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What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

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Re: What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

#71

Post by IgorPartola »

Kaizyn wrote: post #64
IgorPartola wrote: post #27

So at one point I took on a management job, stepping up from a (lead) developer. I felt like the whole thing was kind of a train wreck and I am still slowly analyzing the black box recordings from it. This was my first time having direct reports that were not one or two interns and managing a team of seven other highly intelligent people was quite a chore in itself. What bugged me is that I could never tell if the pr…

I don't think you have enough data points to draw a meaningful conclusion about whether the problem was with you or if it was with the environment you were working in. The best you can do is look at the individual situations and circumstances you were in and think of what (if anything) you will do differently next time when faced with the same scenario. However with that said, it has been my experience that when ther…

Lack of leadership two levels above had a huge impact on bit strategy and morale. When you know the CEO is taking it easy while you work 60 hour weeks, it is very demoralizing.

Re: What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

#72

Post by IgorPartola »

neumann wrote: post #55
IgorPartola wrote: post #27

So at one point I took on a management job, stepping up from a (lead) developer. I felt like the whole thing was kind of a train wreck and I am still slowly analyzing the black box recordings from it. This was my first time having direct reports that were not one or two interns and managing a team of seven other highly intelligent people was quite a chore in itself. What bugged me is that I could never tell if the pr…

Thanks for sharing - the description of your situation echoes my self-questioning in similar situations. My own post analysis now makes me always consider if there a clash between my personality and work culture? Sometimes these differ and you don't want to be the manager that the work culture has moulded. I am not a whip or hard ass, I am there to take a certain load that permits the workers to do their job. Managem…

Thanks for sharing as well.

Re: What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

#75

Post by IgorPartola »

balls187 wrote: post #62
IgorPartola wrote: post #27

So at one point I took on a management job, stepping up from a (lead) developer. I felt like the whole thing was kind of a train wreck and I am still slowly analyzing the black box recordings from it. This was my first time having direct reports that were not one or two interns and managing a team of seven other highly intelligent people was quite a chore in itself. What bugged me is that I could never tell if the pr…

> I do miss leading a team though; not managing but really leading. Your title doesn't impact your role on the team. You can easily make a big impact as a leader, without the people management aspect.

What I mean by that is putting together a team and creating a product, not just stepping up on a team to take on a more senior role. You are right, you can step up on any team, and that's how I got to do what I did in this instance: stepping up in a small way until someone recognized that I could lead the team officially. I do look forward to one day starting a venture of my own.

Re: What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

#76

Post by [deleted] »

bane wrote: post #32
IgorPartola wrote: post #27

So at one point I took on a management job, stepping up from a (lead) developer. I felt like the whole thing was kind of a train wreck and I am still slowly analyzing the black box recordings from it. This was my first time having direct reports that were not one or two interns and managing a team of seven other highly intelligent people was quite a chore in itself. What bugged me is that I could never tell if the pr…

welcome to low/mid-level management. You get squeezed from the top and bottom. Everybody will hate you, so you just try and hit deadlines. It also sounds like a typical story where the larger organization was trying to keep management lean, without realizing that it really did take multiple people to do the job. One place I worked at ground through three managers in 6 months (with 120 people under them) before finall…

[deleted]

Re: What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

#77

Post by IgorPartola »

polemic wrote: post #50

Those answers are great, but they're also very high level and general. One of the best pieces of advice, badly paraphrased below, I've heard from a military context. "Any time you instruct a subordinate, you must be prepared to deliver the same instruction every single time they perform that action, and expect it to be performed in that way until otherwise instructed." This is a warning about micromanagement, flippan…

I am reading Dune and this is very similar to the advice Leto gave to Paul. Which came first, I wonder?

Re: What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

#78

Post by Fishkins »

dang wrote: post #45
Fishkins wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the submitter added ?share=1 to the link edit: I personally use https://github.com/sindresorhus/quora-unblocker in Chrome to do this for me so I don't have to think about it. I also made https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/quora-share/ to do the same thing in FF.

> Because the submitter added ?share=1 to the link That was us. Maybe we should make the software do it?

I think that's a great idea.

Re: What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

#79

Post by jevanish »

joncooper wrote: post #56
scottm01 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd go a step further and answer the question "What are some common mistakes new managers make?" with "Accepting a promotion to management". If you're coming from a technical role, understand that your new job is not to be an engineer. If you're lucky and are good enough at your new job that you have some spare cycles, you might get to guide some architectural discussions It can be rewarding to help guide a team towa…

As an aside, anyone got recommendations on learning the skills scottm01 mentions? "people skills, budgeting, planning, and politics"

I'm working on an app to help managers with the people / soft skills stuff. It helps with 1 on 1s, goals, and personal stuff for your reports.

Would love to talk to you if you're interested (check my profile for contact info).

Re: What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?

#80

Post by emddudley »

abtinf wrote: post #16
peterwwillis wrote: post #11

I wish there was a way to share this list with a manager without seeming like a dick.

I've felt this way several times in the past. What I've found is that its a good indicator of when I need to launch a new job search. Under good management, I usually don't feel the need to share a list like this. If I do, then I can usually have a 5 minute chat with the manager to get things worked out. If that doesn't work, a longer discussion can be in order. Under bad management, I usually feel like any attempt a…

That Netflix culture slide deck sounds pretty idyllic, but it's also 5 years old. Netflix has faced a number of challenges since then, and I wonder if they've changed their approach at all.
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