What does a manager do?

Unlike a programmer who can look back at the code written at the end of the day, point at it, and say “I did that!”, it is often hard to find this satisfaction as a manager. Regardless of having a flawless organization style, various forces act against your personal feeling of happy productivity. Andy Grove, who was one of the founders and long-term CEO of Intel, had an easy answer for tackling this problem - it was to classify the managerial activities that you partake in daily into four key areas:

• Information gathering
• Decision-making
• Nudging
• Being a role model

Information Gathering

The information that you hold is critical to your success as a manager and having a system to capture, record, and action tasks is critical for the success of a manager. Information gathering, however isn’t a formal process. It can happen anywhere at any time. For example, you could be having a conversation by the water cooler with your colleague when she mentions that her team is building a new API as part her product. You realize that this could be helpful for your own team, so you note it down. Weeks later, your product manager asks whether your team could build this feature yourselves. You already know that an API exists, so you make the connection between the teams, and you save your own team a lot of work. Keep adding information to your knowledge base. Seek it out, ask questions, and be inquisitive. The desire to gather information will also motivate you to talk to others, make connections with your peers, and be a better manager.

Decision-Making

You can make decisions of all sizes. These range from small, such as granting a holiday request, to large, such as deciding whether to migrate your application infrastructure into the cloud or keep it within your own data center. The ability to decide is a privilege that not everybody has. It’s easy to forget that there are many people who don’t have the power to decide particular outcomes, so always give decisions your full attention and take responsibility for the ramifications of making them. Every decision is an inflection point: should we hire Bob or Alice? Should we split the team into two sub-teams? Should we refuse to begin estimating the work required for this project when the proposal for the product is so unclear? Decisions such as these may seem like they’re small in that moment, but extrapolated over time and bringing in the cost of the different outcomes, they are big decisions, so treat them with respect.

Nudging

The concept of nudging is influencing a decision by contributing your own viewpoint to the discussion. For example, you may be involved in a discussion about whether to build or buy some particular software, and you make it clear how you feel about the situation. You are not the decision-maker, but you can influence the decision. Like decision-making, nudging can occur for decisions of all sizes. You may put your viewpoint across about whether to book a meeting immediately or tomorrow, or equally state your case in a discussion as to whether to bring in an external consulting agency or not.

Being a Role Model

Being a good manager is about walking the walk as well as talking the talk. The best way to demonstrate to your staff and your peers is to lead by example. Be present and visible, get involved in day-to-day discussions, and contribute technically if you have the time and inclination. Demonstrating the standards that you wish to see others perform to is the best way to create change, so lead from the front! If you want to increase the flexibility your team has in their core office hours but you insist on reachability from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day, then you’re not being a role model!