Agile Learning Labs

Engineering Managers Support Group Tonight!

The Engineering Managers Support Group is meeting tonight!
Our topic: Active Listening.

Of course, we will also have our round-table discussion session, where you can get input from your peers on the challenges you are facing managing engineers. There will be yummy Thai food, and the usual assortment of beverages. All this, and it's still free!

Sponsored by:
The Technical Management Institute
and
Rearden Commerce

Full details, and RSVP here

Cheers,

Chris

IEEE Silicon Valley Technology Management Council - February Notes

At the February IEEE Silicon Valley Technology Management Council meeting the group did an exercise to generated practical suggestions for implementing four management ideals. The group broke up into 4 teams; each considered one management ideal, and then reported their suggestions for implementing the ideal back to the whole group. The whole exercise took 30 minutes and included networking as well as idea generation.

Here are my notes on the ideas that each team generated. Clarifications and additions are welcome!

Clear Communication
This team decided to focus the topic more tightly to: 'clear communication with a remote team.' Here are some of their suggestions.

Prefer written communication to verbal.
Write in a simple, understandable style.
Take the time to verify that that each side of a communication really understands the meaning.
Acknowledge each communication.
Take the time to learn about the cultural differences.
Have a master schedule.
Anything that increases visibility is good.
Make use of structured system for communication.
Make use of chaotic informal communication channels.
Establish shared vision and goals, and get the buy-in of all team members.
Use visual elements to enhance communication.

Appreciates the Service of Others
Be generous with rewards.
Verbally praise people when they do good work.
Take the person to lunch or dinner.
Provide ongoing feedback, both positive and negative.
Don't forget to appreciate the work of junior people.
In high-pressure situations, take the time to listen to people, and appreciate their input.

Know each team members strengths and weaknesses
Read the resume and personnel file of each person on your team.
Communicate regularly and take notes.
Focus on personal goals and aligning those with the team and company goals.
Ask them what their strengths and weaknesses are!
Assign them a variety of tasks, requiring different skills, and note the results.
Study how volunteer organizations work, as many are excellent at making the best use of the strengths of their volunteers.
Do a group exercise to discuss the strengths and weakness of the team.
Do a review after each milestone.
Decide if it is better to strengthen weaknesses or play to strengths.
Don't forget to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the team as a whole.

Be a team builder
Be sure to acknowledge the work of people on the team.
Give people clear objectives.
Listen first.
Choose projects that will be successful.
Provide realistic and well-defined goals.
Talk things through calmly when there are conflicts.
Promote open communication.
Be the best leader that you can be!
Allow all to explore their ideas.
Support each other; keep your commitments to each other.
Verify assumptions.
Allow for creativity.

Engineering Managers Support Group - Active Listening

A manager who listens well...
- will be told more
- will be confided in
- will understand their people better
- will resolve conflicts easier
- will be listened to

When your people are talking to you, are you really listening, or are you starting to think about what you are going to say next? Even if you hear their words, are you sure that you understand their meaning? Language lends itself to misunderstanding as easily as understanding. This makes for great comedy, unless the joke is at the expense of you and your team.

This month the Bay Area Engineering Managers Support Group takes a good look at listening. Effective techniques will be presented and modeled. Then the real fun begins. Each participant will get to practice active listening skills by role-playing scenarios taken from the real world.

We will be starting at 6:30 PM, and will once again enjoy the hospitality of Rearden Commerce, as they provide us with great facilities and tasty food.

Engineering Managers Support Group - March Meetup
Wednesday, March 26th
Rearden Commerce World Headquarters
1051 E. Hillsdale Blvd
Foster City, CA 94404

6:30 - 7:00
Networking and food
Katie will be in the lobby to ferry folks up. If she's not there when you arrive, you can hail her at: 650.387.4551

7:00 - 8:00
We take a good look at listening.

8:00 - 9:00
Round-table discussion of your engineering management issues
Bring your questions and get ideas and feedback from your fellow engineering managers.

Sponsored By:
The Technical Management Institute
and
Rearden Commerce

RSVP Now!

One-on-Ones

The Bay Area Engineering Managers Support Group took a look at One-on-One meetings in February. I promised the group that I would publish my suggested agenda for a one-on-one as well some pointers to further reading. Here it is.

Here is a suggested agenda:

• How are things going personally?
• How are things going at work?
• Action Item Report: Manager
• Action Item Report: Report
• Feedback (+ and/or -)
• Annual Review Goals
• Personalized News (down-flow)
• Anything Else?
• Action Items for Next Time

Here are some links for further reading and listening:

Manager Tools. Mark Horstman and Michael Auzenne do a good podcast series on management, and one-on-ones are one of the four parts of their management trinity (Their name not mine!). Here is link to some of their stuff related to one-on-ones, including a template that takes a different approach than I do.

Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management I am lucky enough to know Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby, the authors of this book. There is some good stuff about one-on-ones in here.

How to Have Great One-on-ones, Leaders as Chief Conversation Facilitators

David Carlton on One-on-Ones.

TechRepublic asks if One-on-ones are a waste of time.

Ed Gibbs talks about his experience using one-on-ones.

Right here! Check back for more about one-on-ones in future posts.

Cheers!

Chris

IEEE Technology Management Council Meets Tomorrow

Panel Discussion

Today's engineering managers need to be able to manage projects where some, or even all, of the engineers are located offshore. While the situation is becoming more common, the challenges and opportunities are still not widely understood. On the evening of March 6, the Silicon Valley IEEE Technology Management Council is bringing together 4 panelists, with diverse backgrounds and experience, to answer your questions about managing with offshore engineers.

Richard Danielson is Founder and President of PlanV Software. He has been a consumer and a provider of outsourced software development services since the mid-80s, working with offshore engineers from India, Russia, Israel, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam. One of Rich's projects was helping Honeywell set up their Bangalore development center. In early 2007 Rich founded PlanV Software which provides Vietnam-based web and mobile device application development services to small and young companies.

Rakesh Gowda is the Director of Software Development at QuinStreet, a provider of online marketing and media services for nearly 600 clients, headquartered in Foster City. In 2005, Rakesh traveled back to his home country of India to set up QuinStreet's development center in Pune, outside of Mumbai. He is pleased to report that the Pune team no longer requires his direct supervision for day-to-day operations. Rakesh holds a MS in Computer Science from Stanford and BE from the University of Mysore in India.

Accelerance CEO Steve Mezak has more than 25 years of software development experience and is a veteran of six Silicon Valley startups. He has served in a variety of management and technical roles, including CTO and CEO. Steve is also an internationally acclaimed speaker and author. His most recent book is Software Without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development. Steve holds a BS Degree in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he now serves as an advisor to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Dmytry Mykhaylov is a software engineer and project manager who has been working on geographically distributed projects for over 6 years. As a project manager he specializes in helping small to mid-sized projects in the Bay Area effectively incorporate offshore engineering talent. Dmytry firmly believes that an agile approach to project organization on all sides of a distributed team is key to a project's success and profitability.

Chris Sims, founder of the Technical Management Institute, will moderated the panel.

Networking Exercise

From 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM Chris Sims will facilitate a networking and collaboration exercise.

At last month's meeting, we answered the question "What makes an engineering manager great?" We created a list of the most important skills, traits, and practices for an engineering manger. Our list included:

• Integrity
• Enthusiastic & inspiring
• Listens well
• Communicates clearly
• Have a vision
• Interpersonal skills
• Respects staff input
• Appreciates the service of others
• Team builder
• Know each staff member's strengths and weaknesses

This month we will begin to answer the all-important question "How do you actually do these things?" Participants will collaborate in small teams, to generate suggestions for putting last month's ideas into actual practice. The results will be shared with all in attendance as well as posted online.

Innovative SWOT

Photo courtesy of N.Trung

Tonight I will be presenting my SWOT analysis workshop to the East Bay Innovation Group's Software Development Best Practices SIG. The event is free and they will feed you!

When:
Tonight at 5:30 PM

Where:
Communications Technology Cluster
300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 210
Oakland, CA 94612

One-On-OnesFebruary Engineering Managers Support Group

Nothing influences motivation, satisfaction, and retention more than the relationship an engineer has with their manager. Give your direct reports your time and attention, show them that you value them for who they are, as well as for what they do, and they will go to the wall for you. One of the most effective tools for establishing this kind of rapport is the weekly one-on-one meeting.

We will discuss the elements of effective one-on-ones, including what should be on the agenda, how to schedule them, and where to have them. We will also discuss how to initiate one-on-ones if you aren't already doing them. If you are doing one-on-ones, bring your experience and suggestions to share with the group.

We will be starting at 6:30 PM, and will once again enjoy the hospitality of Rearden Commerce, as they provide us with great facilities and tasty food.

Engineering Managers Support Group - February Meetup
Wednesday, February 27th
Rearden Commerce World Headquarters
1051 E. Hillsdale Blvd
Foster City, CA 94404

6:30 - 7:00
Networking and food
Katie will be in the lobby to ferry folks up. If she's not there when you arrive, you can hail her at: 650.619.7562.

7:00 - 8:00
We examine how to best implement weekly one-on-one meetings with your direct reports.

8:00 - 9:00
Round-table discussion of your engineering management issues
Bring your questions and get ideas and feedback from your fellow engineering managers.

Our Sponsors:
The Technical Management Institute
Rearden Commerce

RSVP Now!

IEEE Offshore Panel Discussion

Today's engineering managers need to be able to manage projects where some, or even all, of the engineers are located offshore. While the situation is becoming more common, the challenges and opportunities are still not widely understood. On the evening of March 6, the Silicon Valley IEEE Technology Management Council is bringing together 4 panelists, with diverse backgrounds and experience, to answer your questions about managing with offshore engineers.

Richard Danielson is Founder and President of PlanV Software. He has been a consumer and a provider of outsourced software development services since the mid-80s, working with offshore engineers from India, Russia, Israel, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam. One of Rich's projects was helping Honeywell set up their Bangalore development center. In early 2007 Rich founded PlanV Software which provides Vietnam-based web and mobile device application development services to small and young companies.

Rakesh Gowda is the Director of Software Development at QuinStreet, a provider of online marketing and media services for nearly 600 clients, headquartered in Foster City. In 2005, Rakesh traveled back to his home country of India to set up QuinStreet's development center in Pune, outside of Mumbai. He is pleased to report that the Pune team no longer requires his direct supervision for day-to-day operations. Rakesh holds a MS in Computer Science from Stanford and BE from the University of Mysore in India.

Accelerance CEO Steve Mezak has more than 25 years of software development experience and is a veteran of six Silicon Valley startups. He has served in a variety of management and technical roles, including CTO and CEO. Steve is also an internationally acclaimed speaker and author. His most recent book is Software Without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development. Steve holds a BS Degree in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he now serves as an advisor to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Dmytry Mykhaylov is a software engineer and project manager who has been working on geographically distributed projects for over 6 years. As a project manager he specializes in helping small to mid-sized projects in the Bay Area effectively incorporate offshore engineering talent. Dmytry firmly believes that an agile approach to project organization on all sides of a distributed team is key to a project's success and profitability.

Chris Sims, founder of the Technical Management Institute, will moderated the panel.

Full details and registration can be found here.

IEEE Group Answers: "What makes an engineering manager great?"

Last night the San Francisco / Silicon Valley IEEE Technology Management Council met to examine the question: "What makes an engineering manager great?" Nearly 30 people participated. Over 40 good ideas were presented and considered. In the end the group ranked the following skills, attributes, and behaviors most important.

It is interesting to compare these results with those that two other groups generated here. Also interesting is how similar these results are to those generated by a group considering the most important things a technical manager can do to retain key contributors, which can be found here. While there are common themes that run through each group's responses, the results are far from identical. This makes sense to me. Each group is unique, and has different values and needs. There is no 'One True Way' to be a great manager. Certainly there are core skills and knowledge, but to rise to the level of greatness requires really understanding the group to be led, and giving them what they need.

Tier One
Integrity
Enthusiastic & inspiring
Praise & reward
Listen well
Ask questions rather than give orders
Clear communication
Have a vision
Interpersonal skills
Respect staff input

Tier Two
Appreciates the service of others
Team builder
Honesty
Build consensus
Know each staff member's strengths and weaknesses

Tier Three
Recognize individuals, share blame
Big picture knowledge
Focus on fixing, not on blame
Ability to prioritize
Engender ownership
Clear goals

To learn more about the San Francisco / Silicon Valley IEEE Technology Management Council click here.

IEEE Presents: What Makes Engineering Managers Succeed?

Have you worked for a great manager? What were the qualities that made him or her stand out from the rest? Share your experience and tap into the collective wisdom that will be present. We will uncover the most important qualities and skills for a technical manager to posses.

Tonight (Wednesday, January 30), I will be facilitating this workshop for the IEEE San Francisco / Silicon Valley Technology Management Council. The event is open to the public, and will be held at the Ramada Silicon Valley. Details here.