Brendan Murty
Posts
30 Jun 2024
Over the years, I've learnt a lot about how I think software teams should be managed.
I aim to stick to a set of general goals as a manager:
- Be clear and concise
- Reward hard work
- Give detailed feedback early and often
- Take a breath and try to avoid immediate emotional responses
- Consider outside factors that could affect moods
- Create tasks that result in a sense of achievement
As for the engineering part of the role, I also keep in mind that:
- Code reviews should not be personal, only the code is under review
- Removing information silos should be the aim for any large project
- Clear and concise high-level technical requirements must be included in each task
- Let the assigned Software Engineer demonstrate their skills and stay out of their way
- Encourage each team member to document as much as possible, making it easy for any other team member to work on the area
- That fixing software bugs doesn't have to be stressful
When hiring, I aim to always:
- Show the salary range on the job advertisement
- Detail the entire hiring process, who's involved at each stage and a summary of what areas each step covers
- Give clear feedback during and after each round
- Communicate as early and as often as possible
- Encourage others who are involved in the process to follow these goals as well