My Management Lessons from Google, Apple, Dropbox, Twitter and Square

http://firstround.com/article/My-Management-Lessons-from-Three-Failed-Startups-Google-Apple-Dropbox-Twitter-and-Square

by zt • 12 years ago

91 11 12 years ago

RogerL• 12 years ago

I agree with most, if not all of this.

However, my takeaway (what I learned) was the graph at the bottom. Ask hard question if someone ranks as mediocre for 8 quarters.

This is counter-intuitive, as most people are, by mathematical necessity, average within a standard deviation or two. Thus, shouldn't we expect our talent curves to be a bell curve?

But, mediocre to me might not be mediocre to you. If I have someone with enormous attention to detail but this position need a high degree of creativity and experimentation, that person might perform as mediocre. But you may have a position that needs that attention to detail. We can both shuffle our directs and change our team ratings from 3(out of 5) each, to 4 or more (where 4 is better).

I don't know how much I buy it, yet, but it is at least important to think about. To be clear, I don't buy into every company stating "we only hire rock stars" - we know that is statistically impossible, and so that gives me pause in regards to this advice.

Let's face it; it is a big risk these days to let somebody go that is performing okay, in the hopes of finding a great hire. Right now on the front page we have this article advocating letting people go, and another article warning how difficult it is to find and hire people. There is a bit of dissonance between the two, I find.

mathattack• 12 years ago

* Right now on the front page we have this article advocating letting people go, and another article warning how difficult it is to find and hire people. There is a bit of dissonance between the two, I find.*

A lot depends on the company. Are you a Whatsapp with 55 engineers and $19 billion in market capital? Or are you Accenture, with $300k (give or take) in market cap per employee? Each has a very different take on the value per employee, what they pay them, and where on the superstar versus superteam spectrum they are.

Overall a very good article. There are managers who clearly don't give a damn. They have to be Steve Jobs superstars to keep their people. On the flip side, you have to produce success to keep a team moving. I've had to replace managers who were well loved, but had angry clients due to a lack of results by their teams.

mason55• 12 years ago

But, mediocre to me might not be mediocre to you. If I have someone with enormous attention to detail but this position need a high degree of creativity and experimentation, that person might perform as mediocre. But you may have a position that needs that attention to detail. We can both shuffle our directs and change our team ratings from 3(out of 5) each, to 4 or more (where 4 is better).

This is the point of the upper left quadrant. If you feel like the person is good but in the wrong place then you look at yourself. Is your management style not working for them? Do they need to be in a different position?

jobu• 12 years ago

There's some very good advice in that article, and I really like the Russian anecdote about the man who loved his dog too much.

One thing I do disagree with is this: "A lot of management training ties you in knots trying to say things just right. Just let it go. Just say it." Some people are either naturally better, or more experienced at communicating in a way that connects and motivates people. Others (like myself) need to really parse what we say before we say it.

TheSOB888• 12 years ago

I think she meant that a lot of hemming and hawing in the conversation is really maddening to someone who can feel something negative is coming. The fact that it's said is the important part.

There's something to be said for read, fire, aim rather than ready, aim, fire. You can only aim if you have a good perspective on the issue, which you probably don't if you lack expertise.

ballard2• 12 years ago

Do like Capgem approach (pulling a bandaid)....

Bad news upfront.

polskibus• 12 years ago

I like the article overall, however I disagree with "not promoting" people on gradual growth path. On one hand the author recommends frequent one-on-ones to ask what people want, on the other hand she advises to make career decisions for the engineers assuming they dont want or need promotion.

I think it's not true and is a common misconception in the engineering-business relationship. It's always good to ask, but don't assume too much. They may want a promotion, just not in a job title kind of sense.

ballard2• 12 years ago

Not letting decisions getting kicked up is a never ending struggle. Everyone can learn to make better decisions and do more without assistance, but that's not going to happen if it's "more expedient" to throw someone a fish than teach fishing. I think a large swath of managers feel decision codependency is job security, but it's really a hallmark of missing larger opportunities.

afterburner• 12 years ago

"In the book The Fountainhead..."

Really?

craigyk• 12 years ago

well... the example from the book is a rather good one, but I rolled my eyes too.

loomio• 12 years ago

Great management is about great delegation and great empowerment. What they are NOT involved in is as, or more, important than what they are involved in.

As someone who spends all my time thinking about decision-making group dynamics, I thought this excerpt was totally spot-on:

---------- The Big Decision Meeting. Scott created this after recognizing all the angst around her staff meetings. Everyone wanted to be included because they felt like big decisions were getting made there, but this was hardly ever the case. “Make fewer decisions in your staff meeting and create a second meeting explicitly to deal with important decisions,” she says. “Delegate these decisions to people who are closer to the information.”

Consider using your staff meeting to set the agenda for the big decision meeting. Identify the three most important decisions that need to get made that week, and who should make those decisions. Who is closest to the work involved? “This is how you push decision-making into the facts,” she says.

Citing James March’s book A Primer on Decision Making, she recommends that managers exclude themselves from big decisions as much as possible. “Somehow people’s egos get invested in making decisions,” Scott says. “If they get left out, they feel almost a loss of personhood. So you get ego-based decisions instead of fact-based decisions. The more you push yourself and your managers out of the process, the better your decisions will be.”

Most of all, don’t let decisions get pushed up. “A lot of times you see decisions get kicked up to the more senior level, and so they get made by people who happen to be sitting around a certain table, not the people who know the facts. Don’t let this happen.”

My Management Lessons from Google, Apple, Dropbox, Twitter and Square

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