Managing people

As a manager, everything is your fault.  I know… very positive start.  There is no point being angry at your team – ever.  You are in charge of processes and people.  And you got more information than they do, always.  You either created the processes where this outcome happened.  or you hired (or did not fire) the wro... See more

Avoid drive-by management.  Don't start throwing your opinion or ideas around in meetings.  You most likely lack context, and most likely, you won't be the person needing to follow through.

Hire based on good decision-making skills.  Fire based on poor decision-making skills.

It's a common misconception that burnouts come from hard work.  Burnout comes from a felt loss of control and/or impact.  Remember that you can burn out employees (or yourself) with little to no work.

the role of a manager is  not to manage people  but to manage processes and lead people.

The worst thing that can happen is that you frequently step in, and people disassociate from their work.  They become drones who do what's told instead of taking ownership.  If this is your goal, you can hire cheaper, less talented people.

Drive-by management is when the manager comes by a group of people having a discussion. They throw requests, change mandates, and ideas around like bullets, create confusion, panic, chaos, and when they leave, they leave a bloody mess behind.

Processes are not complex chains of people doing things that are burdened by horrible overheads.  Processes are expectations made explicit.  They can be as simple as "every morning we all do X to ensure everyone else is unblocked.

I frequently meet founders who hire people "and get out of their way"  While this is principle correct it doesn't absolve you from enabling them to succeed.