Technical Team Management Notes (2)- Lead people

Disclaimer: The so-called technical management notes are the management notes of a former coder in a big company who is unwilling to be lonely and joins a start-up company. The gap between a large company and a start-up company is all-directional, with systems, atmosphere, resources and talents. From the initial inadaptability to all the way to live up to now. Filled with gratitude and luck, I felt compelled to record and summarize. The project started in November 2017, and by this time, the technical team I managed was 50 people. This background can be used for reference, examples may not be consistent with your team, but the idea may be the same, welcome to discuss with the same people.

In the previousTechnical Team Management Notes (I)- Identifying peopleThanks very much for your support. This chapter we will talk about technical team management notes (II)- lead people

First of all, let’s make clear a core problem: why should we bring people? Some students will say that bringing people is to make the team more combative, so that we can do a good job in the project. Some will say that they can release themselves from details and have more time to think about architecture. Some would say it’s a great sense of achievement, seeing subordinates grow up one by one. All of these statements are true in terms of the results, but they seem to be somewhat distant from the overall strategic goals of the company. Right? Here, I propose a new point of view. The core purpose of hiring people is to gain a growth bonus period of 3 to 6 months for the company by improving the ability of the team, and there is no extra cost for the time being (generally there is a demand for salary increase in 6 months to 1 year). When this bonus helps the company achieve its business goals, the entire team can enjoy the benefits of the company’s growth (salary increases), thus creating a virtuous cycle

It sounds very bourgeois, eh, a lot like capitalist ruthless exploitation thinking :), but there are a few key points:

1. Earning a 3 – to 6-month growth bonus for the company is Paramount. Only when the company gains revenue can you feed the team back, and you will build true authority.
2. When leading people, it is inevitable that the team will feel more tired and pay more. But at this time, we should not be softhearted, nor should we have the wrong idea that “if I am technically very strict with everyone, but the company does not give the team a raise in the end, then my personal credit is bankrupt.” Because without that three to six month growth bonus period, the company can’t succeed. In a demoralizing way, what if the company doesn’t win its business goals if it tries? Haha, it’s not up to you as a technology manager to decide, you have to look ahead
3. Coaching people is never-ending, because you need to always create space for the company to grow, so you can’t relax for a moment

Huo Qubing said that he would bring a cook to cook for himself during the war, which was despised by Li Guang and Wei Qing. They said that it was necessary for generals and soldiers to share joys and sorrows. Huo Qubing replied, “To lead an army to fight, you need not do justice. The general’s only goal is to win. If you don’t win a war, you are an incompetent general who shares the joys and sorrows with the soldiers every day (if you win a war, the soldiers will reward you for your achievements). It just goes to show that managers win bonuses for their companies above all else.

After understanding the meaning of taking people, let’s talk about taking a few heart methods

1. The core purpose of a project is to lead people, and success is the result. The first point is the most crucial and subtle to understand. Many students seem to do everything personally when leading a project. Every day, I helped team members solve various technical problems like a firefighter, and patiently explained good technical solutions to them, but the effect was not satisfactory. Because you would get the wrong idea. A really good manager is one who manages people and does not manage things, which is also what we often call “hands-off governance”. If your team members are strong enough, the project will succeed. If your team is not strong enough, even if you repeatedly rely on excellent personal ability to plug holes, your team will not grow, let alone have no future. So if you want to be a good manager, keep your focus on bringing people in, on the key things, not on the details of the project.

2. To improve subordinates’ thinking height is higher than to help them solve problems. After a deep understanding of the first point, the second point is a wonderful start. Let’s imagine that an engineer on your team uses an open source framework because the framework itself is not very mature or the way it is used ends up running out of memory during a project release. Let’s take a look at the different methods of processing for results and for people:

• For results: Use professional memory analysis tools to help engineers find problems and analyze the source code of the open source framework to tell engineers what is wrong with the framework or how to use it in the future
• Human-oriented: After you’ve done everything you need to do for results, ask the engineers what do you think is the right thing to do using a third-party open source framework? After a discussion with the engineer, you offer your own stark opinion: 2 We should all know why before we use any open source framework. 3 The great technology is not how many open source frameworks you research and use, but whether you can make stable commercial systems forever. Open source is just your means and tools. See the difference? You see a tree and abandon the forest for the sake of results, seemingly solving the problem this time and ensuring a smooth project release, but next time your engineers will fall into the open source pit. With a human-oriented solution, you not only solve the problem, but also try to raise the level of thinking of your subordinate, who will not fall into any open source pit and truly understand what a stable commercial system is. In the future, even when using other public services in the company, he will be very careful. That’s a qualitative change! So keep in mind that elevating your subordinates’ thinking is more important than helping them solve problems.

3. How to set goals for subordinates is a matter of knowledge. It is also very important to set goals for subordinates. Only with goals can they work hard in that direction and grow up. Many management articles will say that setting goals is about 20 to 30 percent higher than a person’s current capabilities. This is certainly true, and it must be so, but there is a key issue here: the magnitude of the correction. You’re not a prophet. The goals you set for your subordinates may not always be right. They may be higher or lower. Remember not to revise too much at once, but to revise slowly. High or low, first positive and negative correction about 10%, then observe the performance of subordinates, if it still does not match, then correct about 10%. This approach has a benefit: for students who have the desire to make progress, they will not lose their enthusiasm because the goal is too high, and they will slowly increase their quantity to help him improve constantly. For students who want to do more, you can slowly marginalize and avoid team shock, because goals often determine how much you will be responsible for.

4. The more important and urgent the project, the more strict the requirements are, which is also a key point. I have seen many technical managers. Due to the business pressure of the CEO, in some very important and time-critical projects, the default is that the team does not need to do very detailed system design before starting coding. Even self-testing requirements for development will be reduced (expect to send it to professional QA early to save time). First of all, from the point of view of the success of the project, it must be wrong. Without good design and testing, it is likely to fail. In addition, from a leadership perspective, this conveys a very wrong attitude to the team: the more important the project (which is often on a tight schedule), the less it needs to be designed and self-tested. This is not bringing people, it is simply destroying people ah, to the future growth of the team brought immeasurable obstacles. Today you give yourself the so-called convenience, tomorrow will be several times to bite you, then you no matter how hard to reverse are of no avail. There is a belief in the army that even if defeated, the formation should not be disordered. Instead of letting up on important projects, be more demanding, sending the right signal to the team that the more important the project, the more demanding it is.

5. Start with the core people. Remember the 5 types of people defined in the technical Team Management Notes (1) in the last article? This is where they come into play.

Remember, you only have so much energy to spend on the people and places that need it most.

6. Pay attention to the time when you really need to intervene. The timing of the intervention of the guide is also very delicate, because the guide will always be lectured. If you think about it, as an employee, if your boss points out your shortcomings here and there, even if the boss is for your own good, your heart will always be uncomfortable, because the human instinct is to resist your shortcomings. If your subordinate instinctively resists when you instruct him, the result is not good. So when is the right time for you to step in? Here’s the trick: When your subordinates are overwhelmed and need help with a problem that doesn’t prove fatal to the project. It’s a good time for you to bring people along, and your subordinates are more grateful to listen to your advice. Don’t get caught up in the monthly talk. Finding out what your subordinates need is far less glamorous than helping them out. But you can’t just go in there and help when your people are burning to death. It’s too late. Every time your subordinate falls, he must be able to remember the pain, but also the key moment of his growth, this time you need to appear!

Taking people this table has been finished, in general, understanding the purpose of taking people is the most important. After really understanding the meaning of taking people, as long as enough patience, the use of reasonable methods can bring the team more and more strong, so as to enjoy the dividend of taking people, only with the right, can really play a role, the next chapter, we talk about the technical team management notes (three)- choose and employ people

Technical Team Management Notes Series Links: Technical Team Management Notes (I)- How do Technical managers report up