Staying Out Of The Weeds!

As a manager, you can’t be successful if you are always injecting yourself into the tactical decisions being made within your team! This is called micro-management and will demoralize your team members and sooner or later, will drive your best team members out of the organization. Turnover is expensive and makes you less effective as a manager.

So why is it we as managers struggle with this? Why do we keep injecting ourselves into decisions that don’t need our input? Don’t read on if you don’t want to look in a mirror.  

One word – fear!

We jump to the conclusion that our assessment of the situation is unique, that only we can solve the problem and that if we don’t provide direction to the team that they will fail. I hate to say this, but if you don’t trust your team to make the tactical decisions, than you’ve hired the wrong people, you’re not mentoring them properly and you’re not providing them a path for success.

Most managers work their way into management by showing success as an individual contributor. When they make the leap into their first leadership position, they continue to think as an individual contributor versus taking responsibility and delivering as a team. Over time, great managers figure out the change and begin to operate differently. Unfortunately, there are some managers that never figure this out and not only harm their own team, but harm the extended team. Ultimately, this can lead to breakdowns  that impact your customers.

So, why do we need to break away from the detail? Shouldn’t we ensure that the team is successfully delivering against the active projects? Well, yes, you need to ensure that the team is delivering against active projects and work, but that doesn’t mean you have to manage the blow by blow of every activity underway within the team. Your primary role as a leader of the team is to remove roadblocks before they impact the team and to act as an escalation point when the team hits a roadblock that they are not able to overcome using standard processes and procedures.

Removing roadblocks before they impact the team - say what? Yes, as the leader of your team, you should be looking at the status information being fed to you and looking at patterns that indicate trouble may be on the way and looking for ways to mitigate those issues. This means you have to correlate the information being fed to you and looking out in front of the team. Sometimes this is listening to the risks and issues being identified by the team, sometimes this is seeing a pattern being reported by multiple sources within the team, sometimes this is listening to folks outside the team that will be impacted by the work product. However you receive the information, it is your job to work ahead of the team and resolve the issue so that they can continue to deliver to the department, the overall organization and your customers - internal and external.

Additionally, when they come to you with an issue that can not be resolved within the team, they are looking to you to pave the way forward. You need to reach outside of the standard silos within your organization and outside the organization to find solutions that allow the team to get back on track and deliver. Sometimes that is going to require you to think outside the box and change the parameters - your job is to find a win, win, win situation. A win for the customer - internal or external - that will rely on the end product from your team, a win for the organization by staying on time, under budget and with the necessary quality constraints, and a win for the team by giving the success they seek.

Nobody on your team consciously wakes up in the morning and makes the decision to fail! These folks are working to make their dreams come true, to care for their families and to make a difference. Your job is to give them the opportunity to succeed.

And I’m not saying, you’ll always succeed at removing the roadblocks. But your team needs to at least see you making the effort to help them find success. They want to know that you’re in it with them.

Being a leader of your team is not easy! But the more your stay in the details and forget about what your team really needs from you, the higher the risks are for their failure and ultimately your failure.

I’ve worked for micro managers. It’s not fun! They prevent success and they drive good people out of an organization. Look in the mirror and ask yourself, what am I doing today that will help my team succeed?

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Project Management Is Such A Lonely Phrase

Project Management, is like the word honesty from Billy Joel’s hit song titled “Honesty”.  Project Management is such a lonely phrase!

Let’s get down to the brass tacks – Project Management at its most basic function is responsible for managing the three sides of the triangle: time, budget, and scope.  Project Management requires the Project Manager to utilize their knowledge, skills, tools and technique to oversee a team of individuals and deliver against the Project Requirements, within the allocate time and budget with the approved resources.

If a Project Manager is to be successful, they must view themselves as the only source of truth.  At times, they must set aside the need or want to be liked by the team so that they can provide a true assessment of ongoing activity to the Project Sponsor.

Let’s face it, at times, the teams like to sweep issues and risks under the table so that they can present a warm and fuzzy view of the project to the Project Sponsor and the Project Management Office.  The Project Manager sometimes enables this behavior because they want to see their status in a ‘happy state’.  This also reduces tension within the team, because the Project Manager is not confronting the issue.

Well, that’s just plain wrong!  I’m sorry, but as a Project Manager, you role is to highlight to the Project Management Office and the Project Sponsor when tasks are not being completed on time and the risk to the overall project.

Now, I get it!  Not every task will be completed on time, but there are milestones that activity should be tracking to that allows the Project Manager and others to get a sense of whether a project is on track or not.  A given task may be late, but not risk the overall milestone.  However, if the milestone is at risk, either from a time or budget perspective, than the issue/risk needs to be highlighted, mitigation plans need to be identified, and communication needs to occur.  It is possible that thru the mitigation plans identified by the team that the Project Sponsor will allow the team to address the issue or risk.  However, if it is a key milestone and the Project Sponsor is not comfortable with the mitigation plans, they then have the opportunity to engage and assist the team in getting the issue corrected.

As a Project Manager, you are the source of ‘Truth’ for the project.

Resources like to always look at their own package of work and paint a rosy picture.  They will find reasons – not their own – as to why something is late, or why it’s costing more than was budgeted.  As a team, they will work together to gloss over the truth and allow the Project Manager to report a rosy picture from week to week.  I’ve heard things like:

•      Yes, we are running over the timeline to get requirements complete, but we’ll make up for it somewhere down the line.

•      Yes, the designs aren’t ready to go, but everyone knows the estimates put together for the actual construction are way high, so we’re good.

•      I know development is taking longer, but we don’t actually need all the testing time that is shown in the plan.

•      The contract firm that is doing that piece is late, but that’s ok, we can still get all of our pieces in on time.

None of the above statements (or any other excuse) is acceptable.  As the Project Manager, your job is not to go along with the team. Your job is to identify the issue, create a mitigation plan and communicate it up the chain to the Project Management Office and the Project Sponsor. Once the issue has been highlighted, maybe additional resources can be applied to bring the timeline back in and meet the next milestone. Maybe the Project Sponsor accepts the recommendation from the team that the milestone can be missed, but the overall plan can still be delivered within the identified timeframe. But at least, the Project Sponsor and Project Management Office are aware of the issue and can work with the team, vs being surprised at the very end that a project is being delivered late or over budget.

As ‘truth brokers’ you are keeping the team members honest with each other and are keeping the lines of communication open up to the Project Management Office and the Project Sponsor.  This truth is critical as it allows the Project Sponsor to accept the truth without questioning the motivations and ultimately forces clearer communication between team members. 

Telling the truth should not be viewed as a negative, but should be viewed as the core responsibility of the Project Manager.

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile

Rock Star Programmers - 5 Traits I See As Winners

In my heart, I’ll always consider myself a professional software developer.  I began writing code at the ripe old age of 12.  While I don’t write code on a daily basis anymore – the sin of being ‘management’ – I still write code at night to keep my skills fresh and to ensure that I can sit in a room with my development team and understand the conversation and hopefully add value.  While at one time, I considered myself an expert in the languages I used (don’t ask, they are all now ancient).  I realize now that I can still write good code – but because I don’t do it day in day out, I don’t kid myself in thinking that I’m the whiz kid anymore.  I’m not.  I’ve got team members that are extremely talented and I’ll give them praise any chance I get.

So what makes a great developer?

Over the years I’ve watched a lot of developers come and go in the shops where I’ve worked.  Some of these folks couldn’t code if their life depended on it and didn’t last long.  Others made it look effortless – producing code that was simple, easy to read and just seemed to work.  So what made these developers different, what did they do different than everyone else?

Patience

Some programmers get their assignment and without asking any questions start pounding out the code.  They’ll quickly listen to what is needed or skim the requirements and get to work.  They’re dismissive of further explanation, and are quick to say that they know what the users want better than the users of the system.

The best programmers take their time.  They actually read thru both the requirements documentation and the technical designs if they exist, or they’ll spend time interviewing the user to understand what the true problem is and what issue is being solved.  They are not only concerned about what it is that is wanted, but they take time to understand what isn’t wanted or needed in the solution.  These developers think not only about the specific assignment but want to understand how it fits into the whole puzzle.  Are there parts of the system that operate ahead of their piece – what do those parts of the system do to the data before it gets into the code that they are writing?  Are there parts of the system that will need the output of the code that they are writing?  How do they ensure that the data is validated before it leaves their code and is handed off to code written by another team member?

Lifelong Learner

Coasters – they drive me nuts!  These are the folks that think they know everything and that they are better than everyone else on the team.  They scoff at junior developers and will tell them that there is nothing that they can learn from such a junior team member.  The Coasters are forgetting that anyone can be a teacher.

On the other hand, I love lifelong learners.  These are the developers that are constantly pushing themselves to learn new technology, understand how to use the language they are developing in more efficiently.  They are constantly reviewing everyone’s code and are not afraid to take a chunk of code, walk over to the person that wrote it and ask them to walk them thru the code so that they understand what is happening.  They aren’t afraid when someone critiques their code and in fact actively pass their code around to others on the team to be examined.  When you run into them in the breakroom or walking thru the office, they will begin telling you about the new scripting language they are playing with or some new solution/tool/framework that might make the team more efficient.  Give these folks room to play – they will make your team better and find unique solutions to some of the toughest problems you have.

Commitment to Excellence

We know these folks – the developers that quickly write their code and then throw it over the wall for someone else to test.  They’re not concerned about what happens downstream – heck, they’re not even concerned about what happens within the code they just wrote.  They spend more time fixing their code than they spent quickly writing the code – in this instance, speed does not win the race.

Flip that around now.  The best programmers take their code personally!  They view their code as a direct reflection on themselves.  The best programmers will actually create their battle plan prior to writing any code – understanding exactly how they will test what is being created or modified to ensure that it works within the complete workflow.  Reviewing all of the incoming data, understanding what they should and shouldn’t expect.  Reviewing all of the output and integration points and understanding how the data can be manipulated and what are false values or boundaries of the data.  They will write small chunks of code or use scripts to test the code they are creating/modifying.  They are not only implementing unit testing, but are thinking through integration and regression testing along the way and then executing prior to handing off the code.

Passion

Look, if you don’t like your job – find something else to do.  We know these folks, they slouch in, plop down, ignore their fellow team members, don’t offer to help others, won’t bring new ideas to the table, won’t participate in meetings – team or otherwise and won’t do anything but exactly what they're told.  Are you kidding me!

Now, show me someone who is passionate about what it is they do!  Yeah, that’s the ticket!  I love these folks – they live and breathe to be the best coders out there!  They’ll call themselves a geek – and view it as a sign of honor!  They aren’t afraid to tackle the most complex parts of a project.  They find a way to practice their skillset – just like the best musicians.  If they’re given a particularly difficult task, they’ll try 2 or 3 different solutions to find the one that works best.  They are disappointed in themselves when they miss a deadline or someone finds a bug in their code – but they are the first to step up and take critique.  They view critique as a lesson along the way, will actually listen to it and attempt to learn from that criticism.  They will throw themselves at new technology when asked – and in a lot of instances without being asked – so that they can become more efficient.  You’re hired!

Self Sufficient

There are days I’ve pulled my hair out because someone will tell me that they hit a wall and couldn’t get any further.  When I ask them what the issue is, they tell me they’re waiting on answers to clarify some problem in the code or with the requirements/design.  When I ask them what they’ve done to solve the problem, I get a blank stare after they tell me they sent an email out 2 days ago.  Really, you couldn’t find it in yourself to stand up, walk to the other side of the building and get an answer?  Ugh – do I really look like I want to play baby sitter!

Now the best programmers are bull dogs!  They hit an issue and they are tracking down the best way to get the answer.  Sometimes that is tracking down someone internally, sometimes that is looking on the net to find a solution to a particular programming problem, and sometimes that is asking a team mate sitting a few seats away.  They are not afraid to ask questions and understand that communication can be used to solve issues!  If the issue is big enough, they don’t hesitate to escalate the issue – but usually have a couple of different options to resolve the problem.

Wrap Up

These have not been presented in any particular order, but they do represent the traits that I see in the best developers.  They are traits I attempted to show when my main role was to sling code every day and that I hope I still possess in the role that I currently play.

What are the traits that you see within the best developers you have on your team?  Let’s keep the conversation going!
 

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile