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Melissa Greene – Climbing the Totem Pole – from Dev to Dev Manager

So I am just about nearing the end of listening to this presentation....

http://www.infoq.com/presentations/dev-manager

 

Melissa has a LOT of interesting things to say about management.  Though I'm not technically in management myself, I do mange student workers from time to time at my job.  But even if you aren't in a management position at your work place there is SOOOO much great stuff in this presentation.

I downloaded the MP3 to listen to while driving/when I was on a run instead of watching the presentation.

I think one of my favorite little tidbits of information that she mentioned was about how if you aren't learning, it's time to move to something new.  You should always be learning.  The day you stop learning where you are or at your job or in your position.... That's how you know it's time to take the next step.

You should always be learning new things.

I agree.  I think that just doing the same stuff over and over again can really make it so that you kind of get bored with work and then you become underproductive.  You aren't engaged.  Or the people that you manage aren't engaged.

She actually talks about how workers that aren't engaged or managed properly can be something like 50 percent less productive than workers that are managed right.  I was driving at that time when she said that, so don't quote me exactly on that.

There was another bit where she discussed the phrase "It's not personal, it's just business."  She counters that saying that work IS personal.  That people, a lot of people, take pride in their jobs and it is very personal because they are very passionate about what they do.  That people are people and they have emotions.  So we have to take into account the emotion and human aspect and not just making decisions based on stats or bottom or top lines.

I think, though, my absolute favorite bit was where she mentioned that if her team was going to be working on a project until 2am in the morning to reach a deadline...

She would be RIGHT there with them.  I agree.  I think that just makes sense.  You can't tell someone to go do something and then go home and kick your feet up.  The best leaders in my personal opinion are right there with the people they are meant to be in charge of.

I remember when I was a counselor at camp... The worst counselors would just tell the kids something, and then go read a magazine with headphones on.  Do you think any of the kids listened?  No.  Not one bit.  If you instruct kids in your cabin as a summer camp counselor to clean the cabin.... You better be right there with them, a broom or dustpan in hand.

I think she's spot on.  I think being there with anyone you are leading isn't a nicety, nor is it just an option.  It's a requirement.  And shouldn't even be something to think twice about.

I just really liked this talk a lot.

I'm going to give this talk a second listen to see if I can glean any additional information that I might have missed from the first listen.  Now, this talk mostly has to do with development, as in coding... but I think it could apply to lots of other roles in any company.

It's worth downloading the slides too.  I looked over the PDF and found a lot of very relevant things to my own workplace.

So definitely if you are into anything related to workplace management practices or just learning a little more about how to better yourself in your job check this out for sure!

I will say that this has kind of sparked my interest in what it would be like to lead/manage/motivate people.  I've often wondered about leadership type of roles, and how that would fit for me.  I'm more of the kind of person that will quietly work on a project on my own... But it would definitely be interesting to be in a leadership position and motivate people to work on projects.

Well here's, to always learning in whatever it is that you do for your job.