How can we manage grass-roots technologies?

Recently, a friend of mine talked with me about the management of software-based technical management. I would like to share my views on motivation and methods.

Motivation

To do a good job in grass-roots Technical Management, we must first ensure that we have a good motivation, that is, to understand why we have to embark on a technical management position. The root cause of management is to gain power, but the motivation for gaining power is quite different.

The first is purely for self-interest. A considerable number of people are "crowded" into technical management posts to gain the power to do less or pick up the content of work in the future; some people aim to get more information about the company's movements faster, to reflect the "uniqueness" of "leaders", and others aim for higher salaries.

The second is to achieve profit through altruism, which is a win-win idea. These people have clear opinions on technical work, believe they can lead the team better, and gain power to better allocate team resources and implement their technical ideas. Obviously, the process of implementing the idea is also a process of improving oneself.

If the first motivation is to take a job in technical management, it will be troublesome. In the end, such people simply do not believe or fear the profoundness of technology. It is easy to mistakenly think that "relationship is everything ", even play with the trick of "bullying. It is difficult to gain the recognition and respect of team members. It is possible to bring the team into consideration that it is not successful (what is success ?).

The difference is that a person with a second motivation will always show positive behaviors at work and be perceived by team members, making it easier for them to gain recognition and support for their team work.

I have pointed out in many articles that technical managers are very sensitive to technical needs. Otherwise, it is difficult to do a good job in technical management, and it is easy to change "Technical Management" to "management ". According to China's current national conditions, many people have taken technical management positions in less than eight years as technical engineers. That is to say, in his "golden period of learning" (see "taking the technical line, or the technology management line?) Before building your own understanding of software technology, you have taken on a management position. The road ahead is more "self-help" (for the reason that the readers think about it ), the last two problems are either "technology" or "management.

Method

Set an example. Technical Management includes personnel recruitment, performance formulation and assessment, and team incentives. Therefore, many methods are required. However, the most important way to lead the team is to set an example. If you are the second motivation to take a management role, you may be far more competent than other team members. In this case, we can take the lead in practice to achieve good management results. This method gives the team a clear signal: I am doing this and I hope everyone will follow it. What is different from setting an example is that when another technical manager comes on stage, he develops such and such specifications, but does not exclude himself from being "standardized, this command and privileged approach is hard to win the understanding and support of other team members. Think about how to ask other team members to write a similar technical document? If he asks you, "please give me a good example of the document." How do you do well? If you think your team is a "bear", most of the problems are with you. "Put the bear and the bear in a nest !"

Take responsibility. Responsibility is the cornerstone of team management. A team that does not share responsibility can only be an empty crowd. Do not take finishing your work on time as the only responsibility for your technical management work. Another and more important responsibility is to cultivate team skills. Only when your team's skills are gradually improved can you have better control over the team's work. The long-term lack of team skills cannot be remedied no matter what management skills you adopt. The emphasis on responsibility should also be put into practice by team members, and constantly advocate efforts should be made to fulfill the commitments to form a pragmatic team style. Remember, responsibility is more important than "face". If you do not pay attention to responsibility, you sacrifice the interests of everyone in the team. No one can escape!

Trust. Even if you have good technical skills and can plan your technical work as much as you can, you should still trust your team members even if you know they will make mistakes. Your ability also grows when you make mistakes. As long as you control the risk within your own tolerable range, making mistakes means you will grow! Your trust is rewarding, and trust is "fast!

Efficient meeting. I have found that many technical managers have long sessions, and some think of meetings as "team building", or the same problems are all over and over again ". The opening meeting is usually a manifestation of the lack of Team responsibility, a reflection of Collective incompetence, a "reasonable" and a waste of luxury.

I think that, if the methods mentioned here are missing, no matter how much management knowledge is learned, it will be difficult to manage grass-roots technologies. I firmly believe that!