Michael Lopp - Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

MANAGING HUMANS

BITING AND HUMOROUS TALES OF A
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING MANAGER

Michael Lopp

Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

Copyright 2012 by Michael Lopp

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-4314-4

ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4302-4315-1

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Lead Editor: Jeff Olson

Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell,
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To my family.
All of my family.

Contents

About the Author

Michael Lopp is a veteran engineering manager who has never managed to escape the Silicon Valley. In over 20 years of software development, Michael has worked at a variety of innovative companies including Apple, Netscape, Symantec, Borland, Palantir, and a startup that slowly faded into nothingness.

In addition to his day job, Michael writes a popular technology and management weblog under the nom de plume Rands, where he discusses his management ideas, worries about staying relevant, and explains that while you might be handsomely rewarded for what you build, you will only be successful because of your people. His weblog can be found at www.randsinrepose.com.

Michael lives in the Redwoods of Northern California with his family. He surfs, plays hockey, and drinks red wine whenever he can because staying sane is more important than staying busy.

Acknowledgments

Id like to acknowledge and thank:

• The readers of Rands in Repose who not only unwittingly guided the initial creation of this work by reading, commenting, and mailing, but whose continued interest allowed me to develop a far superior second edition.
• Melanie Baker, my editor, whose infinite patience and unique Canadianness keeps Rands sounding like Rands. She would never allow the word Canadianness into a proper book.
• Tom Paquin, who years ago took the time to guide me and shape my thinking regarding how to be a good manager.
• John Gruber, my dear friend, who inspires me with his writing and who I dont see enough.
• 42. You are the answer and I dont really care what the question is.

I would also like to thank Steve Jobs for not firing me when he had the chance.

Preface to the Second Edition

This remains a work of semi-fiction.

A book on management is filled with insight, ideas, and opinions about how to manage people. All of this information is based on real life experience with actual people I still know. While Id love to tell you that all my management experiences have been positive, they havent. Ive lost my shit a couple of times, and there were witnesses. These witnesses are the ones who helped me pull it together and gave me another page for this book.

All the names of people referred to in the chapters of this book are fake. Ive taken everyone that Ive known and mentally thrown them into a bag, shaken said bag, and pulled out Fez, Phil, and Frank. Using these constructed characters, I create a story, sometimes set in a familiar company I actually worked forlike Apple, Netscape, Palantir, or Borlandwhich allows me to explain whatever management insight Im relaying. Like my characters, my stories are fake. My hope is that they still ring true in your head because while they are fantastic stories, they are based on real experiences.

The icing on this semi-fictional cake is Rands. This is a name I began using in the mid-1990s for my virtual presence. When I began weblogging about management, the name stuck. Think of Rands as your semi-fictional guide walking you through the fake stories of fake people that have had incredible relevant (yet fake) experiences.

Rands has a bit of attitude, but, then again, so do I.

PART
I

The Management Quiver

For having shot a bow and arrow maybe ten times in my life, its odd that I think of management skills as being arrows in quiver. But the metaphor works. Much of management is about solving problems, and what better way to solve a problem than to tape it to a target, step back, pull out the right arrow, and fire. Whether you hit the target or not, theres a gratifying plunk sound. Thats the sound of progress.

We all have managers, and whether youre the director of engineering or an individual contributor, one of your jobs is to figure your manager out. What does he want? How does he deal with a crisis? How does he communicate? As you learn each of these lessons, you get an arrow. Its not only a reminder that you learned something, but its a tool you throw in your quiver so that the next time you see a similar problem you grab the right arrow, carefully aim, and shoot.

CHAPTER

Dont Be a Prick

The beauty of writing for the web is that there really is no plan. I have the luxury to mentally fumble about with any topic. Increasingly, those topics have focused on engineering management, and with the publication of each article, I increasingly received the email asking, Wheres the book? Yeah so, Id always wanted to publish a book, but theres a problem. Whats the pitch? Be a good manager? Zzzzzzzzz. I needed a compelling truth that elegantly tied all of my reposings together.

Flash back to the middle of the dot-com implosion. We, the merry crew of a failing startup, are drinking a lot. There are various bars around corporate headquarters, and each has a distinct purpose. Theres the dive bar thats great for post-layoff parties. The booze is cheap, and if youre looking to blow off some Im-really-not-worthless steam, you can pick a fight with the toothless sailor slung over the bar or the guy who just laid you off.