5 most common mistakes made by managers
- Transfer
Many software development projects fail solely due to poor management. The following list, in my opinion, contains the 5 most common and dangerous mistakes made by managers in the field of software development.
1. The belief that productivity is mainly determined by the number of people and hours of work time
Performance is a modern analogue of the philosopher's stone. Each project manager tries to find it using a very simple alchemy: the more developers and the more working hours, the better.
Unfortunately, this approach is delusional, it is absolutely not learned. There are many studies that prove that productivity can even be negative when using this simple principle.
The most serious source that I can cite as a reference is Mythical Man-Month. Perhaps the most important book on software development over the past 20 years (which, unfortunately, is often read by developers, not project managers). As for articles on the Internet, I would recommend"The laws of productivity - 8 experiments that you should not repeat . " I highly recommend that you send it to every project manager who, in your opinion, could find this article useful.
Obviously, the question is: what improves performance? Well, so far I can’t answer absolutely accurately (and if I could, I would already be damn rich!). In my opinion, productivity is highly dependent on two factors: employee motivation and leadership capabilities of the leader. That is, the desire to move forward and the presence of a person who is able to show a better path.
Project managers must be sure that clients understand what and when will be ready.
One of the most frequent situations: it becomes clear that the deadlines will not be met, and you need to talk with the client. What happens most often? The client learns about this when the deadlines are already broken, because the manager thought that these deviations could be compensated, or simply afraid to upset the client. The client finds out about the problem when there are no longer any solutions to it. What could be a trifling or not so important problem at an early stage and that could be resolved by changing the goals or terms of the project becomes a serious problem, often jeopardizing the fate of the entire project.
The Project Manager should think wider than developers, but this does not mean that he should not listen to them.
In software development, programmers are usually the only source of productivity, and therefore there is nothing more important than providing them with everything they need to do their job.
Unfortunately, many project managers are too focused on dates, meetings and deadlines, which, of course, is sometimes good, because it makes the project move forward, but very often the connection with the developers is lost behind it, which causes problems in team productivity, technical debt, poor quality product, etc.
Software development requires creativity and proactivity. And these are exactly the two qualities that kill advocates of universal control (control freaks).
Control is especially loved by those project managers who still believe that all product requirements along with technical specifications and a work schedule can be determined and fixed at the very beginning of the project.
Delegation of solutions, in turn, makes developers better and, as a rule, is the cornerstone of a great product.
One of the reasons why project managers get more money than developers is because the project manager's job is to ensure that everything goes as it should. Often this requires the adoption of very difficult decisions, for example, to dismiss someone, hire a new person or reprimand.
Project managers who have difficulty making important decisions betray their team. Delays with difficult but important decisions will have dire consequences for the future.
1. The belief that productivity is mainly determined by the number of people and hours of work time
Performance is a modern analogue of the philosopher's stone. Each project manager tries to find it using a very simple alchemy: the more developers and the more working hours, the better.
Unfortunately, this approach is delusional, it is absolutely not learned. There are many studies that prove that productivity can even be negative when using this simple principle.
The most serious source that I can cite as a reference is Mythical Man-Month. Perhaps the most important book on software development over the past 20 years (which, unfortunately, is often read by developers, not project managers). As for articles on the Internet, I would recommend"The laws of productivity - 8 experiments that you should not repeat . " I highly recommend that you send it to every project manager who, in your opinion, could find this article useful.
Obviously, the question is: what improves performance? Well, so far I can’t answer absolutely accurately (and if I could, I would already be damn rich!). In my opinion, productivity is highly dependent on two factors: employee motivation and leadership capabilities of the leader. That is, the desire to move forward and the presence of a person who is able to show a better path.
2. Lack of management of expectations
Project managers must be sure that clients understand what and when will be ready.
One of the most frequent situations: it becomes clear that the deadlines will not be met, and you need to talk with the client. What happens most often? The client learns about this when the deadlines are already broken, because the manager thought that these deviations could be compensated, or simply afraid to upset the client. The client finds out about the problem when there are no longer any solutions to it. What could be a trifling or not so important problem at an early stage and that could be resolved by changing the goals or terms of the project becomes a serious problem, often jeopardizing the fate of the entire project.
3. Ignoring information from developers
The Project Manager should think wider than developers, but this does not mean that he should not listen to them.
In software development, programmers are usually the only source of productivity, and therefore there is nothing more important than providing them with everything they need to do their job.
Unfortunately, many project managers are too focused on dates, meetings and deadlines, which, of course, is sometimes good, because it makes the project move forward, but very often the connection with the developers is lost behind it, which causes problems in team productivity, technical debt, poor quality product, etc.
4. Control instead of delegation
Software development requires creativity and proactivity. And these are exactly the two qualities that kill advocates of universal control (control freaks).
Control is especially loved by those project managers who still believe that all product requirements along with technical specifications and a work schedule can be determined and fixed at the very beginning of the project.
Delegation of solutions, in turn, makes developers better and, as a rule, is the cornerstone of a great product.
5. Fear of making decisions
One of the reasons why project managers get more money than developers is because the project manager's job is to ensure that everything goes as it should. Often this requires the adoption of very difficult decisions, for example, to dismiss someone, hire a new person or reprimand.
Project managers who have difficulty making important decisions betray their team. Delays with difficult but important decisions will have dire consequences for the future.