Hacker News Reader

Comment by troels | Hacker News Reader

If they are easy to put into practise, how come they often aren't?

Because you don't just need to do it, someone on the other end needs to receive it. If every "ask" is met with annoyance, every debrief with "uh ok, still ready for september deadline?" and every warn with "but you promised! does this mean we will have to move the september deadline again?" then it's not hard to imagine people stop doing it.

His list implies a promise that he will not respond like this.

I think that is the intent too, but he really should spell out what his response will be to each of those things: "Ask", "Debrief", "Warn". The onus is on the manager to handle each mishap in a way helps the project and supports those doing the work.

In quite a lot of work environments, being a bearer of "bad news" will often lead to getting your head chewed off. A certain level of trust is absolutely required for workers to be truly frank with their project manager.

Thanks for this comment, you catch my drift very well!

Of course writing this on the net, I'm quite obliged to hold up the other part of the bargain. This is definitely part of the intent.

Thanks.

Kristof

This was my thinking, too. We had a Lt in the air force that was fond of saying "if you have any concerns, come to me. my door is always open." The problem was that if you did that, your concerns were either blown off or interpreted as personal criticism.

The points made in the OP are good, but saying that is easy. It's when the deadlines start blowing by that the real test comes as to whether he can actually live up to it and not start backsliding.

Maybe they aren't put into practice because many leaders don't introduce the ideas to their team and set the expectation. You don't have to have a team of automatons to make good communication part of your culture. Set the ground rules and hold people accountable for the behavior. If you can't do this maybe management isn't where you need to be.

Not all leaders can commit to these rules themselves, that's why.

If they're not leading by example (as the writer says) then it's possible that "doing the right thing" and being communicative will eventually get you reprimanded, not rewarded.

Which is why it is important as someone who reports to others (most working folks do), it's important to make sure you know your management and choose (if possible) good management who you can trust and support your work-style.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com