1301 What Managers Like to Hear

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Talking with a friend today, about managers in general. I mentioned that with one exception (and he didn't last long), I got along well with my managers. Managers and I "had an understanding".

At some point early in our relationship, in the initial interview, a new manager would ask me what I saw as my job, how would I define my responsibilities (yeah, they all asked. They all went to the same management training course.)

Other people said stuff like designing this, coding that, whatever. My answer was always, "My primary responsibility is to keep you out of trouble." And that really IS what I saw as my job, and what I mainly did.

They would also ask what I expected from them, what I saw as their job.

Other people said stuff like assign projects, help me further my career, and so on. My answer was always, "Trust me, run interference for me, and otherwise keep out of my way."

A third standard question was what are my career aspirations, where did I want to be in ten years.

Other people said stuff like that they wanted the manager's job, or they wanted to make senior, and so on. My answer was "I think that setting a specific goal, and doing things to achieve that goal, is limiting myself. I prefer to learn all I can about everything around me, and then take utmost advantage of opportunities as they appear. Or as I create them. I do intend to stay technical. No management aspirations, so that makes it easier. But I don't see that as limiting."

Mgr: "But you have to have some way to measure yourself."
Me: "Well, I sort of do. When I say something in a meeting, I want everyone to shut up, listen carefully, and think about what I said."
Mgr: "Technical respect. You have that now."
Me: "That's how I know it's time to expand into something I don't know anything about. Got any opportunities?"

Most of my managers grew to depend on me. The more imagination they had, the better the working relationship. I didn't start getting strange reactions until the last few years, when I ran into Corporate honchos.

No imagination there. They were stiff, rule-bound, and running scared. That's when retirement started looking good.

I guess my goal all along was to retire young and comfortably.

P.S. I retired, comfortably, at 49.
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