Re:Ask HN: What mistakes in your experience does management ...
by sulam on Thursday August 17, 2017 @06:37PM
(#15041709)
I'd be happy to discuss over a beer. I don't believe there are any hard and fast rules in life, and I've tried to help people more than once in my career (currently I do it in a non-management capacity which is arguably harder). But I think we can agree some situations aren't going to be saved. Good management is knowing how hard to try and when to stop.
Re:Ask HN: What mistakes in your experience does management ...
by groby_b on Friday August 18, 2017 @02:17PM
(#15048495)
Always happy to discuss things over a beer. (Well, I'll have white wine, if you don't mind ;)
And yes, not every situation is salvageable. Alas. Knowing when to stop is why I'm in favor of having a defined process well before you come to the "change, or else" part. That prevents the sad effect that your bar shifts as you collect reports, just because you've got more things to do.
Of course it's a judgment call. Some things, you cannot fix. But some things, you can, and the cost of doing so is much less than rehiring. Good management means making those judgment calls, not just saying "meh, I don't care about low performers, too much work".
Maybe, just maybe, that's a tiny part of the reason people on my team seem to stay longer than 4 years. Because we don't just treat them as disposable cogs.