Shit, I

1
Shit, Im A Manager

• An introduction to the soft skills of
• people-management for the
• previously proudly unmanageable.

Tom Dolan tom_at_sparklefluff.com Current version
at www.sparklefluff.com/siam
2
Becoming a Manager is Cack Because

• This is a new job
• It is harder than the old one
• You are answerable and taking blame
• Youve probably had no training for it
• Your confidence may be shot

3
So What Is This Management?

• Working out what you want staff to do
• Telling them it so they can do it
• Making sure they are still doing it
• Working out how to do it better next time

4
Who measures your success?(and at what?)
Managing Team Previous Skills
Your Staff 80 5
Your Boss 15 0
5
Corollary

• When the going gets tough
• the LAST THING
• you should do
• is your old job

6
The General Traps

• Doing what you pay your staff to do
• Managing your staffs staff
• Being the weak link in the business chain
• Having to win
• Slagging off other teams/managers
• Sticking to your own (new) kind
• Wanting to be liked
• Too much email

7
Myths of Management

• The perfect manager
• You cant ask for help
• You must have the solution
• Geek knowledge isnt power
• Budgets are hard and scary

8
Empowering Staff

• Thats unfortunate. So what are you going to do
  about it then?
• (Jon Lewin 1959-1999 RIP. He was fab.)
• You have to give producers something to produce
  
• (Anthony Pugh)
• If you can let people do the thing they really
  want to do, they will do a good job
• (Mark Cossey)

9
Feedback

• Behaviour not people
• You are giving the feedback
• Stick to facts
• Avoid the praise sandwich
• Empathy Drill down to root causes, weaknesses
  and interests.
• Is it actually you?
• Start small, and do it immediately

10
Communication

• Team meetings - for team-wide info only
• Routine meetings - for each staff member, not you
• Task-setting meetings - do your homework!
• All other meetings - is just chatting?

11
Hire, Fire, Sire.

• Dont hire in your own image
• Prepare your staff for moving on
• Appraisals
• Training requirements

12
So what can I do?

• Acknowledge its new
• Stop buying technical books
• Develop your skills
• Talk to other managers about the process
• Ask your staff where weak spots are
• Debug your management
• Lead by example

13
The Payoff

• This starts off hard
• Remember what your job is
• Improve your skills one day at a time
• One day, youll stop missing your old job

14
Any Questions?

• Some further reading to write down while other
  people are talking
• For negotiation, skim the first few chapters of
• Willam H. Ury - Getting to yes
• Susan Jeffers - Feel the fear and do it anyway
• Borrow from your parents/boss
• Blanchard Johnson - The one minute manager
• Be inspired by
• Andy Law - Experiment at Work
• Eddie Obeng - The Project Managers Secret
  Handbook
• Get your life in order with
• Mark Forster - Get everything done and still have
  time to play
• Mark Forster - Make your dreams come true
• Admire the extreme machiavellianism of
• Andrew Rawnsley - Servants of the People
• Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon - the Epiphyte
  strand.
• Perhaps buy (Ive got no idea if its any good)
• Paul Glen - Leading Geeks