

What should first time managers know? - joedunn

I&#x27;m putting together a course for first-time managers of software development.  two questions:<p>1. if you&#x27;ve ever made the transition from primarily coding to managing, what do you wish you had known when you started?   what were your biggest questions when you started the job?<p>2. as developers, what are the top two or three things you wish new managers could be taught (be nice, now)?<p>OK, that&#x27;s three questions.  thanks in advance.   Joe
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luckydude
Really smart people can be quite dense about money. If you want to make people
happy and pay them less money here is what you do:

Give them the highest salary you think is reasonable and no benefits. No 401K
match, no health insurance, no company presents like ipads or what have you.

Here is why:

We pay pretty well but it is spread out over all of the above. You might have
a base salary of $150K but then we pay for 100% of your $35K/year health
insurance with a top rated PPO (that's for a family of 4, we cover everyone
100%), we throw another $33K into your 401K, and we bonus you another $45K.

Total comp: $266K. What the engineer will think he makes: $150K.

If I wanted to maximize profits, rather than look out for the best interests
of my people, I could pay that engineer $200K (with no benefits) and he would
think he makes more. Most people seem to be like that, the year end stuff
doesn't count when they think about how much they make.

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Beached
When I made the switch to Engineer to Management, the hardest but most useful
skill I learned was to let people fail. This may sound odd, but as a manager
your job isn't "To Do", its "To Delegate(manage)". Everyone fails at some
point, and remember that your a manager, you shouldn't be coding, spinning up
servers, or anything else like that. Your job is to hire competent people that
work well together and with you.

When I talk with our techs about their tasks and work loads, ALWAYS say what
do you need from me. I make it clear that I expect the deliverable to be done
right and on time. It is their responsibility to speak out and say I am having
problems with X, or I am unable to complete Y because of Z. A managers job is
to get your employee's the resources they need, or to find a suitable
alternative if that's not possible. My job is NOT to jump in the trenches and
start coding unless its to prevent the companies certain demise or to save my
employee's sanity during an unexpected surge of work.

This was my hardest challenge when a manager, and in hind sight, what I wish
past managers would have known. My best manager knew this and is where I
learned this from.

~~~
luckydude
+1

I worked with a guy who got promoted to manager at Sun and the first thing he
did (while we were all laughing at the idea of the idea of him as a manager)
was to walk into our office and say "Hey, dude, you are working for me now.
It's gonna be fun. What stuff do you need to get more shit done, I'll get you
that."

We all stopped laughing because we all needed stuff. He got us that stuff.
Great guy.

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JSeymourATL
1) Don't underestimate the Human Connection factor. You've got to learn how to
take your peoples emotional temperature and deal with it. Recommend Stuart
Diamond's Getting More
>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOZo6Lx70ok](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOZo6Lx70ok)

2) In dealing with individuals Competencies & Skills, wish I found the FYI
Book much earlier:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0974589233/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0974589233/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0974589233&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2)

~~~
joedunn
the FYI book rents for $60 on amazon and sells for over $100. looks great
though. thx.

~~~
joedunn
...and $3.60 on thriftbooks. Win to thriftbooks...

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mazlix
I've had a development background and then became Producer at a small indie
game studio.

I was always wondering

1) What exactly I should be doing while development is happening? (Hint:
QA/generating issue-reports) And am I micromanaging too much?

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JacobAldridge
I definitely recommend reading and learning from pg's _Maker 's Schedule,
Manager's Schedule_ \-
[http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html)

I'm definitely a Maker type of person (I score 22% Fast / 78% Slow on this
Pace Indicator I use [1], which is similar) so a mid-afternoon team meeting
can ruin my day.

[1] [http://www.inside80performance.com/](http://www.inside80performance.com/)

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helen842000
Remove obstacles for your team (don't be the obstacle) Let your team know you
have their back - defend them from ridiculous requests and protect them from
burn-out.

A good manager can step away from their team for a few days without things
falling apart.

The hardest thing to learn is to address problems early - nip it in the bud.
Learn to delegate and plan for / foresee future problems before they impact
your team.

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MalcolmDiggs
I received some advice when I first started managing folks, that has proven
very valuable to me:

"If someone does a job 70% as well as you would do it yourself, you should
approve their work."

It's sometimes referred to as the 70% rule.

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gadders
I saw a good quote re (1) the other day. "It's not a promotion, it's a career
change."

I'd recommend treating it as such.

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bluerail
Just list down the things you didn't liked about your Managers and don't do
that..

