What makes a good or bad manager?

Рет қаралды 3,112

Күн бұрын

After thirty years managing software engineers and being managed in big tech, I have a pretty good idea what makes a manager good or bad to work for, and what in particular to watch out for.
Here's 11 attributes to look for in your manager, based on my time as an engineering manager, principal engineer, and manager of managers at Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and many other companies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 Introduction
01:14 Good attributes, yellow flags, red flags
01:43 The six good attributes
01:59 - Organized
03:09 - Positive
04:10 - Compartmentalized
05:16 - Cheerleader
06:29 - Engaged
07:08 - Adaptive
08:08 Yellow flags
08:20 - Self-involved
09:27 - Unresponsive
09:51 - Indecisive
10:34 Red Flags
10:51 - Inconsistent Communications
12:24 - Shifts Blame
13:21 Summary

Пікірлер: 17

@MsEvgeniyK 5 ай бұрын

Hey John, thanks for sharing! that would be really cool, at least from my perspective, if you can add 5th gem in your collection "What does great managers do that other managers don't". Cheers!

@TheDeliberateEngineer 4 ай бұрын

That's a great idea!

@yuxingchen2237 Жыл бұрын

Great content!

@TheDeliberateEngineer Жыл бұрын

thank you!

@alexjohn9127 2 жыл бұрын

Somehow I feel the content you create is truely unique on youtube. Or may be I do not know about other such content. I think sharing your experience for the welfare of others is a truely noble deed. You are much much (100x) better than @TechLead (who has millions of followers and just brags about shitty things). Thank you so much for the content.

@TheDeliberateEngineer 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the kind words! Tech Lead has some good stuff to say, at least in the earlier videos that I watched. I'm glad my content is useful for you!

@TheDeliberateEngineer 2 жыл бұрын

Noah - I'm not above making a buck, but it will hopefully not affect the advice I give. If you see me doing bad things, let me know in case I'm not doing it on purpose! :)

@MarcelBornancin 2 жыл бұрын

No need to bash on the tech lead. I've watched several videos on both channels and can say both are unique. When I watch the tech lead I'm expecting to have some good laughs, you are never sure when he'll deliver a thoughtful advice or a shitty one. It's actually even more funny when you realize there are people that actually buy into his rude, sarcastic persona. The deliberate engineer is your uncle sharing his multitude of experience to boost your career. The tech lead is your older brother that keeps mocking you but also wants you to succeed.

@YashSharma-xu1bj 2 жыл бұрын

How can you identify a good or bad manager prior to signing an offer/joining the team? I understand that to truly make an assessment, significant work experience is necessary, but at the same time, is there anything an applicant can look out for to avoid making a choice they will eventually regret?

@TheDeliberateEngineer 2 жыл бұрын

I wish I had good advice to give on checking out a manager BEFORE you work for them. The manager I checked out most before working for them - including talking to their peers, friends who'd worked for them in the past, etc. - wound up being one of my worst experiences. You just don't know until you get some first-hand experience, unfortunately :( One thing that can be a strong negative indicator (and is relatively rare) is a high attrition rate, lots of people who work for that manager leaving their group or the company in the last year or two.

@gauravsh34 2 жыл бұрын

Can you also make a video about transition to manager from IC, when it could be right time to make transition.

@TheDeliberateEngineer 2 жыл бұрын

Funny you should ask! Next week's video is "Should you be a manager" which tackles that very topic! Look for it right around 8am on Friday the 29th.

@gauravsh34 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you looking forward to it. I have gained 9 yoe in industry and currently working as senior sde in top tech company and looking to transition to management. Your upcoming video would help me in that.

@jaaguitar 7 ай бұрын

In a medium to large company, managers most important role is fighting against awful corporate policy being introduced. The man-management is more an admin role. Managers end up with no power to do any of the good stuff mentioned.

@foxns7 7 ай бұрын

That awful corporate policy is introduced to compliment certain political and customary practices. The game plan that has been in place to run things within the organisation. Sadly this type of company is not for innovative and constructive ideas. You have to do things complying with the cultural methods or you'll end up in a mess down the road. I've seen many good people leave as soon as they realise how futile their effort is to drive changes for betterment. If you care about doing things right, you should avoid this kind of company. Channel your energy to something that helps you grow.

@jerdobi 2 жыл бұрын

I've seen managers treat everyone the same from a junior engineer to a senior engineer and from a senior engineers perspective it looks like micro managing and it a clear negative. I've also seen where a manager loves achieving more positively one day and another day you get critical feedback for not executing tasks in priority order. Lastly, how do you get promoted when you never get negative feedback, there's always some other hurdle to overcome that starts with impact and then then there's yet another excuse.

@TheDeliberateEngineer 2 жыл бұрын

All great observations, thank you for posting them!