MMM is a must-read, for anyone that wants to effectively engage in the software development lifecycle, IMO. Developer, project manager, doesn't matter.
I will soon be working as a PM at one of the big tech companies as my first job.
I've gotten the gist of these lessons from a software engineering class, HN articles, and from my internship (at the same company), but I'm still not very confident about becoming a great PM. Can you recommend any books or resources that covers more of this kind of stuff?
> Good PMs are a bit of a paradox. They are immensely impactful and bring value to every project they touch. Yet they are also far overqualified for what is often a thankless job.
In 2013 I went to a project management conference. I'd realised that as a developer I was stepping into this role frequently as I worked at a small agency, and I enjoyed stopping projects becoming disorganised messes.
Talking to PMs about what being a proper PM entailed, I heard too many say "if the project goes well someone else will take the credit, but if it goes badly for any reason you'll take the blame. And you don't have power, you can only ask up/down the organisation while at the mercy of politics".
>engineers are delighted when PMs show interest in code
In particular, if you want to go for sink or swim, switch to a technical PM role in your dev platform (like the Dart, STL, app model, or cpp teams). You'll be forced to learn more about how developers work and what goes into a language. Can highly recommend it.
I think this is a great way of looking at it. Coming from the product side of things, I see developers who are vastly more productive than their peers because they have amazing organizational and communication skills. They help keep timelines on track, they keep their peers focused and identify potential issues that a PM without an engineering background might miss. Developers who can suggest small modifications to a product spec that will drastically reduce development time but not greatly impact the overall product are worth their weight in gold.
Yeah. I'm been tempted to move into product management because I care a lot more about the business side than your average dev. Then I need to constantly remind myself of what I've observed ^_^
What kind of job did you switch to after being a PM, if you don't mind me asking?
I'm currently in transition from developer to PM. As a developer you always have the ability to bang something out and do something. As a PM, there are more frustrating days. I spend my day answering emails, tracking down stakeholders so I can figure out what the requirements are, getting the status of work, and reporting on the work. The bad days are when you get emergency requests or requests that don't make sense. You need to be able to work with everyone and see their point of view, even if you think they are incompetent
As a developer, I want to think about code. If I have the choice of learning something new, or digging into a new skillset it is going to be about code- not project management.
The last thing I feel like doing is sitting in a conference of non-technical people talking about how some new funny words they made up in project management will fix everything. Scrum masters, vendors, etc... it all just doesn't really engage me any more than talking about concurrency gets a project manager going.
This isn't to say that I don't think PM isn't important, but just that it really isn't a terribly interesting problem. I haven't seen (personally) that many scenarios where some new trick from a PM book, class, conference has actually made the difference in a project coming in on time/budget.
I personally like a lot of Agile stuff, but I don't strictly adhere to any specific one, nor do I want to in a small team. I just want to produce good code.
I'll second that. Any time I've seen PMs involved in dev work (like requirements gathering) it's a shit show. PMs can usually have shallow conversations about software, but not deep enough to do requirements gathering.
> Management worshipping at the throne of agile become really enthralled with these guys and can derail an org for years. In theory a PMs stakeholders are the users, but in practice it is buffing the egos of the senior management that hired them. Can become a self reinforcing closed loop between senior management / agile consultants / PMs.
And while not every project requires or deserves a dedicated PM - every project needs someone who'l own the PM responsibilities. It can be _very_ hard as one of the devs on a very small project with no PM to "smell the risk in the air" while you're deep down the rabbit hole of coding - but if nobody does it things are very likely to eventually grind to a time wasting halt.
Great Project Managers are worth their weight in single malt scotch. (or substitute your personal very expensive substance...)
I agree with everything except that a PM can be extremely valuable on a small team. Developers are much more valuable designing and coding than in endless meetings and planning sessions. That said, IME PMs should be at the same level in the hierarchy as the devs. PMs manage projects, not people.
I never really appreciated this. The correlation between individual growth and company success is much looser for a software engineer than a PM. You can learn a ton for your first two years as a software engineer at a company that isn't going anywhere. Less so as a PM.
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