Comments on: Are Your Managers Part of Your Team?

By: Reese S. Roth

Reese S. Roth — Thu, 18 May 2006 21:49:25 +0000

I am seeking an experienced and excellent Product Development Manager as well as a superb Customer Program Manager to be located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There is a possibility of a like position in Munich, Germany for a bi-lingual candidate. Does anyone have suggestions where I should advertise to attract quality candidates in this field??

By: James Ward

James Ward — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:45:09 +0000

I think that a manager is a member of the project team to the extent that they are either a “working” member of the team or a resource to the team. By working member I mean not only doing task level work that produces project deliverables, but also planning, control and reporting tasks. As a resource, the manager can provide review, feedback, problem solving. In agile environments, the manager plays a key role in removing impediments to getting the work done as planned and scheduled.

By: strik

strik — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:42:09 +0000

A manager is (or should) be part of the team like a coach is part of a team in sports. The coach has much influence on the game, his decisions have much impact on winning or loosing the it.
Of course, the coach cannot force the success if the players are not good, or if they do not follow him. The same goes if they do not respect or trust him.
I fail to see a difference here, and I have to see someone claiming a coach NOT to be part of the team. Why should we have a difference here?
Just my EUR 0.02.

By: Asher Sterkin

Asher Sterkin — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 15:42:04 +0000

In my experience it’s a big challenge for any manager. Many managers lack self-confidence and thus start using a distance in order to protect their respect. Many team members do not trust managers suspecting that the manager will be more loyal to upper management than to the team. If a manager does really want to be a part of the team (s)he will need to go an extra mile.

By: John Rusk

John Rusk — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 02:31:51 +0000

I’ve only see two managers actually sit with the people they manage.
If you don’t even sit with the team, how are you part of it?!

By: Tim King

Tim King — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 05:24:35 +0000

My manager is definitely part of the development team. Ditto that the best job I ever had, the project manager was always part of the team. The worst job I ever had, we didn’t have effective teams.
-TimK

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:55:13 +0000

Hi Johanna
The title of your post instantly caught my attention.
I recently spent sometime thinking about the roles I’d had over the last few years and thought about which I’d really liked and which I hadn’t.
I realised that the roles I’d enjoyed had one thing in common – I (or rather we, the team) really enjoyed working with our manager. Furthermore the managers were closely integrated with the team the team.
And guess what? Yup, the jobs I didn’t like had the opposite in common. A team operating in almost total isolation from the manager, save for the bread-and-butter reporting relationship that you’d expect.
Josh