A couple of days ago a coworker shared a link to a blog post about how not to manage geeks with me. Then recently I saw it turn up on Digg. I took a few moments to respond to him with what I thought in regards to the points, and thought that I might share those here as well. I’m not going to quote EVERYTHING from the original post, so I recommend you go over and read it to see the explanation that was placed with each of these points before reading my responses below.
1: Downplay training
Eh … I don’t mind teaching myself stuff. I actually learn better this way. I’m willing to admit that I might very well be an exception on this though.
2: Give no recognition
Definitely important. I personally don’t need public recognition as much as just an occasional, “Hey, that was pretty sweet how you did x”
3: Plan too much overtime
Obviously this is bad. Bad as in planning overtime is bad, not as in the point is bad.
4: Use management-speak
I personally just don’t have time for people that feel they need to use the full extent of their vocabulary in every-day speak. I’ve previously worked places where folks were like this a lot, and it was annoying a lot. It’s not that I can’t follow the conversation, but … get to the frickin point.
5: Try to be smarter than the geeks
AMEN! Probably one of my favorite points on the list. Some of the best management advice I ever heard was, “Surround yourself with people that are smarter then you. Then listen to them.”
6: Act inconsistent
Well … I don’t disagree with it, but this isn’t particular to managing geeks. Managers of all types do this. Yes its bad, but the day I find an employer that doesn’t do it … I’ll kiss their feet. I don’t think I’ll be kissing feet anytime in my life, heh.
7: Ignore the geeks
Yeah, this happens. I don’t really get affected by it to be honest. I will admit that it is a large factor in me viewing jobs as just a paycheck and nothing more though.
8: Make decisions without consulting them
Yup. I agree. This nearly goes hand-in-hand with point #5 if you ask me.
9: DonǃÙt give them tools
It’s nice so long as the company can afford it.
10: Forget that geeks are creative workers
This is probably my favorite on the list. I look at programming as engineering. My Dad was/is an Industrial Engineer. When you need to build something that’s never been done before, who do you call? Someone like him. It’s the same thing with us in web programming. Sure, we may not be re-inventing the wheel every day, but our application of the tools we have is rarely the same any two times, and sometimes we’re completely figuring it out on our own. It is a creative process. People forget this FAR too often.
One Comment
Great post, Matt!
So I’m wondering, from your perspective, this: what is the proper role of management? Do they have potential to add any value to the actual production? In what situations? And how much of the value that they add is a result of dealing with the bloated bureaucracies within and without organizations?
Seems to me like most management positions are filled to solve the problems that other management positions create. It’s all getting towards the problems of knowledge in hierarchical orginizations, where managers are most removed from the real work but retain the lion’s share of the decision making power. Half of what I see good management doing is simply keeping day to day business concerns off the backs of the creative guys (most of those “concerns” are really nuisances caused by OTHER bureaucracies outside or inside the organization, like your HR department, OSHA, another biz making a deal with your company, etc.). Management begets more management, because you’ll never be able to get enough control and information when you separate decision making from the actual work.
Perhaps in our society management is inescapable. There’s simply too much hierarchical structure (we’ll set aside the possible reasons for this polarization of labor and capital). But at least we could get rid of the unnecessary hierarchy, and put workers on more equal footing with management. Too much decision making is done from a position of least experience and information, and that’s not good for anybody.
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[...] Matt posted a great response to an article on managing geeks that I sent him before it hit Digg a few days ago. [...]