I agree with this post, but it is very light on details. "Don't be a douche. Let your employees think." thanks for the tip...
So, to that end, my management tips:
1. Make sure people are working on the right things. This is most important and where Joel's academia argument breaks down. The problem is that everybody in the company doesn't have a transparent view of everything in the company (past ~10 people).
To do this, you ask questions and provide information. "Why is this the most important thing?" "What about <some thing they may not know>?" Etc. ideally, you are proactively providing that information, but if your employees are always waiting for you to provide information, you are the bottleneck.
2. Cultivate communication. Make sure the rit people are talking to each other. Make sure the environment is sipuch that people not only want to, but are incentivized to talk to each other.
3. Be open about when you learn something new. Few people don't enjoy teaching the boss something new. Give people that opportunity.
4. (EDIT: Forgot one of the most important) Conflict resolution. At some point, two very smart people are going to disagree. Your job isn't to pick a winner (usually), but to make sure resolution happens.
I'm sure there are others (feel free to tell me!). FWIW, I don't think I'm being original here. For details on how to do many of these things, Joel's blog is not a bad place to start (though I really don't like the lunch thing at Fog Creek ;).
For more detail, try Spolsky's three-part series on management methodology. It starts with Command & Control then goes to another, Econ 101, which he discredits similarly, followed by Identity, which he says actually works. Start here: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/08/07.html
So, to that end, my management tips:
1. Make sure people are working on the right things. This is most important and where Joel's academia argument breaks down. The problem is that everybody in the company doesn't have a transparent view of everything in the company (past ~10 people).
To do this, you ask questions and provide information. "Why is this the most important thing?" "What about <some thing they may not know>?" Etc. ideally, you are proactively providing that information, but if your employees are always waiting for you to provide information, you are the bottleneck.
2. Cultivate communication. Make sure the rit people are talking to each other. Make sure the environment is sipuch that people not only want to, but are incentivized to talk to each other.
3. Be open about when you learn something new. Few people don't enjoy teaching the boss something new. Give people that opportunity.
4. (EDIT: Forgot one of the most important) Conflict resolution. At some point, two very smart people are going to disagree. Your job isn't to pick a winner (usually), but to make sure resolution happens.
I'm sure there are others (feel free to tell me!). FWIW, I don't think I'm being original here. For details on how to do many of these things, Joel's blog is not a bad place to start (though I really don't like the lunch thing at Fog Creek ;).