Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager, Third Edition

© Michael Lopp 2016

Michael Lopp, Managing Humans, 10.1007/978-1-4842-2158-7_11

11. Dissecting the Mandate

Understanding when and how to insist on strategy

Michael Lopp¹ 

(1)Los Gatos, California, USA

In your quiver of management skills , you’ve got a couple of powerful arrows. There’s the annual review, where you take the time to really explain, in detail, what a given employee needs to do to grow. That’s huge. That can be life changing. That’s a big arrow. How about the layoff? That’s when you get asked who stays and who goes. You’re going to lose some sleep when you’ve got to pull the bow back on that one.

Then there’s the mandate. The mandate is when you gather the team together and calmly say, “This is the way it is.” No Q&A. No collaboration. ...