Live data from Hacker News

Some mistakes I made as a new manager

benkuhn.net

31–40 of 156 posts

Re: Some mistakes I made as a new manager

#31
post #7

Using Twitter likes as a "thing to make you feel good about yourself" might give you a short term dopamine rush, but probably leads to long term unhappiness IMO.

Sure, we can agree social media news and zero cost information dissemination is an Existential Evil, but ... if author had said "shout into a bag", "pound head against wall", or "drink a beer". Maybe we could just let it ride, for once.

Re: Some mistakes I made as a new manager

#32
Thanks to the author.

This resonated with me.

It was helpful to see here a couple of the same issues I grappled with (to know "I'm not crazy"): feedback loops, prioritization / importance, communication.

On the topic of the dreaded Micro-Management, I read recently somewhere, "better to micro-manage than to not manage at all". That also resonated.

Re: Some mistakes I made as a new manager

#33
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, a brief refresher: lying about someone is defamation. If you defame people's performance and cause them to lose money you are personally liable for damages. Genuinely curious: do you have an example of a manager who was personally held financially liable after firing an employee? I couldn't find an example in some brief Googling, but IANAL and I'm curious if this is even a possibility. Even if it is possible,…

There are limits to the freedom of expression (i.e.: what you can communicate verbally or in writing no matter what the context). Fraud, defamation (libel, slander), perjury, etc. No matter what your position is, you are not free from the consequences of those.

This doesn't answer my question, and I didn't say anything about "freedom of expression" because it doesn't apply here.

Again, do you have a documented instance of an individual manager, preferably at a company larger than ~100 people, getting personally sued after a dismissal of one of their direct reports?

Re: Some mistakes I made as a new manager

#36

I'm so tired of these humble brag posts.

Bro, reframe this "I have so many entrancing growth opportunities for my attention that I find it hard to take value from someone else's experience". Really, his bullet points are pretty basic management 101 - - but most managers don't know them and if it helps even one person be a better manager it's worth this time.

100%. It even helps me reflect on my past managers to see what they were not great at. So I don't pick up those same habits.

Re: Some mistakes I made as a new manager

#37
post #16

Always remember: as a manager you are still an employee, and you are still required to observe the law. Being a manager does not mean you are correct by default. It does not mean you cannot receive feedback from your managees. Also, a brief refresher: lying about someone is defamation. If you defame people's performance and cause them to lose money you are personally liable for damages. We should sue managers more, w…

> Also, a brief refresher: lying about someone is defamation. If you defame people's performance and cause them to lose money you are personally liable for damages. Genuinely curious: do you have an example of a manager who was personally held financially liable after firing an employee? I couldn't find an example in some brief Googling, but IANAL and I'm curious if this is even a possibility. Even if it is possible,…

I am a lawyer. I guess it's technically true you (or more likely your company) can get sued if a manager lies about his reports' performance to their detriment (usually we'd call this discrimination) but the general notion that it is or should be more common is stupid.

Re: Some mistakes I made as a new manager

#38

Thanks to the author. This resonated with me. It was helpful to see here a couple of the same issues I grappled with (to know "I'm not crazy"): feedback loops, prioritization / importance, communication. On the topic of the dreaded Micro-Management, I read recently somewhere, "better to micro-manage than to not manage at all". That also resonated.

No. If the only way you can manage is via micromanagement then you shouldn’t be a manager, end of story, period.

The bar is far too low for managers already. The technical, communication and delivery bars are clear for developers at different levels. Managers have these too.

You don’t settle with dog shit management skills. If I ever saw a manager doing this and didn’t improve they would see the door in short notice.

Stop being lazy, provide your team with tooling or ways to help you gain insight. Make it clear to them what you need and how you can help them get there. Basically, do your job.

Re: Some mistakes I made as a new manager

#39

Always remember: as a manager you are still an employee, and you are still required to observe the law. Being a manager does not mean you are correct by default. It does not mean you cannot receive feedback from your managees. Also, a brief refresher: lying about someone is defamation. If you defame people's performance and cause them to lose money you are personally liable for damages. We should sue managers more, w…

yeap and we should sue individual employees for lying about estimates and delivery dates and making false promises. We should sue when the technical design isn't right and not delivered on time. If you say to a company you can deliver on a date and cause them to lose money you are personally liable for damages. /s

If you say it's an estimate then, it's not exact as per definition. If you are upfront regarding what assumptions were used to build the estimate, even better.

It would be different if you signed something, establishing a legally binding contract to deliver something at a given date.

Plus, a late delivery is not defamation. What I am talking here is condemning defamation as an accepted way of doing business.

Re: Some mistakes I made as a new manager

#40
post #35

I'm a new manager and am facing a conundrum over a supposed super star who joined my team but, at least from what I can tell, is far and away the least productive member of my team. Any ideas?

I'm also new to manager role, but I think the first thing is you need to talk with him. Try to understanding what's going on about him, maybe it's just he had some bad time for whatever reason now. You can talk with him based on the fact of his performance and tell him your expectations. Just try to find out what's going on first before making any judgement.
Post reply on HN