Some time ago, I was interviewed by csdn. The reporter extracted some of the content in the interview and published an article entitled "Not all programmers are suitable for Technical Management. This article immediately aroused heated discussion on the Internet. One of the netizens has an interesting point. He cited song Meiling's theory about "the taste of power" and thought that "everyone is suitable for management ...... If you think that some programmers are really not suitable for management, they just haven't realized the taste of power ."
At first glance, there seems to be some truth. Managers can indeed gain some additional power, including:
1. To a certain extent, the right to freely arrange your work;
2. Do not write code on your own;
3. assign work tasks to team members;
4. assess the performance of team members and propose the power to raise salaries, bonuses, promotions or dispositions;
5. The right to develop or adopt a certain R & D process;
6. Determine the applicant's right to pass the interview;
7. The right to invite the team to dinner (the kind that the company can reimburse );
8. If the company moves or the office is re-decorated, it gives the team members the right to arrange seats;
9. The right to know the salaries of team members and send a payroll every month;
10. Approve the team members' power to take vacations and travel;
11. More opportunities to deal with other business departments;
12. Understand (or even participate) the company's high-level decision-making opportunities;
13. Due to my own level limit, other powers that have not been experienced so far ......
As a programmer, What power do you value most? What are they like? Let's try it one by one:
- The freedom at work is my personal value. It directly determines My Job Happiness. However, do I need to remind everyone of the dialectical relationship between freedom and discipline? There is no freedom not subject to discipline. This is why I want to add "to some extent. Freedom is not what you want. Freedom is a kind of conscious self-management-prioritizing from a bunch of things. Every morning I wake up and ask myself, "Where is the goal? What is the focus today ?" -- The pressure of freedom comes from itself more. Of course, I can also give my team members a certain degree of freedom as long as they can achieve or even exceed the expected output.
- Are you tired of writing code? Maybe because your program is not well written! However, it does not matter. In fact, a wise boss doesn't care about whether you write or not write code. He cares about whether the tasks handed over to you can be done on time. You must clarify your goals and be responsible for the results. As for how to achieve the goal, you can decide on your own, including whether you want to write code. I recommend that you give up writing code when the team is too large or there are too many projects. You leave the coding front line with your affection and regret, and you can come back whenever necessary.
- Is it awesome to assign tasks to the team? "Let's look at this question !" "James, you can do this function !" Is that simple? Do they really understand what to do? Do they know how to do this? Do they have the necessary resources to do that? What should you do if they don't say anything and tell you at the last moment that you can't do it? Hide your lounge chair, boss is not so good! We need to be knowledgeable and considerate. Remember, you are responsible for the team's output, the results, and the process of executing with the team.
- Is the performance of team members determined by managers? Because performance appraisal involves the adjustment of salary or position, subjective factors are inevitable in the process. It seems that managers have the power to fight for death. But in fact, programmers are the ones who really decide their individual performance. The performance appraisal process must reflect the performance of each team member on the ground. As a responsible manager, you need to write a lot of comments and conduct one-on-one conversations in this process to ensure that everyone can get the expected development. Managers must be sincere, fair, and fair. Otherwise, the relationship in the team will be complicated, and you will lose your prestige. How can you make the team cooperate with each other and maximize the efficiency? Moreover, the performance appraisal process is subject to the supervision of upper-level leaders and personnel departments, and managers cannot do what they want. XI also said: "Put power in the cage of the system !"
- Is it fun to improve existing workflows or adopt a new process or tool as a game rule maker? However, it is not enough to simply set up rules or boast of a fashionable process. Most of the implementation process will not be smooth sailing, because everyone prefers to stay in a comfortable zone, what you want to challenge is your work habits, which cannot be changed overnight. Execution is the most critical part. Managers must set an example and take the lead. Are you ready?
- Recruitment is an important part of team building. Some people say that the best benefit to an employee is to allow him to work with the best person. How can you recruit the best people? In just dozens of minutes, can you tell if the applicant is good enough? If an unqualified person is allowed to enter the team, the result may be "A mouse has crashed a pot of porridge". What should I do? Please try again! Managers must master a bit of structured interview methods, but even so, we are still betting when making a decision, there is a feeling of warehouse. On the other hand, in the eyes of candidates, the interviewer also represents the company's image. You need to show a certain level to avoid losing face to the company!
- It is trivial to treat guests, arrange seats, issue payroll and various administrative approvals. It takes up your precious time, but it does not reflect your unique value. If managers do not write code, they will not directly participate in production. Therefore, you must create value for the company in other ways. Otherwise, managers will have no value-what you can do, or someone else can do it. It is dangerous for managers to indulge blindly! You need to always reflect on: Where is your unique value?
- As a department manager, you have the opportunity to contact colleagues in other departments on many occasions and need to engage in relationships. Sometimes, to do a good job, you need to coordinate multiple departments. At this time, you have to stand up because you are at your position and are duty-bound. The higher the level of managers, the higher the chance of getting in touch with company strategies and even trade secrets-this can bring a sense of superiority, but it may also make you panic! You need to have sufficient judgment: which information can be disclosed to the Team (which may be filtered out), which can be prepared in advance, and which can be either known or not ...... How can professional managers have no professional ethics?
All in all, what I want to say is that power is always in direct proportion to responsibility-the larger your power is, the more responsibility you need to bear. Management is complicated and has no technical knowledge. I believe that not all programmers want to do management, not necessarily because they are not competent, or because they simply want to do some chores, or are unwilling to take too much responsibility. However, everyone must have a little management capability. Otherwise, your work and life will be messy. Management requires a responsible attitude, a solid and diligent spirit, and a little leadership to ensure that the team is doing the right thing and that the team is doing the right thing in the process. As managers, we should exercise our power in hand to create greater value for the company. We should be more concerned with the responsibility!
I believe that some people must regard management as a game of power. But that shouldn't be!
