Add the management coaching post

_posts/2017-09-19-management-coaching.md

@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "I am working with a management coach"
+tags:
+- opinion
+- management
+---
+
+Practically every professional developer can name a great, and a terrible,
+manager they have worked with in the past. Good Engineering Managers are kind
+of like the bass line in a song, you might not notice them when they're there,
+but something will definitely sound wrong if they're absent. For one reason or
+another, I have somehow ended up leading a team or acting as an Engineering
+Manager at each of the four companies I have worked for over the past decade.
+As time has progressed, I have become increasingly aware of "management" as a
+skill, rather than some intristic talent. A skill which can be practiced,
+honed, and improved upon.
+
+Most "new" Engineering Managers in startups seem to be individual developers
+who are promoted (or demoted depending on how you feel about it) into the
+position because of their technical acumen. I think this is how I have ended
+up, against better judgement, in the position of Team Lead or Engineering
+Manager in the past.
+
+Being technically skilled doesn't mean **jack shit** with regards to becoming a
+good Manager. _However_, being a good developer _does_ hold some correlation
+to management potential. In case you've missed the memo, a "good developer" is
+someone who:
+
+* Understands, and can internalize, the problems which need to be solved.
+* Is proficient with the technologies being used to solve those problems.
+* Capable of brokering consensus among a team of other developers to solve
+  aforementioned problem.
+* Able to communicate and document the problem and architecture for the
+  solution.
+* Can collaborate outside of the team with others in the organization to ensure
+  the solution(s) are in line with other projects in development.
+
+I think the list could probably be longer, but you get the point. Skilled
+development is less about writing code, and more about collaboration with
+other people.
+
+The problem with that promotion from Developer to Manager is, unfortunately,
+that being a good Manager is all of those qualities cranked up to eleven, with
+additional responsibilities like: career growth, budgets, and other boring
+nonsense thrown in. As if that wasn't bad enough, nobody talks about, or trains
+you to be a good Manager. Most of the good Managers I have worked with were
+fortunate enough to work with "good Managers" in the past.
+
+Most of the "bad" Managers I have worked with fit into one of two categories:
+
+1. Developers unwilling to take on the Management duties either because of
+   disinterest or a complete lack of understanding of the role and
+   responsibility.
+1. Incompetent, and unable to learn/improve/etc.
+
+
+Personally, I don't know if I am a good Manager or not. But I do know that I
+have been _working_ at it, and I believe that I am getting better.
+
+The fundamental shift in thinking which I experienced was to understand that:
+**Management is a skill just like building software.** If you don't work at it,
+you'll never get better at it.
+
+---
+
+One of the hardest parts about being a Manager, or a leader, in
+any hierarchical organization is that it can feel "lonely." You become the
+"One" in the "One-to-Many" relationship. This can not only be personally
+isolating, it also means you might not be learning from your peers in the
+organization.
+
+My mind sometimes goes to this famous photo of John F. Kennedy during the Cuban
+Missile Crisis:
+
+<center><img src="/images/post-images/management-coaching/loneliest-job.jpg"
+alt="The Loneliest Job in the World"/><br/><strong>"The Loneliest Job in the
+World"</strong></center>
+
+
+Spending your day between hearing, mostly justified, complaints from your
+direct reports and arguing with Product Managers who want to squeeze every last
+bit of Feature out of your developers, consequences be damned, can be extremely
+isolating and exhausting. In the past I have felt, at times, besieged by
+everybody around me.
+
+The upside of being a Developer is that I can dump problems on my Manager;
+downside of being a Manager...
+
+---
+
+It took me a while to fully understand how ill-equipped many of us are
+for the role of Engineering Manager. Fortunately over the past 7-8 months, my
+employer has been paying for me to work with a Management Coach. My Coach has been
+extremely helpful to bounce ideas off of, to discuss situations which I need to
+address, and to provide mentorship, all to help me become a better Manager.
+
+Working with a Management Coach alone hasn't been sufficient, but it's
+definitely helped frame my thinking. I have also read more books about
+organization psychology and structure over the past 8 months than at any point
+before. Additionally I have spent probably more time than at any time in my
+career proof-reading emails, mentally playing out scenarios, or having
+arguments with myself, attempting to provide both perspectives.
+
+Unintentionally I have also started _talking_ with my fellow managers more than ever
+before. Rather than only talking with my peers about projects, deliverables, or
+misbehaving reports, we're talking about Management itself.
+
+Setting aside whether I'm actually a good Manager or not, all of a sudden, I'm
+able to employ many of the same techniques that made me a good developer. A
+little bit of research, mentorship, and experimentation.
+
+---
+
+Management is difficult. Management is having uncomfortable discussions.
+Management is bridging the gap between policy and understanding. Management is
+helping people succeed. Management is growing others. Management is recognizing
+each instrument must collaborate for the orchestra to work.
+
+For me, the catalyst for my mindset shift was internalizing that: **Management
+is a skill**.
+
+
+Find a mentor, find literature, find peers to bounce ideas off of.
+
+Nobody deserves a bad Manager.