“When managers begin to replicate behaviors almost identical to those that brought them an earlier success, a warning bell should go off.”

This reminds me of my recent impulse of taking over some implementation work from others in order to speed things up. Actually, I shouldn’t do that due to the following reasons:

  • To be an IC6, it’s expected to design and/or implement the hardest parts of the system. The implementation I took over is actually not “the hardest part” of the project.
  • I usurpped my colleagues role of practicing the implementation who are commited to implement the most of API level functionalities.
  • There is other way to speed up the project. For example, I can take time to triage the issue to tell if it’s lack of competence or commitment from them. My feeling is the latter of lacking of commitment/motivation. Then, I should talk to them formally about my expectation, project timeline and see if they were occupied by other commitments. As the result, we should come up with the new target date for code completion and individual’s commitment e.g. how much time they will invest in this project. All above is better than me taking over some implementation work which falls back to my old style of doing most of things myself.

I noticed this and provided the late feedbacks. Hopefully, this will help!

Never Take Their Job Definitions for Granted Relying on assumptions and general job descriptions or following in the footsteps of the person who had the job before them will frequently lead to failure. People need to take the initiative to define jobs for themselves and to define them with specificity. This means not only defining what their contribution should be but also establishing how they will be measured and identifying the differences between their role and those of people above and below them.”

  1. Understand what skills, time application and values are required for each position/level.
  2. Define what success looks like and how can it be measured qualitively and/or quantitatively.
  3. Sync 1 and 2 with your manager and your skip manager
  4. Periodically identify gaps between one’s current status and the standards set in 1 and 2.
  5. Understand clearly a level above you and a level below: what are 1 and 2 for those position/level. It will help you navigate better in your current level