• Veselin Nikolov

Developer since 1998

Automattic since 2011

Store Developers Lead

A born leader

• INTJ

Geek

Evolution

Shock

• 2-3x more communication

• 2-3x more interruptions

• No time to code

More

• Pressure

• Responsibilities

• Deadlines

• People don’t do what you expect from them

:(

WHY!

• Only geeks can manage geeks

• Technical skills are required

• Career

CloningMore like you are appreciated

Understanding your

position in the

organisation helps

A team lead does:

• Communication & acquiring information

• Sharing information

The Middle Management

• Cross-team communication

• Planning

Executive ManagementThe Big Boss. Communicates with the outside world.

„Management is the care and

feeding of the invisible.

You’re doing your best when

it appears the least is

happening.“

-- Managing Humans, Michael

Lopp

Communication is Oxygenmy experience…

1998200 000 students crying

Screaming and losing

your temper rarely works.

2000Something is wrong with your TPS reports.

Micromanagement

doesn’t work either

Also, leads are different.

The rules I follow

• Show sincere appreciation

• Don’t criticize, complain or condemn

The rules I follow

• Smile

• Listen

The Job

• Peter’s wife is pregnant

• Jane is fixing endless amount of bugs

• Joe is driving a fast car, mostly between the garage

and home

• Mike is feeding rumours

• Our boss gives us new projects

• Ivan wants to go to a conference

We ask people to

complete tasks

Good ways to give a task

• Ask questions. Give the person chance to have

the idea and take ownership of it

• Ask for opinions, listen

Feedback

• No smiling in the world with help you when

reviewing bad code.

• Sometimes we just say the wrong thing

Failures in communication

• Defence reactions, attacks, verbal aggression,

body language, change of subject, repetitive no

no no, lengthy posts, silence

• Harder when the person is across the ocean, 10

time zones away

To manage humans,

you need to be one.

And don’t stop codingOr you’re doomed

QUESTIONS?That’s all folks.

• Image credits:

• http://blog.cwonder.com/2013/06/11/puppy-love-2/

• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mexican_Wolf_065.jpg

• http://wnpr.org/post/retiring-research-chimps-and-our-unique-human-evolution

• http://www.ibtimes.com/humans-got-punier-energy-hungry-brains-became-stronger-new-study-suggests-

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