Managing Software for Growth: Without Fear, Control, and the Manufacturing Mindset

Nudging

Once you have these good enough programmers, what do you do? Traditional management notions of control don't make sense. We shouldn't manage in ways that assume they do. That's what you get with typical command-and-control managers imprisoned by the manufacturing mindset. They manage with the lash. They throw their weight around. They think that makes them good managers, ones who get the best out of their people.

Even helpful managers need their teams to work. The difference between good and bad managers is how they make that happen. Good managers don't push, or whip. They nudge. Nudging means influencing in a subtle way. Pushing, or whipping, almost never works for long. It works in a meeting where the people you're pushing around are ...