Comment by konschubert | Hacker News Reader

Comment by konschubert | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

You're just getting started. Most of what you are feeling is temporary (like all feelings). You will grow with your challenges.

> its soul-sucking and stressful.

Remember that you are still creating software - you are just doing it through others.

> I've started setting aside a (very) small portion of time for coding, just because I miss it so much.

That's a very good strategy. Aside from keeping you happy, it will help you to understand what the team is doing. It will keep you grounded and help you gain respect.

> Ever wake up and realize you are going to spend the first two hours of the day rescheduling meetings... again?

It sounds like you are already a pretty good people manager.

The next thing you need to learn is to manage your time. Your goal should be to do as little as possible. Your todo list should be empty by 5pm.

1. Learn to delegate. Only do the things that nobody else can do well enough.

2. Learn to say no. If you say "yes" to a task, remember that this implies saying "no" to another task that you could have done in this time.

3. If you cannot do something now, snooze it so it disappears from your todo list/email inbox until you can do it and does not distract you in the meantime.

> Remember that you are still creating software - you are just doing it through others.

It is probably just as enjoyable as reading a book through others, or watching a movie through others.

Fair point. Though people’s motivations differ and for some, the above might be a motivating thought.

Perhaps, but i love to share a favorite book, movie or album with others and it feels similar.

When you kindle the start of the same feeling in someone else that you got from learning or experiencing something new is the best

That still implies you read the book at some point to share it. Successful management career paths you end up not even knowing if you're sharing the book or movie version of a story you only had the blurb for.

Coming from a position where I have done both, I'm confident in telling you this is not true. Before I actually tried it, I was convinced this was the case though. It's a tempting thought that seems correct on the face of it.

>Remember that you are still creating software - you are just doing it through others.

Managers should not be creating software. Directly or indirectly (unless you're a product manager or in a position where you have to take PM responsibilities). I've had too many managers try to insert themselves in design decisions, micromanaging and what not. Managers should be managing people. Making people happier and more productive and communicating what your people can and cannot do with the higher ups. Even deadlines and milestones, etc should be PM responsibilities, not dev managers.

In a software company you can make the argument that everyone contributes to the process of making software. I would say that managing resources towards the development of a product IS indirectly creating software.

Better than delegating is setting up systems where the team can be self organising. If you can sell higher up on not being too deadline focused, this can work well, the team can learn how to prioritise and figure out a crisis. A good sign is if you can go on a 4 week vacation with very little to “hand over”.

Management as it exists today is bullshit. Complete waste of time. Scheduling meetings to discuss the business process is a waste of time.

A good manager does not need processes, they just need to make sure that stuff gets done to a high standard. That just means delegating tasks to people you can trust to complete the tasks. If you can't trust your people and need expensive project management software to get the necessary visibility to manage the shit out of them, then you already failed at your job.

While it's tempting to ignore the realities of working with large groups of people in favour of a simplified model that is easy to problem-solve against, it's not particularly useful as a way to figure out what to do in real life.

I said systems on purpose, not processes. Systems can exist in the heads and habits of the team, without a JIRA workflow or such like.

I didn't disagree with your statement. I was adding to it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com