Now, imagine other people are different from you

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Now, imagine other people are different from you

28 February 2019

management,

sofware engineering,

personal development

How the same person can be the best and worst manager

I’m currently working at the largest company I’ve ever worked for. That, along<br>with being at the $previousGig for nine years (which was the smallest I’ve every<br>worked for) meant that I have a lot of re-learning to do. A lot of growth and<br>change happens in nine years.

There is a lot of advice when you get promoted that takes the form of “Imagine<br>what you would have wanted from __________?” You can fill that blank<br>in with your manager, your peer, etc. When you get promoted to a line management<br>position this looks like: “I’m going to prioritize all the things I wish I had<br>for my direct reports.” What this approach misses is that—all your direct<br>reports do not work like you—their brains are fundamentally different.

This is something I am learning quickly. Spending nine years working with a very<br>small team of people led me to believe that most engineers were like us. By the<br>end of nine years we were finishing each others sentences. Great for spreading<br>information, knowledge, and decisions. Bad for…just about everything else.

One of the more fundamental differences in people’s brains are how they collect<br>and organize information (these types are obviously not exclusive, this is a<br>fluid spectrum). There are mechanical, and methodological types. And there are<br>organic, and freewheeling type. I am, undoubtedly the former. Key take-away:<br>There is nothing right or wrong about being one or the other. Both types are<br>smart, intelligent, and get things done. It’s merely how they go about it that<br>is different. And that makes working closely with someone of the other type<br>very difficult, because each type thinks the other type is bonkers.

When you change roles the things you wanted may not be the the things your team<br>wants, or needs. Being a manager means taking care of your team. It does not<br>mean doing what you wish was done to you. It is not some sort of strange<br>business-revenge-situation; or even a business-savior-complex: “If only everyone<br>did it my way there would be profits AND world peace”

You have to understand who you’re working with. You have to understand how they<br>tick, how they get things done. Otherwise, some of your reports will start<br>looking at you like the worst boss they’ve ever had. This is just one piece of<br>the puzzle to demonstrate to engineers that when they become a manager they’ve<br>changed careers.

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