Looking for more? My book THE MAKING OF A MANAGER comes out March 19th, 2019. It’s a field guide on everything you need to know to be the manager you wish you had. Get it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble…

Andres Martinez

DevRel

Community Picks is a section on daily.dev where our community members share the most interesting and valuable content they've discovered online. From insightful articles to handy tools, every post is a gem curated by our dedicated coomunity. To contribute to Community Picks, you need to have at least 250 reputation points, ensuring that only active and trusted members can share their finds.

Community Picks

This post discusses the differences between an average manager and a great manager in 10 sketches. It covers topics such as assigning tasks, delivering news, conducting 1:1s, giving feedback, and dealing with turbulence. The post also promotes the author's book on effective management.

Average Manager vs. Great Manager

I agree with the last point but not with the others. This isn’t a kindergarten. We should respect each other and accept a ‘no’ as readily as a ‘yes’. As long as the job gets done and neither the staff nor the manager is lounging around, everything is fine for me. What has changed that a manager can’t simply ask a question like, “Can you finish tasks 1, 2, and 3 by the end of the week?” If you feel insecure as an employee, then you should work on that. A good manager understands a ‘no’. They may ask if you are overloaded and discuss how to solve the problem, but it is a manager’s right to ask whether something will be finished by a certain deadline. The world is becoming more and more bizarre. People are no longer learning to say ‘no’. Instead, as a manager, you’re suddenly expected to coddle your staff.
When given an instruction, you shouldn’t follow it blindly. If you receive little context, simply ask questions. Just my two cents.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find good managers. Actually, today you need one who leads the charge and another who rubs people’s bellies with Nivea Soft.