It's an essential knowledge, but not that much of technical geeks know how to do this right, if ever interested at all.

(read more)

andy on "Do Extreme strategies leave managers alone?"

andy — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:44:13 +0000

I think you mix up personal management and project maangement. As open-source projects and startup companies show there is no little need for project management if there are enough Senior developers and the projects have enough freedom from the business driving the project.

Developing software is a Craftsmanship type of business something between art/creativity and skills/knowledge. In the old days there were no need to manage a craftsman because he knew what and how to do it. As soon as we started to replace them with underqualified personel management became importent as well as quality assurance. I am convinced that any project is better of with a small set of highly skilled and experienced developers that with a army of junior developers and believe many senior developers still as juniors in my book.

(read more)

white on "Do Extreme strategies leave managers alone?"

white — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:45:11 +0000

I was pretty surprised with one book's point saying that ''Extreme strategies require a little of planning and its done right in time. As the result this leaves Senior managers in a rather unsettled condition." While I can agree about planning part, I don't really feel the same about managers. You either like it or not, the world without management leads to chaos and disorder.

I'm also pretty concerned about the point that teams in agile strategies are mature enough to stay away of regular supervision and need some time to be on their own. That's a total crap. You may wish it to be so, but it's never so ''by default" or just because of the strategy which you picked. It's a silly point and very wrong to mix people management with product or project management process. These things are interconnected, but I really don't believe that there is a direct influence can exist in the general parts.

(read more)

white on "A question for iterative managers"

white — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:44:12 +0000

A have got a pretty interesting but simple question to those who are just fond of iteractive software project management strategies, like Scrump, RUP or even staged and modified waterfall model.

All these methodologies expect for close work with a client, in some of the strategies the client is playing an indispensibly role in the development team and ir required to make a lot of decisions.

What if your customer is not experienced or just doesn't want to play such a big role, and he wants you to come back with your proposals on his ideas, said verbally in a very inspecific manner? Every customer group is different, and keeping in mind that Scrum is very customer driven model, this could make a real problem in the process.

Are you are trying to implement different strategy or just find an intermediate manager?

(read more)