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

#171

Post by blub » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 7:16 AM UTC

gowld wrote: post #162

Bahamut wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US military is efficient at what it does, generally speaking - it is the product of a can't fail fighting force, and all the implications that come out of that. As an enlisted infantry Marine who transitioned very easily into software engineering, I find my leadership training in the Marine Corps a distinct advantage I have over my peers. I have been called the best manager other engineers have ever had by multip…

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

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

#172

Post by dexen » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 7:30 AM UTC

Hannan wrote: post #117

drblast wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be the impression in the business world, which has what I can only describe as a fetish for stories about the military, but Marines in particular have a very tough time adapting to life and careers outside the military. It's fun to think of our businesses as just like a Seal team and try to glean lessons from stories of heroism, but the reality is if the military were in the business of making a profit,…

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you here (nor have I ever been military in any remote respect), but there are some overlapping truths in that page, e.g. "Employ your command in accordance with its capabilities", under "Develop", points 1, 3, & 4. I've resigned over unrealistic expectations from leadership about deadlines, and what was to be asked of my team to complete said deadlines. I would do it again. I'm su…

>I've resigned over unrealistic expectations from leadership about deadlines, (...)

This sets great example. Thank you.

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

#173

Post by theshadowknows » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 7:30 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #144

theshadowknows wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they’re any good then it’s both. You should have a content team that works toward the goal of making great content for your audience, an analytics team that helps you figure out exactly who your audience is and what they like, and a CRM team that works to execute on that vision to maximize value for both the customer and the org.

Except when you separate out optimizing value for your audience from optimizing value for your org, the former becomes a cost centre, if not plain waste of money. At some point, someone is bound to ask, why waste money with a person passionate about the topic, when someone who doesn't care could write 2x - 10x the volume of content? Or put in other way, there are very few orgs that are "good" in the sense you describ…

Yeah I can see that point. Like Daring Fireball, Gruber just has the single ad off to the side.

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

#174

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 7:33 AM UTC

gowld wrote: post #162

Bahamut wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US military is efficient at what it does, generally speaking - it is the product of a can't fail fighting force, and all the implications that come out of that. As an enlisted infantry Marine who transitioned very easily into software engineering, I find my leadership training in the Marine Corps a distinct advantage I have over my peers. I have been called the best manager other engineers have ever had by multip…

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

[deleted]

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

#175

Post by gaius » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 7:39 AM UTC

gonzo41 wrote: post #125

drblast wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be the impression in the business world, which has what I can only describe as a fetish for stories about the military, but Marines in particular have a very tough time adapting to life and careers outside the military. It's fun to think of our businesses as just like a Seal team and try to glean lessons from stories of heroism, but the reality is if the military were in the business of making a profit,…

Yeah but if making money was the same as charging a machine gun nest then the military model would be top notch. Military leadership has the extra ace up its sleeve that all the people reporting to you are bound by law to do what you command. Leading Civvies is like herding cats by comparison.

The sort of manager who fetishizes military leaders would gladly order their employees to charge a machine gun nest if it improved their own bonus

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

#176

Post by binarnosp » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 7:51 AM UTC

I always found the "company culture" as a limiting factor: at the end, it tends to build a sect of developers close to any suggestion that doesn't self-enforce the culture that produces them.

"Culture" kind of wants to produce a "family", but a family is not what I'm looking for when I look for a job.

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

#177

Post by dingaling » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 8:27 AM UTC

adrianmonk wrote: post #109

im_down_w_otp wrote: post #25

Having read through the piece, I'm a little confused about why "leader" and "manager" are being conflated. They're very different roles. The former is a navigational role and the latter is a facilitating role. Given the differing dominant archetypal personality traits required for those distinct modalities, it's unlikely they'd be strongly expressed in a singular person, and there's some reason to think they may be n…

Interesting. I see them as naturally linked. Many/most organizations combine the two functions. And I think there's a lot to be said for doing it. If you try to lead, you will create activity that needs to be facilitated. The person who understands the goal naturally has information about what help the workers need in achieving it. For example, suppose your main goal has three major pieces to it. As a leader, you def…

> As a leader, you define the goal and the pieces, and you inspire people to work toward that goal

'Inspiration' should be added as a trigger for workplace swear-boxes.

People aren't in work to be inspired to work more. The vast majority just want to earn a wage with the minimum possible effort.

In my opinion a leader is someone who shows those people how to achieve the goals the company has set in the most personally-efficient manner. Like following a guide through the jungle, he knows the shortest path and how to avoid the dangers. It's not inspirational it's just rational.

You could appoint a manager in the same jungle but he would just assign resources. "Bob, you're the machete man. Mark, carry these bamboo poles.". The team would then proceed to wander around the jungle.

You can appoint a college graduate as a manager but leaders need both domain knowledge and soft-skills. The military knows this, which is why a green junior Lieutenant is paired with an experienced platoon sergeant.

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

#178

Post by gadders » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 8:30 AM UTC

w_t_payne wrote: post #87

thebooglebooski wrote: post #21

Fan of the Marine Corps model: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmc/leadership.htm Some of them are painfully obvious, but these are sometimes absent when they shouldn't be. (I also suspect this is what Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr either draw from, or coincide with.)

Following the links, I stumbled upon this amazing seeming resource: http://leadership.au.af.mil/sls-skil.htm The military are really very very good at man-management ...

This is the version for UK Army Officers in book form: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Serve_to_Lead.html?id...

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

#179

Post by drodgers » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 8:32 AM UTC

wiz21c wrote: post #161

First : >>> People are not stagnant; instead, they are constantly learning and evolving. There's adifference between evolving naturally and evolving because you're pushed to do so by the company. I work with people who don't want to evolve. They seek a peaceful, comfortable environment. They do their job quite well, nothing more. I understand that. Second, values... Should people be hired because of their skill or be…

> Say you work for Google because you love the AI stuff, then Google starts selling weapons. Should they fire people who don't share those values anymore ?

Values apply pressure in both directions.

If you have a culture like Google, and you need to pivot a significant fraction of your business to building weapons, then you will — sooner or later — need to replace a lot of employees (and manage that process, deal with the resulting morale problems etc). That's really expensive, but it might be worth it (depending on the business).

If you're actually like Google though — in that your real business isn't building weapons — then you just drop the weapons project. Dropping it will make the rest of your business more effective, which is way more important than some experimental side-hustle with the military. Ideally, you'd see in-advance that those kinds of projects would clash with your values and cause problems, but we all make mistakes.

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

#180

Post by gadders » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 8:34 AM UTC

drblast wrote: post #100

w_t_payne wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Following the links, I stumbled upon this amazing seeming resource: http://leadership.au.af.mil/sls-skil.htm The military are really very very good at man-management ...

This seems to be the impression in the business world, which has what I can only describe as a fetish for stories about the military, but Marines in particular have a very tough time adapting to life and careers outside the military. It's fun to think of our businesses as just like a Seal team and try to glean lessons from stories of heroism, but the reality is if the military were in the business of making a profit,…

I remember hearing Stanley McCrystal or someone comment on the misconceptions between the Army and civilian world. The quote was along the lines of:

"In the civilian world, you think that in the Army you can just order someone to do what you want. In the Army, you think you can sack whoever you choose in the Civilian world."