Ask HN: Who was the best person you've ever worked with? What made them great?

Sometime ago I worked for a start-up and the manager of the team was the one I remember the most. Instead of dictating, countering bossing etc, this person use to listen with patience and then ask questions slowly nudging team members in the right direction. This is a very rare trait to find in a person. In my professional experience people with this trait are actually very intelligent.

I worked in a fairly large engineering org in the mid 2010s. There was a DevOps team comprised of former engineers who had an extensive knowledge of both the product stack and the test and infra stack, the latter of which they had built from the ground up. They were all amazing but there was one fellow in particular who somehow managed to have time to put out fires and identify initiatives which would 10x every engineer in the org and get the ball rolling on them. He was never too busy to get back to you on the same day if you sent him a question with enough context. He was also very well networked with the rest of the 2000 person engineering org and knew the key nodes within the org for any conceivable technology. I attribute all this to his non-dogmatic diligence and relentless curiousity.

I had a manager who was exceptional during the time she was allowed to lead. Later she got a new manager who micromanaged her so she lost effectiveness.

She was curious and had excellent listening skills. She saw the best in everyone but was quick to address issues in a kind and humane way. She saw her job as purely removing roadblocks. She trusted us to be experts in our domain. She was adept at navigating stakeholders and getting us what we needed.

It was ages ago at a call center in CT. His name was Sergio and he was my boss...but he was awesome. I know that word is overused...but I hope he went on to be a massive success somewhere. He definitely deserved it; he treated people like they were actually people. It matters and it's a rare trait for middle management.

I worked with a guy Chris, now friend, for many years. His mind and thinking skills were exceptional. It took me some time to realise that when I thought he wasn't making sense the problem was more likely my thinking, than his. He seemed able to solve any programming or infrastructure problem. He made me realise some people's brains are just wired differently. And yes, sometimes people like this need challenged. Big brains can mean constant change. Sometimes the change is what brings the cutting edge. Sometimes I think it can be the result of boredom. I am very grateful to have worked with Chris, I have not met anyone else like him.