Red Green Repeat Adventures of a Spec Driven Junkie

Contribute Less - Coach More

When I became a manager, I thought:

FINALLY - I’m in charge! I can get more things done because I have a team do things with me. We are giong to be so productive!

After four years, I realize: I am only as productive as the team and directly contributing hurts the team’s productivity in the long term.

First, I’m expected to contribute less, so the time I can spend on contributions is less.

Second, even if I do make time and contribute, I am:

  • shifting my attention on things the organization does not expect me to do
  • taking away an opportunity for my team to do it
  • increasing tech debt for my team to maintain when things change and my work fails

Third, by not contributing, I have to get my team to do work through pairing. I intentionally do not have the application the team works on fully running on my system because:

  • That will force me to pair with a team member to work with them on it.
  • I will have to explain why we’re doing something.
  • Instead of doing the work myself, have the team member test out my idea if it works.
  • If the idea does work, have them finish up the work.
  • If the idea doesn’t work, ask if the team member knows a better idea.
  • Finally, when there is a solution, have them take credit for doing a great job.

Does this put me at a disadvantage technically on a system I manage?

Yes, it does. I prefer the team to do and manage the work. There’s so much work that they do not need me to sporatically contribute directly.

Finally, not contributing allows me to coach the team more on their work. I would rather them ask me for help so they can get the work done now and learn how to do it better in the future on their own. Or even have them gasp coach the next person!

The coaching can’t happen if I’m always making more work (which the team will have to clean up after!)