How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team • Hacker News Board

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#211

Post by mieseratte » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

blub wrote: post #171

gowld wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a "can't fail fighting force"? Military can certainly fail.

A can't fail fighting force is one that comes back from the dead and orders their adversaries to please stick to the plan instead of winning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002

> A can't fail fighting force is one that comes back from the dead and orders their adversaries to please stick to the plan instead of winning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002

To set the record straight, Van Riper exploited deficiencies in the nature of the simulation itself as opposed to finding actual deficiencies in Navy doctrine.

For example, the small boat armada armed with missiles could never, in real life, physically support the missile systems used or even power the necessary controls. He used messengers on motorcycles that would effectively teleport from Point A to Point B, again an impossibility.

So the Navy hit reset on the exercise and asked him to please stick to reality instead of attempting to exploit the rules of the simulation.

As a hacker I have to chuckle at his exploits. As a taxpayer I'm a bit pissed that he not only wasted time and money, but then went on a media campaign to malign the folks running the event because he was angry he didn't get away with his clever hack.

Please stop spreading this as some sort-of "Look at how pitiful the military is!" stories. It is absolute bullshit.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#212

Post by blub » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 6:43 PM UTC

mieseratte wrote: post #211

blub wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A can't fail fighting force is one that comes back from the dead and orders their adversaries to please stick to the plan instead of winning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002

> A can't fail fighting force is one that comes back from the dead and orders their adversaries to please stick to the plan instead of winning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002 To set the record straight, Van Riper exploited deficiencies in the nature of the simulation itself as opposed to finding actual deficiencies in Navy doctrine. For example, the small boat armada armed with missiles cou…

Ok, then please point me to an authoritative source where this is described, because I can't just take your word for it.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#213

Post by laurentb » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 7:18 PM UTC

bb88 wrote: post #151

Pyxl101 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Half of being a manager is managing other's behaviors to produce a great product This part has not been left out. All of the content about establishing culture, vision, expectations, responsibilities, and so on, is a direct part of managing others' behaviors to produce a great product. What am I missing? > The other half is managing your own behaviors -- i.e. being consistent with your communications and consistent…

If it was really as simple as the author has posited, then anyone can be a manager, but this just isn't the case. Many companies have this framework in place, yet the management and the culture is terrible. (Amazon, HP, Microsoft to name a few) In a number of companies I worked at the number one reason people left was a conflict with their supervisor. I think a much better introduction to management is the manager to…

having been at a small company that swore about manager tools all day long and actively recommended its staff to look into it to grasp some of the concepts and their approaches to things, it is equally as dreadful as any other resource out there. there are more than one way to do things and there are more than one different type of people that you'll have to manage. the reality is that it is a tough job that requires a lot of self awareness and a deep understanding of the risk of management drawing power hunger to really start to grasp how to leverage those tools to be effective.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#214

Post by dredmorbius » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 7:52 PM UTC

paulmooreparks wrote: post #122

This has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Rather, it's a call to action to stop something I really, really hate about the web these days: popups over content, begging me to sign up for an email subscription. Whenever I'm reading a web page and one of these rude popups appears, I immediately close the browser tab and move on. If the authors are rude enough to interrupt me with an invitation to clutter my inbox, t…

Thanks for the warning. Opening in Outline.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#215

Post by dahart » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 8:33 PM UTC

snow_mac wrote: post #201

dahart wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if it’s 8, you can no longer call them “core” You are lucky if you think 10-12 hour work days don't exist in software development. You might also be forgetting about flex schedules, core hours may include the entire working day and may be a signal that substituting 9-10am for 5-6pm is not acceptable because you were hired to do a job that depends on your presence when others are also there. There are multiple legit…

This is why I'm a contractor. You want me to work 12 hour days? Ok, I'm capped at 40 hours a week? Well, I guess I'll just work 3 days a week then! Or you can approve me for overtime. But either way I'm getting paid for every hour

I got paid for every hour, and it was my choice to take a job that had 10+ hour days. I was paid overtime when I stayed late or worked weekends. For the most part I liked working in film despite the long hours.

Either way, your incredulity is perhaps misplaced. You always have the power to choose the job & hours you want. It might affect how much money you make, what you do, or how other people perceive you, but it's not hard to guarantee you get paid for 40 hours and never work more than 40 hours.

Personally, I don't love working at places where people are obsessively concerned with getting paid for every minute worked and with clocking out at 5pm sharp. By all means, we should have lives outside of work, but I'd rather be working on something fun where the people around me are engaged and are so involved we sometimes don't even notice it's 5:45 than a place where people count down the minutes until they can leave. That's just how I feel now, and I might change my mind. It's a certainly balance, it can go wrong in both directions.

Back to the real topic of this thread: explicit communication of expectations at work is better than not communicating, or unspoken desires or vague rules, right?

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#216

Post by mieseratte » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 8:56 PM UTC

blub wrote: post #212

mieseratte wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A can't fail fighting force is one that comes back from the dead and orders their adversaries to please stick to the plan instead of winning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002 To set the record straight, Van Riper exploited deficiencies in the nature of the simulation itself as opposed to finding actual deficiencies in Navy doctrine. For example, the small boat armada armed with missiles cou…

Ok, then please point me to an authoritative source where this is described, because I can't just take your word for it.

> Ok, then please point me to an authoritative source where this is described

There is a brief Reddit thread with sources available[0]. The initial post sources DoD transcripts of a post-exercise interview[1], and although this doesn't go into the missile weight issue it directly mentions that active air defense was turned off on the real-world ships in the simulation and they were unrealistically geographically constrained due to rules about shipping channels as they were operating in active, crowded seas.

Regarding the issue of unrealistic missile weights, please read the "rebuttal"[2] and subsequent discussions regarding why the missile setup was unrealistic.

Note: At the time of writing, I freely admit I am unable to source a reliable entry on the motorcycle teleportation bit, so I may be mislead on the matter. I have to get back to work, but will provide more additional sources if and when I can find the time.

[0] - https://www.reddit.com/r/CredibleDefense/comments/4qfoiw/mil...

[1] - http://archive.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?Trans...

[2] - https://www.reddit.com/r/CredibleDefense/comments/4qfoiw/mil...

> because I can't just take your word for it.

I have to take a moment to point out that you have not provided an authoritative reference for your claims. The Wikipedia entry itself merely cites newspapers quoting Van Ripper, and doesn't even mention criticisms which seems rather suspect. In fact, there is a giant warning at the top of the article stating that the neutrality is suspect.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#217

Post by darkerside » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 11:00 PM UTC

lostcolony wrote: post #194

krolley wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you don't set the values of the company, you just align your team to the goals of your larger organization / company.

Yes and no. My current company favors consensus over correctness. They don't realize they do this, but they do, largely because most of the decision makers deal with subjective things, where you can spend hours bikeshedding. When they then hear disagreement on objective things, technical things, they want agreement, and view arguments over technical things as being disagreeable. As a manager I could take that value,…

I think you realize fighting your company culture may be short term effective but usually not sustainable.

Side note, correctness is generally a virtue, but consensus can be too. Fast and wrong decisions can be better than slow and right ones, if they can be corrected.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#218

Post by darkerside » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 11:42 PM UTC

gowld wrote: post #160

darkerside wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tend to agree. This piece reads more like, how to be a director or VP. Setting the culture is not a front line manager's job any moreso than individual contributors. A manager just needs to keep his folks productive in a way that's aligned with the company goals.

Why? ICs don't pay so much attention to the CEO of the company. An IC is CEO of themself. A manager is CEO of the team. > needs to keep his folks productive in a way that's aligned with the company goals How is that different from "Setting the culture" ?

Emphasis on keeping folks productive. A director or C level shouldn't need to worry about an individual's progress completing tasks on a regular basis. But it's a core duty for most managers.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#219

Post by lostcolony » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 2:16 AM UTC

darkerside wrote: post #217

lostcolony wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. My current company favors consensus over correctness. They don't realize they do this, but they do, largely because most of the decision makers deal with subjective things, where you can spend hours bikeshedding. When they then hear disagreement on objective things, technical things, they want agreement, and view arguments over technical things as being disagreeable. As a manager I could take that value,…

I think you realize fighting your company culture may be short term effective but usually not sustainable. Side note, correctness is generally a virtue, but consensus can be too. Fast and wrong decisions can be better than slow and right ones, if they can be corrected.

Oh, definitely. I alluded to that in my post; when dealing with subjective things, better to quickly reach consensus than spend time worrying about correctness. I.e., bikeshedding; better to just say "Yellow", and have everyone else agree, than to spend a lot of time on it. Sure, there -may- even be a 'right' answer to what color the bike shed should be, but it probably doesn't matter that much. Consensus is more valuable in that case than correctness.

Most such values are a sliding scale of which you prioritize, and different priorities are better in different situations. People's feelings vs transparency, for instance. Both are important, but where exactly you fall depends on a number of factors.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#220

Post by spyckie2 » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 5:52 AM UTC

marcus_holmes wrote: post #165

spyckie2 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't work in Asia because of cultural reasons. Independent thinking and enabling others is a very American way of thinking. People don't realize how much culture is derived off of core principles within major founding documents (declaration of independence, constitution). In Asia, Confucian philosophy dominates the cultural landscape in terms of what values they have. One of the big principles of it is how to m…

This, exactly. It was a huge surprise to find that asian people do not think of themselves as equals. Incidentally this is also one of the reasons democracy is struggling here, in my opinion.

Don't think it is an equality thing.

If I were to distill it into one central theme, it would be centered on how each culture views and values conflict.

The principles of the US has themes of "cooperation by conflict". Voting is the entire population fighting each other in a controlled setting. The 3 body system of checks and balances uses conflict as the central mean to prevent power accumulation.

Rationalism is the underlying reason for this acceptance of conflict. A dictionary definition: "Rationalism is the practice or principle of basing opinions and actions on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response."

From an emotional perspective, conflict is seen as detrimental, tearing down relationships, creating unresolvable discord and enmity, and the possibility to lose control over territory, position and power. However, from a rational perspective, conflict is positive. It puts the most logical, structural, or prevailing idea to the top.

The American revolutionists had gone through a lot. The history of western Europe was one where your lives were in the hands of emotional kings who could reward you one day and behead you the next without rhyme or reason. They were under the excessive, unchecked power of Britain, exhibited time and again through taxation without representation. They saw how much control the Bank of England had over the commonwealth. It was a time of rampant monopolies, major powers that had consolidated all control, and where conflict was an affront to power.

Because of all this, they baked conflict into the system.