Isn't Wikihow one of those content farms...
Indeed. Seems like not all of their content is extremely bad. (Though this wasn't too enlightening, either.)
How To Manage Geeks
11–20 of 31 posts
Re: How To Manage Geeks
#12Don't manage. Lead them.
Yes. But few can or know how to.
Re: How To Manage Geeks
#13Re: How To Manage Geeks
#14Maybe it's time people stopped thinking of "geeks" as a homogenous, broadly categorizable group of people. IMO, that worldview is as much a part of the problem as anything else. I wouldn't assume a random set of 10 doctors are all going to have the same personalities, the same motivators, and the same quirks. I wouldn't assume 10 randomly grouped MBAs are identical, either. Perhaps non-technical managers would do wel…
There's also the fact that tech geeks compulsively analyze systems.
If your insufficient, stagnant incentive/communication/empowerment systems are all out of whack it's going to be extremely demoralizing to the people who see them for what they are.
Re: How To Manage Geeks
#15Even though I agree with most of this list, I still can't help but feel a little put-off by all the geek-this and geek-that speak.
There seemed to be a basic point that "geeks" usually have a low tolerance for the stereotypical business world and speak. Cheap awards, cheap prizes, pointless meetings, the word "synergy"? No thanks.
Re: How To Manage Geeks
#16Maybe it's time people stopped thinking of "geeks" as a homogenous, broadly categorizable group of people. IMO, that worldview is as much a part of the problem as anything else. I wouldn't assume a random set of 10 doctors are all going to have the same personalities, the same motivators, and the same quirks. I wouldn't assume 10 randomly grouped MBAs are identical, either. Perhaps non-technical managers would do wel…
employees as interchangeable
That's baked into alot of management thinking/training, e.g. referring to people as "X resources" where X is some particular language or technology. "We need 5 database resources for this project!" etc etc.
Re: How To Manage Geeks
#17Is it just me or does anyone else find the words geek and nerd to be simply offensive?
Re: How To Manage Geeks
#18"How to manage G-R-eeks" is more important a question really.
Re: How To Manage Geeks
#19Maybe it's time people stopped thinking of "geeks" as a homogenous, broadly categorizable group of people. IMO, that worldview is as much a part of the problem as anything else. I wouldn't assume a random set of 10 doctors are all going to have the same personalities, the same motivators, and the same quirks. I wouldn't assume 10 randomly grouped MBAs are identical, either. Perhaps non-technical managers would do wel…
I think some level of this is ok, just as long as one is clear about the difference between a generalization and a stereotype. IE, "Geeks tend to want X" isn't necessarily bad, but "Geeks always want X" is probably bad.
I mean, it's somewhat naive to assume that there are absolutely no common threads between people of the same profession. The problem begins when you start treating these ideas as rigid rules: "Geeks know nothing about the business side of things. They need us managers to tell them how to build a good product."
Re: How To Manage Geeks
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. But few can or know how to.
Exactly. And my bet is that the people that need to read this the most won't read past the headline or first paragraph.
Either that or they will over focus on #14.
"It says here you geeks need my help not overengineering things. I think you guys can get this done in a week without any of your fancy testing or requirements."