… or Who I’d Want to Work For.
There is a person I want to work for and an environment I want to be in. Both of these are so hard to find. If I were a software manager, this is also the person I’d strive to be for my team, as well as the healthy environment I’d try to create for them. I heartily believe that team would be extremely happy with the working conditions. There is some bias there sure ’cause hey, everybody thinks their version of a team is best.
So while I’m listing traits and characteristics here, I can’t say I’m speaking of someplace or someone specific. Yes, I think I could be this person and certainly, would make it a goal were I a manager. But I’m not there yet.
Over the years, I’ve worked for a few good managers and one exceptional-life-changing person.
There are so many “less-than-great” environments out there. And so many teams that are just settling for the status quo. Also, some managers are simply just “not into it”. Given all that, I wanted to write down the things I’ve discovered over the years about managers and places to work, in hopes that this person (you?) or this place is actually out there. Perhaps it might inspire someone who reads this to make some adjustments.
The Manager
You trust your team.
- Are you getting your stuff done? Are you having fun? You love asking those questions and getting real answers. If both those answers are not ‘yes’ then you really want to make sure the situation is fixed as soon as possible.
- It’s obvious to everyone on the team that you care about them as people, on how they are doing both personally and professionally, not just on what they have done for the company.
- Everyone knows you have the team’s best interests in mind.
- Your motto is “We succeed or fail as a team” (or you can really identify with that one).
- You’re willing to build a culture – within the company culture – that benefits your team.
- You don’t make it a habit of asking people to work late or during off-hours and if you do have to ask you make sure to recognize their extra efforts with things like bonus time off.
- Where people are going in their career is of huge interest to you. You’ll sit down with them, map out their goals and help figure out how to attain them.
- Everyone looks forward to completing projects with you because they know their successes will be celebrated.
- People feel like they want to have 1 on 1 meetings with you regularly because they feel valued and listened to during that time.
- Reviews with you are not a chore but a way to get excited for the next stretch of the career and plan it all out.
- You’ve never driven a bus so you don’t throw people under it.
- You are a staunch believer that the software development process is there to serve the team and not the other way around.
- You plan or organize team building events that are fun and you don’t turn them into a stuffy, boring, corporate event.
- You make sure people know they can go to conferences and you never charge them PTO for it. You offer to pay for conferences if they’d like that, and you never ask for a “book report” on the conference once the employee gets back.
- You want people to work where they are productive. Their productivity is more important than their presence. You know that we have technology that helps us stay in touch and you trust your employees to do that.
- Your team is never overworked. If you see them regularly working more than 40 hours a week, you ask why so you can find out if there is something that needs to be adjusted.
- You’re not a workaholic. You don’t encourage others to be that way.
- Your leadership is by example. Nothing is below your pay grade. If the team needs something researched like new hardware, you’ll do it to let them focus on coding. Do they need someone to sit and just listen? You’re there for that. Do they need to take a long lunch to decompress a bit? You’re fine with that because you know it all works out in the long run.
- Your team has needs for their tools and you make sure they have the best that can be had.
- You trust your team.
The Environment
“Tech can be taught, character is constant.”
- Your team’s main measurement of success is “A pace that lets both us and our customers say that we are happy with the solutions we deliver and how often we deliver them.”
- The team culture is a learning environment. We might have some rockstars here and we might have some newbies. Both are equally valued and nobody has a big head. We help each other grow and we give each other time and space to do so.
- We want you to be human. It’s OK to not know something. We’re more interested in your personality than an expansive skill set. “Tech can be taught, character is constant.”
- We love lunch and learns. As an individual, you can schedule them and the company picks up the food tab. Wanna bring your own lunch? That’s cool. Hate lunch and learns and would rather read/catch up on personal email/or do anything else? That’s not a problem either; no judgment here.
- Software craftsmanship is as important to us as meeting a deadline. Our timelines include the time for anything from refactoring of brownfield code to the carefully crafting of greenfield code.
- We have group activities and if you’re not into that, nobody hassles you about it. There is no awkward undercurrent of “you really should participate in the reindeer games”.
- Everyone on the team is encouraged to take the time to learn and to even work on personal projects regularly. Yes, this is on company time because we believe in growing, not just “doing our task for the day”. We plan and make time for this.
- Each time a project is completed the team celebrates that win in some way.
- We have meetings when we need to and they are short, to the point, and always end with actionable items.
- Collaboration is a tool. It’s important but it’s not the only tool in our toolbox. You can build a house with just a hammer but it won’t have very good corners. Some folks like constant collaboration and some don’t. So if you need to work alone, we get it.
- We have an unlimited vacation policy with a minimum of three weeks.
- If a person stays late, it’s because they just want to, not because they feel they need to meet a deadline. We leave on time and do our personal lives as well as we do our work.
From my perspective, these are the things that matter in a manager as well as a healthy working environment.
I don’t care if you have more degrees than a thermometer. I don’t care if you’ve memorized every SDLC and change management process that there is to know out there. I don’t want to work for a rock star corporate person. I definitely don’t care if you’re PMP certified.
But if you’re the person I outlined above and are creating that environment .. OR .. if you’re looking for that person who wants to create that team, then let’s talk!