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Engineering
Management for
everyone
@benjamin // DevOps Meetup Stuttgart, 4-Apr-2019 1
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Me?
cto.coffee
&&
with humans
collective
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!"#$%&'(
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!
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Engineering
Management
for everyone?
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Engineering Management?
Management is overhead. Management is a hindrance.
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Solution?
Get better ...
... at management
... and working with managers
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Still ...
you might, rightfully, ask ...
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!
... why bother?
Why not get rid of management?
Like GitHub?
What about self-organization?
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[...] to strive for a structureless group is as useful, and as
deceptive, as to aim at an "objective" news
story, [...]; the idea becomes a smokescreen for the strong or
the lucky to establish unquestioned hegemony over
Meritocracy is a lie you tell yourself and others to keep
yourself from thinking about your own privilege
-- Jo Freeman "Tyranny of Structurelessness"
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!
I'm talking about structure,
not hierarchy
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Structure is ...
... encoded learning
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Structure is ...
... encoded learning
... clarity of responsibility
... transparency of rules
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Management is for ...
... ensuring structure
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Management is for ...
... ensuring sensible structure
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Management is for ...
... ensuring not too much
structure
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Things covered in this talk
• How to interact with your manager ... aka "managing up"
• What to expect from your manager ... aka "manage a team"
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Interact with your
manager
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Rule No. 1
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Rule No. 1
!
Don't be a jerk
... to anyone
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Interact with your manager by ...
!
Communicating clearly
• Status updates
• Context dependent
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Interact with your manager by ...
✏
Taking ownership
• For yourself and your work
• Have an eye on the big picture
• Think about what you want
• Talk when you're unhappy
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Interact with your manager by ...
!
Being realistic
Your manager's job is not to make you happy!
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Or:
Clearly
Own
(your) Happiness
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Advanced
Interact with your manager by ...
!⛔
Not being a hero
• Get out of firefighting
• Write documentation
• make sure everyone on your team knows how to do your
work in case you're on vacation
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Advanced
Interact with your manager by ...
!⛔
Not being an alpha geek
• There's more to a decision than tech factors
(again: Meritocracy is a lie!)
• Let others do the cool projects with the fancy new tech
(once in a while)
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Advanced
Interact with your manager by ...
!
Being a Tech Lead
• Also without the formal title
• Systems Architect
• Project Planner
• Developer
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Advanced
Interact with your manager by ...
!
Being an example
• Make decisions intentionally
• Act so that others can copy your behaviour
• Mentor others
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Interact with your manager
Advanced
in short:
Take work away from your manager (if you can)
Don't add to their work (unless necessary)
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Manage a team
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Rule No. 1
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Rule No. 1
!
Don't be a jerk
... to anyone
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Manage a team by ...
!
Doing regular 1on1s
• Build trust
• Basis for effective collaboration
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Manage a team by ...
!
Providing career growth
• Give people a perspective to grow
• Be transparent about what their next steps are
• Support & Sponsorship
• (not only) Engineering Ladders & Growth Frameworks
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Manage a team by ...
!
Giving Feedback
• Timely
• Actionable
• Regular
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Manage a team by ...
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Giving Feedback
1. Situation
2. Behaviour
3. Impact
(SBI)
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Manage a team by ...
!
Giving Feedback
• No surprises!!!
• (Included but not limited to) Performance Reviews
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Manage a team by ...
!
Facilitating
• Guide & support technical decision making
• Transparency
• Learning
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Manage a team by ...
!
Facilitating
• Setting standards and processes for ...
• Code
• Systems
• Accepted behaviour
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Manage a team by ...
!
Delegating
• Opportunity for letting people grow
• Increases your leverage
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Manage a team by ...
!
Guiding
• How to do job well
• How to be successful
• Provide context for current work
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Recap
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Recap
!
Don't be a jerk
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Recap
Interact with your manager by ...
!
Communicating clearly,
✏
Taking ownership, Being realistic, Being a Tech Lead,
%⛔
Not being a hero,
'⛔
Not being an alpha geek, Being an example
Manage a team by ...
!
Doing regular 1on1s,
"
Providing career growth, Giving Feedback,
$
Facilitating,
%
Delegating,
&
Guiding
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Disclaimer
• Take everything I say with a grain of salt
• My tips cannot fix a bad manager with no self-reflection
capabilities
• My tips cannot fix everything
• What I cover is not all there is to management
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Further Reading
Books
• Manager‘s Path
• The Will to Change
• High Output Management
• Leadership and Self-Deception
• Turn the Ship Around
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People to follow
@larahogan
@skamille
@catehstn
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