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Discussion on: Which qualities were exhibited by good managers you've had?

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Nik

There were two truly outstanding managers I've had.

One was a genius, and he would basically go into meetings and solve all the problems for us if we couldn't. So maybe that doesn't count. Not everybody can do that, and in fact never seen anyone else who could.

We'd be in a meeting, something was holding up progress, he would ask us to describe exactly where and why we're stuck and then would casually say something like "how about you try this..." and come up with a really good solution on the spot. Sounds of jaws hitting floors... 😃

The best normal manager described his role as an "obstacle remover".

  • If anything would hold us back, he'd solve that, be it administrative or project schedule related

  • On anything we did, he'd ask for the ETA. Didn't reach the ETA, need to provide a new ETA. This made me think like a project owner, and get me out of the coder view.

  • He would take these ETAs to hold us accountable and to check on us, but never to blame anyone. Don't hit the ETA, it's fine, just provide a new one.