As I See It: First Timers

by Victor Rozek

Do good work, be cooperative, and one day you may find yourself promoted to management. Although such a promotion is often viewed as a destination, it is actually a point of divergence; a fork in the road less clearly marked than the old familiar path. Moving from a cubicle to an office requires answering the inevitable question: What now? The presumption is that because a person could do his former job capably, he can also excel at management. But the old job came with a clear definition of "what now," and the new job doesn't.

Companies usually promote first-time managers from within. It is generally believed that the prospect of a promotion offers the troops a measure of motivation and the semblance of a career path. But promotions can just as easily derail careers as enhance them. In IT, programmers are often promoted because of their superlative coding skills and their familiarity with the company's software systems. But ironically, the very skills that make them attractive candidates for advancement become less important to their success once they are promoted.

Management, first and foremost, is about overseeing people. A manager sets goals for others to achieve, directing work rather than performing it. The ability to code elegant applications may allow a manager to evaluate the work of subordinates, but it will not help him with interpersonal skills. The trouble is that, at its essence, programming is a solitary occupation but management is not. Where programming requires an inward focus, management requires focusing attention outward.

Programming is like translating a novel from one language to another: a programmer takes pages of user requirements and translates them into computer code. In that capacity, a programmer neatly fits Samuel Johnson's observation that a translator "is to be like his author; it is not his business to excel him." But while a programmer is not expected to code beyond specifications, a good manager must excel in a variety of areas: vision, leadership, and communication, to name a few.

Hence, by virtue of temperament and job requirement, programmers are often a poor fit for management positions. But since many are offered promotions nonetheless, here's some advice for first-time managers and their direct reports.

For the First-Time Manager

Consider turning the promotion down. If working alone is your preference, and coding is your strong suit, moving to management will deprive you of what you enjoy most about your job. You may also have to take a pay cut, sacrificing salary for status. It is not uncommon that the top of the salary scale for senior programmers exceeds that of junior managers. (This is a reflection of who is more valuable and more difficult to replace.) The salary range for first-time managers is modest and the possibility of future promotions--and therefore higher earnings--diminishes with every step up the management pyramid, where executives compete for a shrinking number of jobs. And once you accept the position, it's harder to go back without the perception of failure. Also, if you value your relationships with your peers, know that things will change once you become their boss. Friendship works best between equals. It's difficult to be a friend while you are giving orders and judging performance.

But if the temptation is too great and you take the job, avoid the trap of micro-managing. New managers have a hard time letting go. The inclination is to continue doing what you were comfortable doing before the promotion. So if you're a hands-on, detail-oriented software producer, you will want to continue creating software and paying close attention to detail. And in the process you will probably drive your employees crazy pouring over every trace and debug statement. Allowing people to do their work without looking over their shoulder is one of the hardest things new managers must learn. It usually takes them about 18 months to discover delegation, at which point they swing from doing too much to doing too little. Take the middle ground. Admit you're new at this management thing and ask for feedback. When your presence becomes oppressive and counter-productive, your employees will let you know--if you're open to receiving the information.

Focus on process rather than destination. Programming is a job obsessed with destinations; project deadlines, implementation dates, conversion schedules. Programmers move from goal to goal, application to application, system to system. Management, on the other hand, is process-oriented. A good manager creates the structure within which employees can succeed and reach their assigned goals. The process by which work gets done should function independently of who is actually doing the work. Thus, process includes such considerations as policies and procedures, quality assurance, how an application is developed, tested, and moved into production, how employees are provided with the ongoing training necessary to stay abreast of technology, and ensuring they have the proper tools and equipment to do the job.

It may sound counterintuitive but, from a management perspective, focusing solely on getting work done is focus misplaced. Henry Ford became wildly successful not because he had hands-on involvement in every car he manufactured, but because he created an assembly line (an innovative process) by which others could perform their tasks quickly, accurately, and efficiently.

Likewise an IT manager should focus on and continually refine how work gets done, which is different than actually doing the work. Employees are not empowered to change a process; only management can change the rules by which work is accomplished. One of the advantages of getting promoted from within the ranks is that employees generally know what is working and what isn't. Bringing that knowledge to a management position allows them to remodel unproductive structures.

Peter Drucker, the famous writer and management consultant, said that "so much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work." The goal of nurturing and refining process is precisely to make work easy and to ensure that repetitive tasks yield painless and predictable results.

For Direct Reports

Cut 'em some slack. Anyone doing a job for the first time will not be at the top of their game. There is an inevitable learning curve and dealing with a department full of independent-minded programmers is more complex than dealing with lines of static code. Be patient and--especially if the new manager is a colleague with whom you have a prior relationship--offer constructive feedback and encouragement. Constructive feedback is always behavior or task specific:

"I think the implementation schedule may be too aggressive."

"Can you give us more information about what we need to do to prepare for the auditors?"

"You invite us to drop in and talk to you at any time, but your office door is usually closed."

The three examples above are a judgment, a request, and a statement. Each provides the manager with useful information and any format will work as long as the feedback is not personalized and perceived as an attack.

Employees can also be helpful to new managers by providing them with the level of detail they crave. For the first-time manager there is no such thing as too much information. Knowledge combats the insecurity of dealing with an unfamiliar position. There is security in knowing, and knowing more is better than knowing less. Whether you meet informally to discuss your progress, or you are required to submit a written status report, be as thorough and complete as possible. Volunteering information, particularly about issues that have the potential to create down-stream problems for your manager, builds trust.

Agha Hasan Abedi, a Pakistani banker, had a very profound insight into the true nature of management. He said, "The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work."

The devil, however, is in the details. Abedi, was the founder of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which devolved into the largest criminal bank in history as it laundered money for terrorists, drug dealers, smugglers, and other international nogoodnicks. As Zig Ziglar noted, "What you get by reaching your destination isn't nearly as important as what you become by reaching your goals." Who knows, maybe Abedi didn't start out crooked. He apparently prided himself for being a philanthropist. Perhaps he chose the wrong goal.

So whether you're a programmer, a manager, or being asked to choose between the two, the message of Abedi's life and Ziglar's insight is this: Choose wisely.