Honestly, I think these rules apply to most employees, not just geeks. But there are some great tips here!
How do you manage a team of geeks?
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Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#22Replace "geek" with "highly sought after, intelligent and talented employees" and you'll be closer to the truth. The reason developers are "hard" to manage is that they're in demand, so they don't have to put up with bad or abusive management. That said.. I'd recommend reading Team Geek ( http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920018025.do ) if you have any ambition to move into a management or leadership role.
IMO the reason developers are "hard" to manage has nothing to do with the fact that they're in demand - fortunately most developers aren't that fickle.
There are numerous reasons why developers are difficult to manage. One of the main reasons is because by and large they are introverts. They therefore don't communicate well with other people at all times.
Also - let's face it - the work developers do isn't always easy to understand and quantify; as opposed to say building a house where the inputs/outputs are clearly visible. I can't imagine being a non-techie and trying to manage a team of developers would be at all fun.
Source: I own and run a software development company and have employed and contracted with dozens of developers.
Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#23"[...]especially if they have been told that other people have looked at the problem and couldn’t find a solution!"
There's too much ego in our profession, we have to get rid of it. I hate when a client says: "You have to implement a real time video compression algorithm of 100K LOC in brainfuck. This shouldn't take a lot of time for a talented developer like you"
In my head it sounds like: "I think you are stupid and I'm using your ego to get a better/cheaper/faster result"
Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#24If it's O2/Telefonica (which it is), then they manage them fucking terribly and deliver shitty products that fall over and leave people in dire shit regularly.
Not only that, they stereotype and patronise them terribly.
Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#25This article, (and many others), has a tone that some people ("geeks" in this case) are like another species of human origin that only the most skilled manager has learned to tame. According to this article, they hate bureaucracy, filling out time-sheets and want flexible working hours. I guess I'm a geek in need of special management. Who really believes this crap?
> Who really believes this crap?
You'd be surprised who believes and applies it. I'm doing a university degree that is supposedly a combination between CS and business/management. For some reason, however, 99% of the students enrolled are heartbreakingly disconnected from anything CS; most of them hope to become management consultants. I've worked with those people in group projects, and trust me, they are exactly the kind of techniques junkies, who sacrifice all humane common sense [1] and become this sort of compulsive manipulators who keep tailoring their attitude towards the team to the point where it stops making any effin sense whatsoever. I am starting to think the reason why those techniques end up actually working is because they appear so convoluted and ridiculous from the outside that you're just going to comply out of confusion. Or maybe it's out of pitty.
[1] If we are to be rigorous, then "common sense" is just another technique, learned and applied. There's nothing sacred about it, so if it necessary it should be replaced with a more effective "sense". However, what I tried to emphasize is that the techniques like the ones in the article are very, very buggy.
Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#26I hate this tone. Geeks want what everybody wants, respect, recognition, autonomy, progression, money. Its just that geeks are more likely to stand up to a manager (They respect ideas, and knowledge, not authority)if they don't like the way something is done, rather than be meek. Thus have a reputation for being difficult to control.
"Geeks" are more analytically smart than emotionally smart. They can solve any computer problem, but they create many interpersonal problems. Dennis Rodman is an example of this. He was a brilliant Basketball player, but was a misbehaving douchbag off the court. Linus Torvalds fits this description too. I am kind of this way too. I can solve any problem you give me, but I'm most likely going to piss someone off on my team in the process. But I will get the problem solved. My problem is that I don't really care about other people's feelings. When I'm right, I'm right. If you stand in my way, you can go fuck right off.
Managers need to focus on fixing the people problems that geeks create. Passion is a double edged sword. One moment everyone is singing kumbaya, the next moment they are at each other throats. Managers tend to be the opposite of geeks. They are great at emotional intelligence, but not so strong at analytical intelligence.
Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#27[deleted]
Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#28I think many professions have to put up with the condescending and patronizing bullshit that this article reveals. This is exactly why tech corps are ruined. A few business grads get into the top and convince the company that anyone who has to think to do their jobs is infantile. It's quite sickening but is a natural part of the death of a corporation.
Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#29This article, (and many others), has a tone that some people ("geeks" in this case) are like another species of human origin that only the most skilled manager has learned to tame. According to this article, they hate bureaucracy, filling out time-sheets and want flexible working hours. I guess I'm a geek in need of special management. Who really believes this crap?
Show me someone who likes filling out time sheets, wants inflexible working hours, loves bureaucracy, and respects authority more than ideas. I don't know anyone like that, so I must only know geeks.
Re: How do you manage a team of geeks?
#30This is probably a tangent, but can we use a better word than "manage"? I honestly think the vocabulary continues to inform our expectations of the job that needs doing here, and I'd suggest that in cases like groups of talented engineers the needs isn't one of authority or "management". Something closer to "facilitator" is a more appropriate description of the real need.