Not all of my experiences with management were bad, although they certainly outweighed the good. Here are some other learnings:
Building a group
I believe that there are two good ways to build a group: (1) take the available group members and design the group function and activities around their strengths, or (2) define the group strategy and then find the right people to fill the positions. A mismatch between the group strategy and people will become a problem; basically it solves itself over time as group members leave and new ones come in, but in the meantime the group will struggle.
Smart people vs. specialists
In the software and computer business, one sees a lot of job descriptions requiring very specific skills, usually described by an alphabet soup of acronyms. Presumably specialist talent is bought and then discarded when no longer needed.
Another approach, one from which I've profited several times, is to hire for general background and problem-solving skills, under the assumption that such folks can learn and contribute quickly, maybe even finding novel solutions the problems at hand. That was my entry into machine vision (for which I'll always be grateful to Automatix Inc. - thanks, Arnold Reinhold), and later into circuit board assembly process development at late lamented Digital Equipment Corp .
For those considering a job switch, this works best in emerging technologies, where there isn't a whole generation of school- and experience-trained specialists.
The tough project manager
The best project manager for whom I ever worked (on a several-month contract at MPM) could always make one feel just slightly uncomfortable. It made one take that extra step, make that one more phone call, perform that one more test of the program, so as to not need to make excuses. In turn, he gave respect to those who worked well and hard; although our social views were diametrically opposed, we had the greatest professional respect for each other. Thank you, Keith Hanson.
I'll contrast that with an engineering manager who ran meetings for entertainment value; you knew you weren't going to be asked tough questions. That offered the temptation not to make that extra phone call or not to do that extra program check.
Yet another contrast is with management that puts absurd demands on people - deadlines and budgets that can't be met. People will conclude that there's no way this can be made to happen and, instead of working harder, actually ease off. In the meantime, management loses its credibility.
In short, I believe asking for an extra 10% of effort is effective, demanding 100% more effort is counter-productive. Of course, it also helps if one sees management making the extra effort alongside the workers.
Group politics
Another phenomenon of larger companies, where groups compete for turf and resources. It often leads to the ubiquitous mission and vision statements, with endless wordsmithing, as groups seek to establish their domains. Another quest is to be seen as the corporate expert in some technology.
As one might expect, I saw a good deal of this at Digital. There were long meetings and off-sites spent on mission and vision statements, which were often completely rewritten a year or two later at equally long meetings, as management changed.
There could also be group politics in anointing a group member as company expert. In one case, when I looked for an expert in a particular technology to join a project team, I noticed that when Frank, the declared expert within our group, had a question he went to Fred, who was not in our group. At the cost of some grief from the group, I chose Fred as my technology expert.
Some of my happiest moments in Digital were as a member of a committee that solicited proposals for manufacturing R&D, on a company-wide basis, and then funded the best ones. Here was a chance to benefit the entire company rather than some competing group.
Of course, group politics were not entirely absent. The group of which I was a member submitted proposals to the committee; one time the manager told his group to have their proposals checked out by his favorite technologist before submission. I had to point out that that was the function of the committee members; to his credit, he listened and retracted the request.
A good manager listens
Although I've seen a lot of poor managers, there have been some good ones too. When I objected to losing a deserved supervisory position after a group merger, my new manager not only accepted my request to present my case to his manager, but he then also brought about changes so that I could resume my old position. Not only did he listen, he had the self-confidence not to worry about looking like he had made a mistake. I gained a lot of respect for Jerry.
It was also a pleasure to work for Ralph, a young manager on the way up, one who was dynamic, capable, sincere, and who also had the ability to listen. It's a measure of the decline of Digital => Compaq that, after serving well in roles of increasing responsibility, he left the company.
The best manager
The best manager of all was, alas, not one that I worked for - he was my wife's, in Information Systems at MIT. He not only appreciated and supported her key role in maintaining the operational functioning of his group, but saw it as complementary to his own longer-range efforts. It meant having trust in her work, delegating and giving responsibility, as well as listening to and respecting her ideas. It helped to make me realize that excellent management is indeed possible.
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