“I’m a programmer, 32 years old, only 3 years away from retirement!”
That’s the best way to describe the Internet industry in 2019. Since 2018, Internet companies of all sizes have had more than one round of layoffs. In 2013, the Internet began to be filled with articles about people over 35 years old in Internet companies. If they are not leaders at this age and their businesses are not core, please feel anxious.
Yesterday, listen to luo Fat’s New Year’s speech, the theme is: basic dish. It means not to be affected by the mood of conformity, but to turn around, look at the hands of resources, based on the basic disk to see their own efforts, very emotional and inspired. China’s Internet after more than a decade of brutal development seems to have started to slow down in the past two years, although the retirement age of programmers 35 years old is just a way of talking about selling anxiety, but the industry’s increasingly high requirements for people is an indisputable fact, requiring our growth speed must keep up. Starting from 2020, I hope to further study in the three dimensions of technology, management and business, systematize my personal cognition and become an IT person with characteristics.
The following topic is about “How engineers transform from technology to management”, which is my first systematic summary of team management. The reason why I choose this topic is that, on the one hand, I think management is the career path that most programmers will choose under the current environment. On the other hand, I have experienced a relatively long transformation process myself, so I should be able to write my experience. I hope the following content can inspire you for those students who are struggling in transition or who plan to transition to management in the future. The content is roughly divided into the following four parts:
- What kind of engineer is promoted to management?
- Why did you choose management in the first place?
- What puzzles or challenges will you encounter during the transition period?
- What kind of mentality should be possessed in transition period?
1. What kind of engineers are promoted to management positions?
Generally speaking, engineers who meet the three requirements will be promoted to management positions: strong technical ability, professional proficiency, and soft quality standards. (Of course, it depends on whether there are managerial positions available and what you want to do.) Here are the highlights.
Technical: The depth and breadth of common techniques are indispensable, and architectural capabilities are critical. Otherwise, the technical direction is not well grasped, and technical decisions are prone to problems. If the technical ability does not reach a certain level, it is not recommended to transfer to management too early (personal perception ability should be at least close to Ali’S P7, Tencent’s T3-1, Baidu’s T6).
Business: If you do not understand the business, the technology cannot be implemented. You should not only be familiar with the business, but also have a strong business awareness (if you can put forward good ideas from the technical dimension and help the business get better results, such leader is very popular).
Soft quality standard: the word soft quality is a little broad, I personally feel the most core two points, communication and coordination ability and do not rely on reliable. Soft can be exercised, but must consciously improve. Chen Chunhua, a famous management expert, said, “A person is promoted by an organization not because of ability, but because of trust”. There are many smart people, but few reliable ones. What is more important than ability is dedication to work and reliable attitude.
If you think you have met the requirements in all three areas, I think you just need a chance to improve yourself.
2. Why did you choose management?
I was asked the question, “Do you think I’m cut out for management? Can you give me some advice?” “Instead of answering him directly, I asked him,” Can you start by telling me what management means to you? What does it get you?” . Of course, I’m not questioning him, but I want him to reflect on his original intention to do management. I think “primary motivation” will determine how much pressure you can handle and how far you can go in management. Here are some of the most common statements I’ve seen about original intentions:
- Technology can not do for a lifetime, many seniors in the ability to reach a certain level of management, they also think so
- I have encountered a bottleneck in promotion on the technical route, so I want to try the direction of management to see if I am suitable
- The company is growing so fast that my boss asked me to lead a team and I couldn’t help it
- Managers earn high salaries and are considered excellent representatives of others
- Command can do things, can be divorced from the executive level, the more you go up the easier
These are all “external factors” that, to be honest, are hard to get very far on the management road. For technical management is extremely complicated and trivial work, it is far from your imagination relaxed and scenery, and under the external force, you make a decision after the result of a lot of time with your expectations are not consistent, at this time of your anger and transition pain occurs, you begin to question your choice of this road is wrong?
Let’s look at another question. As a technology manager, what do you think is its value to the company, to the team and to you personally? My personal interpretation is this:
- For the company: can lead the technical team to support the business and help the business to achieve the strategic goals set by the company.
- For the team: set a good direction, don’t let the team members blind, and help them grow.
- For individuals: to improve their technical and management capabilities.
This is the basic understanding of the technical management position, and your original intention must be based on this understanding. Then ask yourself: Do you recognize the value of the position? If you feel like it’s all about sacrificing yourself for the company and your team, you won’t be happy and you won’t do well.
Number two, are you passionate about being a manager? And enjoy the process? For example, project coordination, for example, developing processes and promoting implementation, for example, recruitment. If you say that I only enjoy doing technical work (architecture, technical review, etc.), go technical.
Recognize the value of technical management positions and motivate you to invest. These are the best motivators at the bottom. Your growth and rewards will come naturally. So this original intention is very important, three views must be positive.
3. What puzzles or challenges will you encounter during the transition period?
Transition involves a change in mindset, a change in the way you work, and many things that refresh your perception. The following points, I think, are the perplexities or challenges most people will encounter in the transition process:
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Lack of time: After becoming a team leader, I have to deal with many daily affairs and attend various meetings. Sometimes, I also need to devote some energy to front-line coding, so time is completely fragmented and not enough.
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Low efficiency of team members: A simple requirement or technical problem that you think is handed to team members will take longer to deal with than you expected. When the external pressure comes, you can’t help complaining and blaming, and start to deal with it by yourself. As time goes by, you get used to being on the front line and think it is the most efficient.
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I hate the complexity of interpersonal relationships: I have to deal with people of different positions and levels every day, some of which are reliable and some of which are unreliable. Some things that you think are simple are difficult to push, and I feel that EQ is not enough.
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Low sense of accomplishment: Occasionally you receive negative feedback from your superiors, peers, and even subordinates, and you begin to question your management skills. Unlike being recognized as an engineer, you have a strong sense of disparity.
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Dare not give up the front line: fear that they are not suitable to do management, if away from the front line execution, feel that technical ability will stagnate. Do not give up a line, and the energy can not keep up, this degree is not good.
The above doubts are the deepest points in my personal transformation process, and I will give my own views and suggestions respectively in the following article.
4. What kind of mind should be possessed in the transition period?
The transformation from technology to management is more about the change of thinking mode and behavior than the change of ability. Many newly transformed leaders do not do well in management, most of which is not because of poor ability, but because of cognition. In my opinion, the following points are the mentality that a leader must possess in the transition period:
- Learn to think as a team
- Pay attention to execution details
- Learn to use people’s strengths, inclusive heart
- Attach importance to eq and do a good job in self-emotional control
- Manage your time well
Learn to think as a team
In the past, as an engineer, I used to proceed from things themselves or from a personal point of view. After becoming a leader, it is most important to change into a team thinking, because your KPI depends on the performance of the whole team, and what you need to weigh is the interests and efficiency of the whole team.
If the team ability is not improved, the leader will never be liberated, which is the consciousness that a leader should have. If this problem can improve the ability of the team members in some aspect, the leader should play the role of a good coach and let the team members do it by themselves. What you need to do is just observe, give some advice and give appropriate support in terms of time. It may not be efficient this time, but the team does not need to rely on you to solve similar problems next time. In addition, team members also have their own space to play, and they feel that the team is helping them grow.
Pay attention to execution details
For front-line leaders who have just been transformed into management, they should not be brainwashed by decentralized management. Delegating management has a high requirement for managers’ experience. It is more suitable for teams with clear working process, team backbone target recognition and strong self-drive.
When your personal management level is still in the novice stage, must grab from details, hand by hand with the staff, teach them how to do things correctly, how can I meet your requirements, and how to cultivate backbone team, build the core of the team, organization structure, all of these had been in, you will only have their own comments on the management, will go more solid.
By observing the execution details, you can clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of everyone in the team, deeply feel whether there are problems in your own management style, and then use the leader thinking to think and solve problems, so as to achieve real growth in management. In this process, you may receive a lot of feedback from superiors, peers and subordinates. After you know the details, you will have your own judgment, and know whether it is your own problem and whether it needs to be adjusted, rather than being frustrated and blind.
Learn to use people’s strengths, inclusive heart
It is the truth that every manager understands, but not much can be done. Especially in the technical management position, I have seen some leaders who are very strong in technology and their technical authority does not allow any challenge. When team members put forward a more reasonable technical solution, they will force them to implement it according to their position without giving any explanation.
For the new leader, the team’s sense of trust in you is still in the adjustment period. The above practice can easily dampen the enthusiasm of team members and destroy their creativity, which is very fatal for you to lead the team. If the plan of the team member is more reasonable, the leader should feel gratified, tolerate and encourage such behavior, because the professional ability of the team member exceeds you in some aspects, and you are no longer the strongest person in all aspects of the team. What you need to do is to adjust your mind and learn to use your strengths. In addition, there is another situation: both the team members and the leader’s technical plan are feasible. I personally prefer to leave the choice to the team members. After all, they are the real executors and should be given free space to play.
Attach importance to eq and do a good job in self-emotional control
How much management can do really has a lot to do with emotional intelligence. Due to the nature of work, technical personnel in IT industry generally pay attention to technical improvement, but ignore the cultivation and maintenance of EQ. As a new leader, we must realize the importance of EQ from the very beginning. Management is a compound position, and when you have developed professional skills and problem-solving methodology, the more you move up the ladder, the more soft skills will take up more and more weight.
Dealing with different people every day is part of a manager’s routine because you need to mobilize all possible resources to solve the team’s problems. In the face of different positions, different levels, different personalities, you need to think about what kind of communication style and communication skills to use. The last section mentioned a situation where something you thought was easy turns out to be hard to do. Maybe it’s because your external communication style is too stiff, people don’t want to cooperate with you, or people do have other priorities, but if you have a good personal relationship, you can probably solve it in person. In interpersonal relationship, there will inevitably be a wall, do not be discouraged, this is the same as technical students write a bug, is common things, but must pay attention to accumulate experience. Maintain a good personal relationship with key partners offline, eat and drink more, help others in time when they are in trouble and so on, there are many routines.
Emotional control is a difficult thing. Emotions are easy to pass on. If the leader encounters something unpleasant and takes the team member as a punching bag, it will hurt morale. The previously established sense of trust is easy to disappear, and the team member who can’t stand it may quit. In addition, in external communication, if the leader controls bad mood and does not focus on solving problems, but only complains or gets angry, it is very easy to cause dissatisfaction of the partner and think you are not professional. As time goes by, your team will also be labeled with this kind of label.
Personally, I am also doing very poorly in emotional intelligence and have made many mistakes. Three suggestions are provided:
- Maintain a positive and optimistic state of mind, while improving their ability to bear when facing problems, think clearly emotional is not to solve the problem, will only increase the difficulty of solving the problem.
- Be able to reflect on yourself and absorb the feedback of others, face up to what you have done wrong and continue to improve.
- Cultivate affinity, do not think that I am a leader with AIRS, should have a bow posture, respect people and treat people sincerely.
Manage your time well
The four quadrant theory of time management can be searched. I would like to focus on how I solve my personal time management problems, and how the two dimensions of technology and management allocate time.
Step 1: Take the past week or month and make a list of what specific things you spent your time on and how much time you spent on each. Possible tasks for technical leaders include: requirement review, resource planning and project scheduling, technical review, weekly team meeting, formulation and implementation of R&D specifications, project management, technical research, architecture design, coding, urgent task coordination and processing, business and new technology charging, etc.
Step 2: For each of the things listed in step 1, consider what is unnecessary, what can be delegated to the backbone of the team, and what can be optimized to improve efficiency. For example, some simple requirements review or technical proposal review can be checked by the backbone, and the project management formulate process specifications and train some Scrum masters or project managers to be delegated to them. Instead of trying to do everything personally, a leader should focus his time on what is most critical to the team and learn to delegate and delegate.
Personal suggestions on how to allocate time between the two dimensions of technology and management are as follows:
- Most of the time, the leader does not need to write the code himself, but if necessary, the leader should be able to take charge at any time, so he cannot stay away from the frontline for a long time and be an armchair strategist. In the long run, technical judgment can be prone to errors, and switching back can be too costly if not managed properly.
- Technical dimension: The focus on architectural design, code review, technical research, and some framework code development is sufficient to maintain a technical edge.
- If the time proportion of management dimension exceeds 60%, I think the proportion is somewhat unbalanced. Either the team is too big (for example, more than 10 people), or there are problems in management or time management, which need to be paid attention to and considered for adjustment.
The above content is about the personal experience of engineer transformation management.