Managing Multiple Teams

Managing Multiple Teams

Managing multiple teams often means no longer writing much, if any, production code, shifting focus from "maker" to "manager." This chapter outlines effective management techniques for this scenario, including time management, delegation, and maintaining technical engagement without coding responsibilities.

Time Management and Importance

  • Effective time management differentiates between urgent and important tasks.
  • Learning to prioritize strategic and important tasks over urgent but unimportant ones can save managers time and increase efficiency.

Delegation and Decision Making

  • Delegation is crucial, particularly for frequent and complex tasks.
  • Managers should delegate simple, frequent tasks and handle simple, infrequent tasks themselves.
  • Complex, infrequent tasks should be used as training opportunities for rising leaders, and complex, frequent tasks should be delegated to develop team members.

Strategies for Saying "No"

  • Managers need to master the art of tactful refusals by adopting strategies like "Yes, and," where compromises and alternatives are offered.
  • Forming policies, leveraging budget constraints, and timing refusals can aid in making strategic decisions that align with team goals.

Technical Engagement beyond Code

  • Managers need to focus on the technical systems of work and workflows, seeking ways to improve these facets for better productivity and team health.
  • Key indicators of team health include frequency of code releases and check-ins, and the stability of the systems.

Building Resilient Teams

  • Focus on creating a purpose-driven team aligned with the company's broader goals to ensure resilience and adaptability to changes.
  • Managers should avoid building teams that become too isolated or resistant to external ideas.

Utilizing Managerial Virtues

  • Effective management leans on virtues such as laziness and impatience, focusing these traits on making processes more efficient.
  • Encouraging work-life balance by setting an example and questioning the necessity and efficiency of tasks and processes can lead to healthier, more productive teams.

Conclusion and Self-Reflection

  • Managers need to regularly assess their own practices, including time management, delegation, email habits, and decision-making processes.
  • Tips for reflection include reviewing task delegation results and analyzing code release processes to identify and address inefficiencies.