How I Got Here - I'm Still A Manager!

When last we met, I'd started gaining my footing as an interim manager, weighing the balance of my career.  A few months into my interim role, my boss pressed me for a decision to take over the role on a full-time basis.  I thought it best to address the issue directly:

"What do you think?" I asked him.

"Well, I know your strengths, and I know your weaknesses, and I'm comfortable with your weaknesses."

And with that rousing endorsement, I embarked on my management career! 

For the most part things improved significantly from that point forward.  By the time we had that conversation, I'd figured out the basic logistics around day-to-day management duties.  I no longer tried to track every e-mail crossing my path.  In fact, I gave up the Inbox Zero mentality altogether.  When I left my last job, I believe I had something north of 40,000 emails left unread in my inbox.  Think of how much more efficient (and likely dead from a stress-induced illness) I'd be if I'd monitored all of those emails.

I also had the benefit of starting out with a very talented team.  They were all very junior - I believe that at the time I took over the team only 1 out of 6 of them was an Engineer 2 or a newly minted Sr. Engineer, everyone else was an Engineer 1 (the most junior position at Orbitz) - but their talent, intelligence, and dedication more than made up for their lack of experience and quickly established a solid reputation for the team throughout the company.

It also helped that they knew me personally as a former peer.  The significant gap in experience between us also helped ease the transition.  Though it's not a given, conflict can arise when you begin to manage peers at the same level you're at.  In my case, the change in responsibilities just seemed to be more of a natural progression than a budding power struggle.

Because we'd already established this level of trust, it was relatively easy (once I got over the delegation conundrum) to simply point them at a particular objective and let them go.  I'd already seen that they had the ability to deliver, so I didn't need to worry too much about tinkering with some dubious leadership ingredient that spurred them to be productive.

I've since adhered to a very similar management philosophy regardless of the team composition or its size as I've grown more comfortable in my role - give people some direction and trust that they'll be able to get it done.  It doesn't mean abandon them.  You'll still need to pay attention to ensure that you understand what they're doing, that they're on-track, and that they're happy.  But, you don't need to worry about micromanaging them because the details will either work themselves out, or you should only be a simple conversation or two from getting things moving in the right direction.

There's been some recent buzz around the phrase "Founder's Mode," as yet another rehash that some lone genius can put together a phenomenal company by micromanaging his vision, but I find that to be some Tech Bro's continued plaintive cry for relevance - "I alone can fix this.  Dammit, I'm important!"

If I had a singular vision that needed to be adhered to, I don't find it a far stretch that some basic conversations with a talented staff would still keep that singular vision in focus.  But, by giving your team some breathing room (also known in buzz speak as "psychological safety"), they're likely to add suggestions that will either improve the vision or alter it to better align with something realistic.  Maybe building that anti-gravity transmogrifier isn't the best use of anyone's time regardless of how hellbent you are on making sure you're first to market.

I think some of this insecurity stems from the fact that being a manager/leader/founder/visionary is a very fuzzy concept.  It's extremely easy to spot when someone fails at all of these roles, but it's difficult - even for the individual in the role - to determine when they're doing a good job.  As humans, we typically feel like we're only contributing if we're actually doing something.  And, doing something in management is typically a poor decision.  

A good manager should set an objective, listen and respond to reasonable feedback, and remove obstacles to achieve that objective or the modified objective per reasonable feedback.  The rest, by necessity of the scope of work and division of labor, must be left to the team to implement.

As much as I disagree with Elon Musk on virtually everything, I can give him credit for championing the mainstreaming of electric vehicles, developing reusable rockets, turning Twitter into an unmitigated shithole, and providing avenues to achieve all of those goals.

However, what's missing from all of these conversations about his so-called genius is the nod to all of the workers needed to implement his vision, and, I'm fairly certain to take a very vague concept and turn it into a working product.  And, contrary to popular cult belief, telling him or any other pseudo-demi-god like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, or Steve Jobs 'no,' should improve the actual product (again, assuming the pushback is reasonable), not stultify the founder's vision.

The fact that most of the people who've worked to implement those individuals' plans are anonymous is an unsaid benefit of being in management, and, ironically - counter to the founder's mode claim - a reason to invest in a strong team and let them be.

To wit, as a manager, you will always receive the credit for the work your team does, regardless of the actual effort you put in.  So, if you hire a strong team, put in the time to ensure they're happy, and let them run independently, you'll also reap the accolades.  

It may feel like cheating, but, if you're doing things right, you are, in fact, contributing to the effort by ensuring your employees are engaged.  It seems like a small thing, but it's very difficult for most people to execute well (and why leaders need to regress to a "look at me! look at me! look at me!" attitude when stealing credit).

So, if you follow this path, how do you derive satisfaction?

For me, it was putting the team together in the first place and just letting them work.  I can recall several times when I'd be within earshot of members of my team taking initiative on a complex problem and solving it without needing guidance from me.  That's the way a team is intended to function - you prepare them and enable them, and then, barring any disasters or explicit requests for assistance, you let them be.  As I said above, you'll still reap the accolades as the leader of the team when they succeed, so there's really no need to interfere.

You also get the benefit of watching your team mature.  One day, you're meeting your first college hire after her HR orientation, sweating about being the overbearing manager that can make her first career experience miserable, and whisking her off to an awkward team lunch where everyone's trying to be prematurely friendly.  A few years later, you see that she's now an experienced engineer at a FAANG company, and you can take pride that you gave her the first opportunity to establish her career.

And, while some of the anxiety of coaching college hires goes away - by the third one you're comfortable if they're not playing with a chainsaw near an open flame - the sense of pride that you assisted someone at the start of their career rather than hindered them never diminishes.  Plus, you've established a network for mentorship that allows your more senior members to grow as well while contributing to the strong bonds of an individual team culture.

If you're worried that you'll get bored with this approach, don't worry, there are plenty of other things to concern yourself with.  You still need to manage up to the levels above you and ensure that your team's productivity and mental health isn't being imperiled by requests that you're unaware of.  For better or worse, a manager's life is never dull (except for the 8 hours of meetings you're expected to sit through a day), so there's no need to inject unnecessary drama into your work.

Until next time, my human and robot friends.