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15 Random Pieces Of Wisdom About People Management

Elena on February 21, 2018

This article has been first published on my website smartpuffin.com. Here are some sundry thoughts I've had throughout my career as a developer an...
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Kat

I'd work for you. I'm pretty autonomous though but I like coffee and learning... and colours. Mostly I think I'm pretty confused but it makes me good at getting things clear. Sounds confusing, right? ;)

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Elena

Sounds nice! Making things clear is an extremely useful skill.
Thank you, Kat!:)

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Ben Halpern

Great list

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Elena • Edited

Thank you, Ben!

P.S. Just want to mention that it's very cool that you or Jess always leave one of the first comments under everyone's posts. I really think it is very nice of you, and contributes to the attentive and caring community.

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Ben Halpern

Well we're sitting around on the site all day 😄

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Chris Raser

Wow. I've had two bosses that failed literally every point on this.

It's shocking how quickly bad bosses dismiss these as naive. I've learned to probe for stuff like this in interviews. When I start seeing red flags, my interest drops off very quickly.

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Kat

Good call. Yeah if I feel they're micromanagers or blamey I run. I just don't have the confidence or patience to deal with a team lead/boss that acts that way. Really hard for me to not care about projects/company/clients.

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Chris Raser • Edited

Sounds like you have the confidence not to deal with a team lead/boss that acts that way. 👍🏻

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Kat

Sounds like you do too!

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Elena

I know how frustrating it is. I hope you have a better manager now.

Here are questions I ask on interviews - maybe I should add more questions about management, like you do.
dev.to/ice_lenor/do-i-want-to-work...

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Enrique Jose Padilla

You sound like a team leader I'd like to have :)

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Elena • Edited

Awww, seriously?! I am trying my best, but there is soooo much to learn. So that's a huge compliment for me. Thank you so much! :))

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Enrique Jose Padilla

Since you say you are recently a new team lead, I'd like to share something's I'd like my manager to know:

  • I'f I'm not committing code daily, somethings wrong. It would mean the world to me to proactively ask me if something happened. (maybe support is too high or I have a blocker that I don't know how to solve.)
  • Probably should ask for help more, but after asking for help once and still not solving it I tend to get frustrated (which leads back to point 1), especially if the documentation isn't easy to find or doesn't exist.
  • DON'T skip a 1-on-1 if there's nothing "important" to talk about, maybe if it's not work related, you now have 30 minutes to learn more about each other.
  • I wished my managers would do pair programming with me.
  • Take my code reviews to the upmost highest standard. Not truly understanding the code and approving since it solves the issue doesn't encourage me to write clean code.

Anyways, albeit unrequested I hope maybe on of these might be useful :)

Good luck in your new role as team lead!

(Curious, does your team know you make posts like these?)

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Elena

Good tips, Enrique! Thank you for adding them. It's actually a good idea to "crowdsource a portrait of an ideal manager" :).

Hm, I didn't tell my team about this one. But I think I'll ask them if I hit all the points:).

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Elena

And here you go: the crowdsourcing post.
dev.to/ice_lenor/crowdsourcing-a-p...

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Chris Raser

I am trying my best, but there is soooo much to learn.

That right there is what sets you apart. Thanks for setting a great example!

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Elena

Thank you, Chris:)

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conectionist

I would call your list "The 15 commandments of leadership".

Most advice on the topic of leadership and management I see on the web, usually falls into the "naive" category and simply doesn't apply in the real world.

As a person whose very passionate about leadership and people skills in general, I have to say that your list absolutely fantastic and it brightened up my day.

If you, as a leader, follow all of the words of wisdom (or at least try to), then I say this from the bottom of my heart:

You're awesome! And I wish they're were more people like you.

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Elena

Wow, thank you so much for your kind words! It totally made my day.

I like your title suggestion. I might want to brainstorm a bit more about the name next time :). "15 rules for a manager", "15 rules I follow as a manager" etc.

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Andy Campbell

Prints out several copies to leave strategically around the office

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Elena

Thank you, I'm so very happy you like it so much :))

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Andy Campbell

You're most welcome.

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Hudson Burgess • Edited

Several comments:

  1. Unclear tasks are a huge demotivator for me, thanks for considering that.

  2. I would add: Where it applies, do all of the above for yourself. If you can't lead your team of one, you can't lead other people.

  3. If you haven't read Extreme Ownership, I highly recommend it. Best and most actionable leadership advice I've ever seen.

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edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y • Edited

I think these are great points.

As an unfortunate addendum, it's also important to wecognize when somebody is toxic and/or become unproductive. This touches on a few points:

  • 2/14 A toxic person will complain without warrant and may mistreat others.
  • 3 Some people can ramble on forever. You need to somehow stop them.
  • 10/11 It's possible to be in a situation where you're forced to work with sombody who actually isn't qualified, and you can't afford to trust them entirely. Of course, a good coding process, with reviews, can in general prevent bad things from making it to production code.

Back on the positive side, 4/15 are vitally important if you intend on being a good leader. Make sure people know you value their work and that they're getting credit for it.

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Harsh Sharma

Paying attention to your people is paramount, as they are your most valuable asset. For the majority of organizations, people are the most costly expense (hiring, firing, payroll, disciplinary), so it is well worth maintaining them. The way to keep employees engaged is to lead them through a shared purpose and vision. Do it right with peopleHum: peoplehum.com/#bl

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Sumant H Natkar

I think you have hit a home run here.

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Thomas Konrad

Awesome wrap-up about how to treat people. I think it does not only apply to managers, but to basically everyone.

Thank you Elena!

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Thomas Konrad

Oh, and one more thing I wanted to add: It is important to actually think that way. If people falsly act this way just because they read it somewhere it just makes things worse.

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Rafal Pienkowski

Great list which should be a primer for every team leader and manager apart from the industry they are working.

I can't wait for next articles from you. Cheers.

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Elena

Thank you, Rafal! I'm very happy you liked it so much!

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MadhubalaAnantharaj

Nice!

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Alfonso Paredes Cervantes

Also is important to recognize that everybody is different, get to know your people and approach them accordingly

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Maciej Przerwa

yeah, tell it my boss :(

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Ben Dowen

I've recently stepped into a management role... Just going to save this to re-read in the morning... First glance looks good so I want to make sure I actually do these things!

Thank you.