In middle management, nobody can hear you scream

A slightly caustic take on managing engineering teams in large organizations

Transcript

1. In middle
   management,
   nobody can year
   you scream
   A slightly caustic take on
   managing teams in large
   organizations
   

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2. Warning !
   • I may use strong language,
   with bad French pronunciation
   
   • Many stock pictures
   
   • This talk does not purport to
   re
   fl
   ect the opinions or views of
   my employer
   

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3. ❖ Director of engineering at Mercari JP
   for search, recommendation and
   product metadata
   ❖ Deeply involved in OSS and scienti
   fi
   c
   python in 2005-2010
   ❖ A common career theme: work at the
   boundaries of software engineering
   and science
   ❖ @cournape on GH / twitter
   Who is this guy ?
   

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4. What they don’t tell you
   when you become a senior
   manager
   The senior manager is not on the left
   

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5. Mise en scène
   Aka setting the stage
   • Context: middle to large company, at least a few 100s engineers, and with
   product market
   fi
   t or mature business
   
   • A de
   fi
   nition:
   
   • You’re not managing ICs anymore
   
   • You’re not a general manager: not directly accountable to execs for
   fi
   nancial
   results, etc.
   

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6. Loneliness
   

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7. As an EM, you build a team. As a
   middle manager, you manage a set of
   individuals
   
   • You may spend a few hours / week
   with each report max
   
   • Your reports don’t work together
   on a daily basis
   
   • Your report line is large enough that
   you don’t know everyone anymore,
   maybe even by name (> 50 people)
   Cohesion is challenging
   

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8. Once your report line reach ~40-50
   people, whatever you decide will
   piss o
   ff
   at least one person
   
   • Higher probability for
   misunderstanding: impossible to
   share same context at that level
   
   • Some decisions may genuinely
   negatively a
   ff
   ect some people
   You can’t make everybody happy
   

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9. “Only the paranoids survive”, aka politics
   and perception
   
   
   

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10. What you do have visibility beyond your
    report line
    
    • Managing up and laterally becomes a
    must
    
    • People will request you to do things you
    have no idea about
    
    • “Competence is like blood to upper
    management: they can smell it from
    afar”
    
    • Corollary: don’t get good at something
    you don’t want to do
    Large “attack surface”
    

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11. As an EM, transparency is the right default. Important to establish trust, etc.
    
    If you manage 40-50 people, through "lateral" projects, your decisions may
    impact 100+ people. Total transparency cannot work anymore.
    
    • You need to share the info at the right level with the right context, people
    don’t trust you by default.
    
    • High probability for being quoted out of context, even in good faith
    
    • you have "spooky action at a distance"
    Transparency goes out of the window
    

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12. Importance of "composure": your
    attitude matters, you will be less and
    less able to openly share concerns
    
    The tradeo
    ff
    humility/transparency
    vs con
    fi
    dence/inspiration becomes
    challenging
    
    • Constantly sharing doubts will not
    inspire con
    fi
    dence
    
    • Your report will require a vision
    and clear direction
    Lack of confidence: reports smell fear
    Not a role model for management
    

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13. Aspiration needs to be tampered
    with a sense of reality, otherwise
    your reports will
    fl
    ip the bozo bit
    
    flip the bozo bit v. Decide that
    someone is a clown, and stop
    listening to them.
    
    
    The
    fl
    ip goes one way, forever: you
    can’t switch back.
    They also smell BS !
    

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14. Is it worth it ?
    

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15. • Positive impact on reports is
    rewarding
    
    • Impact can be lasting even after
    you leave
    
    • You need a certain detachment
    
    If you have manager: you can give
    positive feedback to your manager
    too. We like it too !
    How to keeping our spirits up
    

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16. Thanks for listening
    

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17. References
    • “Only the paranoids survive”: book by Andy Grove, Intel founder
    
    • Con
    fi
    dence and humility, podcast on econtalk.org, with David Deppner
    
    • https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2009/03/09/how-to-be-a-program-
    manager/: discussion about the “bozo switch”
    
    • https://www.manager-tools.com : very prescriptive, but a good way to grow
    the M of EM
    
    • Alien, 1979, by Ridley Scott
    
    • Wolf of wall street, 2013, by Scorsese
    

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