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Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

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Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#61

Post by mturmon »

rubidium wrote: post #6

The answer depends a lot on the industry/ product. But in general: - Communicate, communicate, communicate. Give status updates. Ask for status updates. Get information from customers to your development team. Give updates from your dev. team to your customer. -Be the voice of the customer. Know if it's more important to be really good or just get the dang thing finished. Let the development team know "we need to cut…

"Learn the art of minimizing meeting length but maximizing their effectiveness."

One basic tool here is to have an explicitly listed agenda for the meeting, with a first cut arrived at before the meeting. New topics ("walk-ons") can be added to the agenda in a discussion at the start of the meeting, or at the end if time permits. It's surprising how many 60 or 90 minute meetings are run without an agenda.

If you run out of time (which is undesirable and should be corrected if it happens often) you can push items at the tail of the agenda to the next meeting.

One job of the manager is to be sure all topics (not just pet topics) get their fair share of attention, and to move the meeting onward when needed.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#62

Post by minipci1321 »

1. Instantly stop being a developer. Trust your team -- if they cannot figure it out, most probably you won't be able either. (Saying that because for some time at the beginning it will feel like you can.) Remember, they are at least as smart as you are, and have been thinking about the problem for much more time than you can dedicate to it. If they fail, you alone won't save it single-handedly.

2. Managing open-source-based codebase is vastly different from managing the closed-source one. Mixing both (a reality) will require special thinking and measures. It will require two very different sorts of developers and activities.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#63

Post by mabbo »

heisenbit wrote: post #37
mabbo wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the title doesn't mean you're a people manager. You're the developers' peer This, 1000 times. The Project Manager role is one of convincing others, helping organize them, and smoothing out relationships with other teams/organizations. If you try to act like an authority figure, the devs working with you wind up in an "Office Space" style "I have 8 bosses" problem.

Some PMs wear at times the peer hat. However I believe it is not a good idea to consider yourself a peer. Confusion about roles can lead to conflicts. By design the PM has to have to last word in most critical decisions, especially with outside contacts and that makes one stand out. An important part of the PM role is to say "NO" to all sides - while a peer may say only "no" - and this requires power. How to achieve…

Simply put, if you are a PM and don't consider yourself a peer, I don't want to be a dev in your organization for exactly the reasons I listed above.

If this is how you work today, ask yourself how many devs you work with already feel the way I do? If the devs can't tell you 'no', they have no control, no creative freedom. Put me in that situation, I'll find work elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#64

Post by ThrustVectoring »

orbz wrote: post #20

Have spent about 5 years in Program/Project Management, and 10 in Developer Lead roles, and the big thing I'd have to say about the PM world is that just because it has Management in the title doesn't mean you're a people manager. You're the developers' peer, and will have to do a good chunk of work convincing them that the work you think is important, is in fact important. Everyone has gut feelings on what the proje…

I'd qualify the "convince people that work is important" should be made conditional on it being actually important. Like, I think it's important to facilitate the other direction of information flow by listening to developers, figuring out why they think certain things are more important than others, and advocating for the things you end up agreeing on.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#65

Post by smoyer »

That you can go back ... I've been forced into management several times and pushed myself back into development when I got bored. Smart companies will create a technical track that allows advancement roughly equal to the management track (though it never seems to equal the sales track).

Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#66

Post by ZenoArrow »

yarou wrote: post #28

Nag people (seriously). Be as proactive as possible.

That's terrible advice. Micromanagement is a time drain and reduces morale. If you want the best out of a team, set clear goals and protect them from office politics.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#67

Post by tapan_k »

heisenbit wrote: post #37
mabbo wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the title doesn't mean you're a people manager. You're the developers' peer This, 1000 times. The Project Manager role is one of convincing others, helping organize them, and smoothing out relationships with other teams/organizations. If you try to act like an authority figure, the devs working with you wind up in an "Office Space" style "I have 8 bosses" problem.

Some PMs wear at times the peer hat. However I believe it is not a good idea to consider yourself a peer. Confusion about roles can lead to conflicts. By design the PM has to have to last word in most critical decisions, especially with outside contacts and that makes one stand out. An important part of the PM role is to say "NO" to all sides - while a peer may say only "no" - and this requires power. How to achieve…

> Confusion about roles can lead to conflicts.

Agree. Accountability is the key here (this is not about authority). If things do not pan out as expected, the PM must be answerable, and to be in that position, [s]he must have the ability to make the final call in most situations.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#68

Post by whynaut »

orblivion wrote: post #11
rubidium wrote: post #6

The answer depends a lot on the industry/ product. But in general: - Communicate, communicate, communicate. Give status updates. Ask for status updates. Get information from customers to your development team. Give updates from your dev. team to your customer. -Be the voice of the customer. Know if it's more important to be really good or just get the dang thing finished. Let the development team know "we need to cut…

> -Assume your dev team knows best how to build, test, and ship the product, but ask them questions to find out why. Don't be authoritative, but rather put on the attitude of a student. E.g. "I hear you saying we won't be able to ship next week. Why is that? What caused that? Is there anything I could for our next project that would help prevent this from happening?" As a dev (never been a PM), the PMs who impress me…

Agreed. PMs at my last job excelled at this. As a result, our "sprints" felt smooth and natural, and we always had time to eliminate technical debt.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from developer to project manager. What to keep in mind?

#70

Post by djcapelis »

zippergz wrote: post #44

Make sure you have a very clear understanding of the difference between a Project Manager and a Product Manager. I've found that lots of developers think they're the same thing....

You'll find those things can mean very different things in very different companies.
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