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People management

John Pavley
John Pavley

My personal experience and lessons learned from over 20 years of managing developers, designers, product owners, testers, and all kinds of technical people. These are my personal opinions based on leading teams at Apple, DoubleClick, LimeWire, Spotify, and HuffPost.

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People Management A grizzled veteran's perspective
What is People Management? Creating a team identity Recruiting recruits Playing team psychologist Planning a team strategy Setting goals Defining a process Coaching a team Evaluating team members Winning and losing Managing in the face of reality
Winning and Losing If you win every game you are not really challenging your team If you lose every game you might want to make some changes Inside every win is a loss Inside every loss is a win Luck has a lot more to do with winning and losing than anyone cares to admit Make sure your team knows the difference between winning and losing
Evaluating Team Members Create a clear and simple criteria to measure and rank your team Constantly measure and rank your team (in your mind) Give feedback early and often Give feedback in a useful form Give feedback with a purpose Give feedback that is honest If you help your team members to grow they will value you more than you can imagine
Setting Goals Don't fool around with goals Set V.A.G.U.E. Objectives (not S.M.A.R.T.) Vague: You dont know exactly what to do. The team member has to find out. You job is to point in the right direction not draw the line down the road. The answer is off-road. Assay-required: Dont measureexperiment. Its the only path to reliable knowledge. Guesstimatable: I dont know if you can do it. I think you can but there is some risk of failure. This keeps you from feeling dead inside. Unparalleled: If goals should be realistic then nothing impossible would get done: Landing on the Moon, electing black men president, creating a popular phone without a keypad. Eternal: Nothing is ever finished. Keep refining, iterating, upgrading
Creating a Team Identity Who are we? What are we doing? Where are we doing it? When are we doing it? Why are we doing it? How are we doing it? A team without a core identity has already failed. A team with a poor identity is in danger of failing. A team with a great identity turns failure into success.
Recruiting Recruits Hire people who are not looking for a "job" Hire people who can teach you something Hire people who can teach themselves Hire people who can teach others There are 2 kinds of people in an organization Dividers: They require lots of help and divide the productivity of organization in half. Multipliers: They don't require any help at all and multiple the productivity of the org by 10. Dividers love Multipliers, but Multipliers hate Dividers!
Playing Team Psychologist "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV." Humans are social, hierarchical, territorial, and opportunistic animals Study human behavior the way naturalists do Most interpersonal problems can be solved by listening A manager's main job is not to be an enabler Humor is a manager's best friend
Planning a Team Strategy What game are we playing here? Which way is the goal? What are the rules? What is the other team doing? Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know's on third! How much time do we have left? How do we tell the difference between winning and losing?
Defining a Process These are the rules of the "game" In software development we have various flavors of waterfall and agile. In manufacturing we have various flavors of total quality management. In the Blues we have chord progressions and 12 bars In management we have Sigma Six, MBOs, and OKRs In the Army we have Discipline and Initiative Become a student of all of them!
Coaching a Team Go watch a Soccer game and see what real coaches do Coaches are not the "stars" of the team Coaches don't direct every play Coaches do most of their work before and after the game Coaches can be players but not team captians Coaches are very involved emotionally Coaches eat, sleep, and travel with the team Coaches focus on fundimentals
Managing in the Face of Reality Work is not the most important thing in life Work can create unintended consequences Know HR policy and the law Know when to back off Know when to call for backup Know where the line between work and life is Remember that your team members are paid to work for you and might not really think your dumb jokes are funny :)
Other Types of Management to Master Meeting Management: Ensuring meetings aren't a waste of time Time Management: Ensuring the highest priorities get done (and only those priorities) Executive Management: Ensuring you have a great relationship with your boss without being a "yes man or woman" Managing Managers: Ensuring you empower your managers and not managing through them
Questions? There are no dumb questions You can manage anything by asking great questions Socrates (at his best) asked questions and did not give answers A good question is the best kind of coaching A good question is not a thinly veiled attack by the questioner on the questionee

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People management

  • 1. People Management A grizzled veteran's perspective
  • 2. What is People Management? Creating a team identity Recruiting recruits Playing team psychologist Planning a team strategy Setting goals Defining a process Coaching a team Evaluating team members Winning and losing Managing in the face of reality
  • 3. Winning and Losing If you win every game you are not really challenging your team If you lose every game you might want to make some changes Inside every win is a loss Inside every loss is a win Luck has a lot more to do with winning and losing than anyone cares to admit Make sure your team knows the difference between winning and losing
  • 4. Evaluating Team Members Create a clear and simple criteria to measure and rank your team Constantly measure and rank your team (in your mind) Give feedback early and often Give feedback in a useful form Give feedback with a purpose Give feedback that is honest If you help your team members to grow they will value you more than you can imagine
  • 5. Setting Goals Don't fool around with goals Set V.A.G.U.E. Objectives (not S.M.A.R.T.) Vague: You dont know exactly what to do. The team member has to find out. You job is to point in the right direction not draw the line down the road. The answer is off-road. Assay-required: Dont measureexperiment. Its the only path to reliable knowledge. Guesstimatable: I dont know if you can do it. I think you can but there is some risk of failure. This keeps you from feeling dead inside. Unparalleled: If goals should be realistic then nothing impossible would get done: Landing on the Moon, electing black men president, creating a popular phone without a keypad. Eternal: Nothing is ever finished. Keep refining, iterating, upgrading
  • 6. Creating a Team Identity Who are we? What are we doing? Where are we doing it? When are we doing it? Why are we doing it? How are we doing it? A team without a core identity has already failed. A team with a poor identity is in danger of failing. A team with a great identity turns failure into success.
  • 7. Recruiting Recruits Hire people who are not looking for a "job" Hire people who can teach you something Hire people who can teach themselves Hire people who can teach others There are 2 kinds of people in an organization Dividers: They require lots of help and divide the productivity of organization in half. Multipliers: They don't require any help at all and multiple the productivity of the org by 10. Dividers love Multipliers, but Multipliers hate Dividers!
  • 8. Playing Team Psychologist "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV." Humans are social, hierarchical, territorial, and opportunistic animals Study human behavior the way naturalists do Most interpersonal problems can be solved by listening A manager's main job is not to be an enabler Humor is a manager's best friend
  • 9. Planning a Team Strategy What game are we playing here? Which way is the goal? What are the rules? What is the other team doing? Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know's on third! How much time do we have left? How do we tell the difference between winning and losing?
  • 10. Defining a Process These are the rules of the "game" In software development we have various flavors of waterfall and agile. In manufacturing we have various flavors of total quality management. In the Blues we have chord progressions and 12 bars In management we have Sigma Six, MBOs, and OKRs In the Army we have Discipline and Initiative Become a student of all of them!
  • 11. Coaching a Team Go watch a Soccer game and see what real coaches do Coaches are not the "stars" of the team Coaches don't direct every play Coaches do most of their work before and after the game Coaches can be players but not team captians Coaches are very involved emotionally Coaches eat, sleep, and travel with the team Coaches focus on fundimentals
  • 12. Managing in the Face of Reality Work is not the most important thing in life Work can create unintended consequences Know HR policy and the law Know when to back off Know when to call for backup Know where the line between work and life is Remember that your team members are paid to work for you and might not really think your dumb jokes are funny :)
  • 13. Other Types of Management to Master Meeting Management: Ensuring meetings aren't a waste of time Time Management: Ensuring the highest priorities get done (and only those priorities) Executive Management: Ensuring you have a great relationship with your boss without being a "yes man or woman" Managing Managers: Ensuring you empower your managers and not managing through them
  • 14. Questions? There are no dumb questions You can manage anything by asking great questions Socrates (at his best) asked questions and did not give answers A good question is the best kind of coaching A good question is not a thinly veiled attack by the questioner on the questionee