Who and why makes TeamLead Conf
Meet - this is the backbone of the program committee of our TeamLead Conf : Georgy Mogelashvili (Booking.com), Nikolai Krapivny (Badoo) and Stanislav Tsyganov (Tutu.ru). Those people who form the content and set the direction. We asked them a few simple questions about the work of the PC, the selection of topics and topics that will focus on the next February conference.
Georgy Mogelashvili ( glamcoder ): I have been working in the IT industry for more than 10 years. Although born, raised and started a career in Moscow, in 2014 he moved to Holland. Now I work at Booking.com, where I develop services for the main website and manage a small cross-functional development team.
Stanislav Tsyganov ( kaspartus ): I have been working at Tutu.ru, I have been managing mobile development for a year and a half - these are 13 people in different product teams - iOS and Android developers.
Nikolay Krapivny ( cyberklin ):I work in badoo. He was a programmer, then a team of tmlid for a couple of years, for the last four years I have led the backend development department, currently consisting of 45 engineers. We support the backend of all our dating apps.
Stanislav Tsyganov: I believe that the real engine of progress in companies is continuous small daily improvements. When a problem arises, something must be done to resolve the crisis situation, and after it, leave a process that will prevent its recurrence.
And people are the most important thing in the development of innovative products. Therefore, we have a serious selection, including soft skills. And it simplifies management.
Georgiy Mogelashvili:I personally hold the position that the manager should be open and honest. If there is any thing that needs to be brought to the team, I try to do it faster and most transparently. At the same time, I try to find an individual approach to people - to communicate with everyone at a comfortable level for him, to find individual features that allow them to gain confidence and reveal this person better. Thus, managing a team, I actually manage individual personalities.
Nikolay Krapivny: I consider common sense to be the main principle of management and I use the situational approach - I try to understand each specific situation or problem. I make a decision based on the understanding of this situation and the range of tools available. In most cases, the right decision, in my opinion, lies on the surface.
Nikolay Krapivny: I think our task is to make a high-quality platform for the exchange of knowledge and communication of people who are somehow involved in management issues in IT.
Stanislav Tsyganov: I see several goals at once:
Georgy Mogelashvili: Of course, to share experience. The topic of management and, in particular, team leadership is very relevant now.
For the first time, we held TeamLead Conf as an independent conference in Moscow a year ago and did not expect more than 400 people to attend. When we repeated the event in St. Petersburg, even more people came. And now in Moscow we expect even more. We create a place to discuss urgent problems and experiences of larger companies, owners of expertise or just people who have something to say.
Nikolai Krapivny: We do not have such dedicated roles. All members of the program committee are engaged in the selection of good reports, the formation of a conference program and the search for some new formats for the interaction of speakers with the audience. Our main goal is the benefit for conference visitors.
Georgiy Mogelashvili:From the height of some of our experience and vision of what is useful now for the industry, we give feedback to potential speakers, discuss with them the topics that come to us. At the same time, we are trying to open every new conference topics that we did not have time to reveal the previous time - we do not repeat ourselves, we are evolving. And every time we collect feedback from visitors. So, for example, last time we understood that such things as “upward” management — approaches to communicating with our manager — or hiring are very much in demand. We try to collect reports that will reveal them in more detail.
Stanislav Tsyganov:I have been on the program committee of the conference just this year. As Roman Ivliev, program director at our first call, told me, I am useful in that I have the opportunity to look at the report through the eyes of our conference guests. After all, my management experience is relevant to most of the audience.
Stanislav Tsyganov: In my opinion, there are three criteria:
Nikolai Krapivny: We evaluate whether this topic featured earlier at our conference or other events, how much it is in general, whether the author offers something really new in his story. Well, in general, we subjectively assess whether the audience will be interested in such a report.
Georgy Mogelashvili: First of all, the report should be about managing the team. It should not be offensive to anyone - it is a formal criterion. We also pay attention to whether the speaker himself has enough experience to tell about what he wants to tell.
Stanislav Tsyganov: In fact, evolution is not as slow as it may seem.
At the conference, we try to accumulate the experience of different companies, both domestic and foreign, both large and small. And from the field of work with people, and from the field of project management for the maximum benefit of our guests.
Nikolay Krapivny: It seems to me that the fundamental approaches and trends are well known to everyone. And the most interesting reports about the experience of implementing or solving a problem in a particular situation. Therefore, the flow of such reports never diminishes. The conference program is a kind of mix of topics in areas that we did not cover last time, and some new interesting solutions and approaches. In parallel, we are looking in the direction of related topics - interaction with HR, for example.
Georgiy Mogelashvili:We still have a lot of uncovered topics - we have not had time to cover the whole area. Of the recent trends, the topic of performance review was very popular - how to measure the performance of its employees. There is a great interest in how to build hiring processes in companies, what it means to be a team leader and what mistakes in the beginning it is better not to make.
Nikolay Krapivny: Despite the fact that the conference is called TeamLead Conf, I think all management layers in IT, starting from the team leader and ending with the CTO and technical director, will be able to find something useful for themselves, communicate and exchange experience.
Georgy Mogelashvili: I think so. Of course, the team leaders are the main guests of the conference. But we are not limited to them. People from a lower level — leading developers who are thinking about whether to go to the team leaders — it will be useful to look at what the team’s leadership is, from the side, to understand for themselves whether it is worth going to this area at all, what mistakes they can make and how to avoid them. This is like a preparatory work for those who want to enter into team leadership.
We are trying to offer reports to those who have already outgrown their leadership. The main goal here is to make it clear to the tmlids what they can do to get to the next level, or how a team can better understand their leader.
Nikolai Krapivny: I would recommend choosing those reports that will be more relevant in each specific situation. So you can get the maximum benefit.
The second possible strategy is to identify the points of development for oneself and look for reports that will enable us to move in this direction.
Personally, when I come to the reports, I write down key thoughts on the go in the phone. Then at the end of the day I’ll go over what was interesting for me, what I remember. Periodically, I return to the records in order to rethink them and understand whether they began to be applied in my head or not? So I bring awareness to my life.
In addition to reports, you should definitely go to some interesting discussions, and then find circles of interests and participate in discussions there - to develop a topic that seemed most interesting.
Stanislav Tsyganov:I urge that in no case should you skip the discussion area, even if you didn’t like the report itself, but the topic is close. You will easily find an audience to share your own pain, and also to consider this issue under the prism of the experience of different companies.
Georgy Mogelashvili: My main advice, however strange it may sound, is to communicate with people in person. To go to reports, of course, is necessary and useful. But they can then be seen in the record. And the most important thing when visiting the conference is not to be embarrassed to approach the speakers after the performance, to ask questions during breaks, lunches, coffee breaks or after-party, to communicate with other participants, to make as many new acquaintances as possible. Such networking helps solve problems and build a network of communication.
Friends, the next conference TeamLead Conf will be held February 25-26. On January 15, we will have the last day of receiving reports, and by the end of this year, a step discount is valid for tickets. Come!
- Tell us in a few words about your work.
Georgy Mogelashvili ( glamcoder ): I have been working in the IT industry for more than 10 years. Although born, raised and started a career in Moscow, in 2014 he moved to Holland. Now I work at Booking.com, where I develop services for the main website and manage a small cross-functional development team.
Stanislav Tsyganov ( kaspartus ): I have been working at Tutu.ru, I have been managing mobile development for a year and a half - these are 13 people in different product teams - iOS and Android developers.
Nikolay Krapivny ( cyberklin ):I work in badoo. He was a programmer, then a team of tmlid for a couple of years, for the last four years I have led the backend development department, currently consisting of 45 engineers. We support the backend of all our dating apps.
- Is it possible to formulate in a nutshell the basic principles in the management that you adhere to?
Stanislav Tsyganov: I believe that the real engine of progress in companies is continuous small daily improvements. When a problem arises, something must be done to resolve the crisis situation, and after it, leave a process that will prevent its recurrence.
And people are the most important thing in the development of innovative products. Therefore, we have a serious selection, including soft skills. And it simplifies management.
Georgiy Mogelashvili:I personally hold the position that the manager should be open and honest. If there is any thing that needs to be brought to the team, I try to do it faster and most transparently. At the same time, I try to find an individual approach to people - to communicate with everyone at a comfortable level for him, to find individual features that allow them to gain confidence and reveal this person better. Thus, managing a team, I actually manage individual personalities.
Nikolay Krapivny: I consider common sense to be the main principle of management and I use the situational approach - I try to understand each specific situation or problem. I make a decision based on the understanding of this situation and the range of tools available. In most cases, the right decision, in my opinion, lies on the surface.
- What goals do you set for TeamLead Conf?
Nikolay Krapivny: I think our task is to make a high-quality platform for the exchange of knowledge and communication of people who are somehow involved in management issues in IT.
Stanislav Tsyganov: I see several goals at once:
- to inspire team leaders and development managers to learn new, possibly related areas;
- show the experience of "big" companies;
- telling this story to people who are only thinking about moving into the field of managing people;
- to speculate on the topic "how to correct" is that every timlid loves the most.
Georgy Mogelashvili: Of course, to share experience. The topic of management and, in particular, team leadership is very relevant now.
For the first time, we held TeamLead Conf as an independent conference in Moscow a year ago and did not expect more than 400 people to attend. When we repeated the event in St. Petersburg, even more people came. And now in Moscow we expect even more. We create a place to discuss urgent problems and experiences of larger companies, owners of expertise or just people who have something to say.
- And what is your role in the program committee of the conference?
Nikolai Krapivny: We do not have such dedicated roles. All members of the program committee are engaged in the selection of good reports, the formation of a conference program and the search for some new formats for the interaction of speakers with the audience. Our main goal is the benefit for conference visitors.
Georgiy Mogelashvili:From the height of some of our experience and vision of what is useful now for the industry, we give feedback to potential speakers, discuss with them the topics that come to us. At the same time, we are trying to open every new conference topics that we did not have time to reveal the previous time - we do not repeat ourselves, we are evolving. And every time we collect feedback from visitors. So, for example, last time we understood that such things as “upward” management — approaches to communicating with our manager — or hiring are very much in demand. We try to collect reports that will reveal them in more detail.
Stanislav Tsyganov:I have been on the program committee of the conference just this year. As Roman Ivliev, program director at our first call, told me, I am useful in that I have the opportunity to look at the report through the eyes of our conference guests. After all, my management experience is relevant to most of the audience.
- Are there any formal criteria for the selection of reports?
Stanislav Tsyganov: In my opinion, there are three criteria:
- the usefulness of the report;
- focus on current topic;
- and the speaker’s experience in the subject area (as well as in speeches, although the latter is to a lesser extent due to the specifics of the subject area).
Nikolai Krapivny: We evaluate whether this topic featured earlier at our conference or other events, how much it is in general, whether the author offers something really new in his story. Well, in general, we subjectively assess whether the audience will be interested in such a report.
Georgy Mogelashvili: First of all, the report should be about managing the team. It should not be offensive to anyone - it is a formal criterion. We also pay attention to whether the speaker himself has enough experience to tell about what he wants to tell.
- Trends in management replace each other not as fast as in development. Why is it relevant?
Stanislav Tsyganov: In fact, evolution is not as slow as it may seem.
As leaders, we constantly set up experiments (in some cases even under A / B), work out the best approaches, discard what we haven't got accustomed to. A company or a team is a living organism, it is constantly changing dynamically, and, forgive me for the banality, what applies to one will be destructive for another.
At the conference, we try to accumulate the experience of different companies, both domestic and foreign, both large and small. And from the field of work with people, and from the field of project management for the maximum benefit of our guests.
Nikolay Krapivny: It seems to me that the fundamental approaches and trends are well known to everyone. And the most interesting reports about the experience of implementing or solving a problem in a particular situation. Therefore, the flow of such reports never diminishes. The conference program is a kind of mix of topics in areas that we did not cover last time, and some new interesting solutions and approaches. In parallel, we are looking in the direction of related topics - interaction with HR, for example.
Georgiy Mogelashvili:We still have a lot of uncovered topics - we have not had time to cover the whole area. Of the recent trends, the topic of performance review was very popular - how to measure the performance of its employees. There is a great interest in how to build hiring processes in companies, what it means to be a team leader and what mistakes in the beginning it is better not to make.
- The main audience of the conference - tmlidy. Does it make sense to come to those who have not yet become a team leader, or to those who have already outgrown this level?
Nikolay Krapivny: Despite the fact that the conference is called TeamLead Conf, I think all management layers in IT, starting from the team leader and ending with the CTO and technical director, will be able to find something useful for themselves, communicate and exchange experience.
Georgy Mogelashvili: I think so. Of course, the team leaders are the main guests of the conference. But we are not limited to them. People from a lower level — leading developers who are thinking about whether to go to the team leaders — it will be useful to look at what the team’s leadership is, from the side, to understand for themselves whether it is worth going to this area at all, what mistakes they can make and how to avoid them. This is like a preparatory work for those who want to enter into team leadership.
We are trying to offer reports to those who have already outgrown their leadership. The main goal here is to make it clear to the tmlids what they can do to get to the next level, or how a team can better understand their leader.
- What advice would you give to the visitor of the conference (regarding the choice of reports, the method of mastering the material, etc.)?
Nikolai Krapivny: I would recommend choosing those reports that will be more relevant in each specific situation. So you can get the maximum benefit.
In my opinion, you can choose two strategies. The first is to look for something that will help solve current problems. For example, if you work in a startup, there is no point in going to the report of a large organization, because it may have other problems.
The second possible strategy is to identify the points of development for oneself and look for reports that will enable us to move in this direction.
Personally, when I come to the reports, I write down key thoughts on the go in the phone. Then at the end of the day I’ll go over what was interesting for me, what I remember. Periodically, I return to the records in order to rethink them and understand whether they began to be applied in my head or not? So I bring awareness to my life.
In addition to reports, you should definitely go to some interesting discussions, and then find circles of interests and participate in discussions there - to develop a topic that seemed most interesting.
Stanislav Tsyganov:I urge that in no case should you skip the discussion area, even if you didn’t like the report itself, but the topic is close. You will easily find an audience to share your own pain, and also to consider this issue under the prism of the experience of different companies.
Georgy Mogelashvili: My main advice, however strange it may sound, is to communicate with people in person. To go to reports, of course, is necessary and useful. But they can then be seen in the record. And the most important thing when visiting the conference is not to be embarrassed to approach the speakers after the performance, to ask questions during breaks, lunches, coffee breaks or after-party, to communicate with other participants, to make as many new acquaintances as possible. Such networking helps solve problems and build a network of communication.
Friends, the next conference TeamLead Conf will be held February 25-26. On January 15, we will have the last day of receiving reports, and by the end of this year, a step discount is valid for tickets. Come!