I'm a person who started working at 14. Fell into IT in the mid 90s (right time, right place) and worked my way up from the third circle of hell doing phone technical support for an ISP to now managing multiple teams of Dev and DevOps engineers.
Yup, I'm a part of the dreaded “management” this sub rails against.
I read this sub because I spent years working under shit managers, and the anecdotes (especially when there is payback involved) are delicious. But I also pay attention to the ways a manager should NOT behave. Especially when I first became “the boss,” I read some posts that helped me identify negative patterns and behaviors folks showing me the ropes thought were motivational.
Some themes from here reinforce my management style:
– The role of a manager is to protect your reports from stupidity and bullshit.
– Managers are responsible for schedules.
– Once you've made a commitment (e.g., okayed time off), if things change it's my problem to fix.
– Being aware and hyper proactive about addressing burnout
– It's healthy to work to live, but not to live to work
– Make sure folks take ALL their vacation time.
Most important is a phrase I use on a regular basis I (think) I picked up here:
“In 20 years, the only people who will remember you worked 12 hour days are your family.”
I'm curious as to what other management types have learned here.