> “I’ve been doing this for more than twenty years! I’m sure I’m doing it right!”
Not just for project managers but I have noticed in others and myself when I take this attitude I, and they, are usually wrong. It is best to listen, reflect, consider and reflect some more. Arrogance gets in the way of good and great teams all the time.
Ego also gets in the way. I'm working with several people right now that just leave their ego at the door and bring their smarts into the room. We are ending up with better solutions faster than we would otherwise.
Absolutely, those sins are not just for project managers but for everybody in general. Arrogance is never the solution, we should always listen and think how to improve, as there is always a way to improve.
I think the real point here is that setting expectations properly with both your company/sponsor and development team early, behave consistently, and reinforce if needed with gentle reminders.
I have seen many project managers start to crumble under pressure (as we all do) and decide to say yes to stop management or the client being upset; unfortunately this is a self defeating stance not only for the additional time/cost involved that has the schedules slip, but often because decisions made under emotional duress are simply not good. To make the deadline the features/benefits are generally compromised instead of useful and nobody ends up happy.
This is a great list, however I'm a little puzzled at:
> Also, another sign of being in the presence of one of the lazy PMs is to constantly receive mails from them, and rarely a call or a face-to-face conversation, because the lazy PMs don’t want to move too much and go to the team to discuss about the project status or discuss about how they can help the team.
I thought the standard complaint from engineering is always "Don't interrupt me in Code Mode for a face to face conversation or phone call! It'll take me 30 minutes just to get back into The Zone!"
The way I like to operate is: If I need an answer on something within time period N, I'll send an E-mail first. Then I'll wait Nx0.5 and then drop by your office. If you're not there or look busy [1], I'll wait another Nx0.25 and then try again. I'll only resort to interruption or a phone call if it's super-urgent or we get too close to N for comfort.
1: Busy = headphones on, developer IDE is open. Busy != Facebooking or talking about yesterday's Game Of Thrones episode
EDIT: Apparently the asterisk mark causes italics on HN
of course we don't want to interrupt all the time the developers, but we should try to encourage conversation within the team, usually mails can be misunderstood or misinterpreted. If it is possible, we should try to talk more :)
BTW, your post didn't get the attention I'd hoped, but THANK YOU for "fighting the good fight".
IMO this stuff is more important than any technical choice you could possibly make. And I happen to think some technical choices are pretty vitally important. But even so...
thank you very much for your comment, I really appreciate it. Yes, most of the time the not-technical post got submerged. But I'm quite happy with the feedback I got with my first blog post.
epalmer|9 years ago
Not just for project managers but I have noticed in others and myself when I take this attitude I, and they, are usually wrong. It is best to listen, reflect, consider and reflect some more. Arrogance gets in the way of good and great teams all the time.
Ego also gets in the way. I'm working with several people right now that just leave their ego at the door and bring their smarts into the room. We are ending up with better solutions faster than we would otherwise.
edit: note about ego
Mind_of_AC|9 years ago
hobs|9 years ago
I have seen many project managers start to crumble under pressure (as we all do) and decide to say yes to stop management or the client being upset; unfortunately this is a self defeating stance not only for the additional time/cost involved that has the schedules slip, but often because decisions made under emotional duress are simply not good. To make the deadline the features/benefits are generally compromised instead of useful and nobody ends up happy.
ryandrake|9 years ago
> Also, another sign of being in the presence of one of the lazy PMs is to constantly receive mails from them, and rarely a call or a face-to-face conversation, because the lazy PMs don’t want to move too much and go to the team to discuss about the project status or discuss about how they can help the team.
I thought the standard complaint from engineering is always "Don't interrupt me in Code Mode for a face to face conversation or phone call! It'll take me 30 minutes just to get back into The Zone!"
The way I like to operate is: If I need an answer on something within time period N, I'll send an E-mail first. Then I'll wait Nx0.5 and then drop by your office. If you're not there or look busy [1], I'll wait another Nx0.25 and then try again. I'll only resort to interruption or a phone call if it's super-urgent or we get too close to N for comfort.
1: Busy = headphones on, developer IDE is open. Busy != Facebooking or talking about yesterday's Game Of Thrones episode
EDIT: Apparently the asterisk mark causes italics on HN
Mind_of_AC|9 years ago
Mind_of_AC|9 years ago
ssmoot|9 years ago
IMO this stuff is more important than any technical choice you could possibly make. And I happen to think some technical choices are pretty vitally important. But even so...
Mind_of_AC|9 years ago