If the Command and Control management style is like the British Armada then do dev managers need to be a lot more like pirate ship captains?

Jeff Maxwell is an application architect with experience in Fortune 100 corporations, a longtime software developer and lifelong Oklahoma State Cowboy alumnus.

Jeff was a prior guest of Hello Tech Pros on episode 2 where we discussed Productivity and how Jeff took a $1 million project and reduced the team size from 25 to 4 people by restructuring the requirements document into bite-sized tasks.

Key Takeaways

• You’re not a leader if you’re not listening to your team.
• Leaders who are very non-technical in a very technical field can be challenging to work with if they are command and control driven and don’t solicit feedback from the team.
• Developers are really good problem solvers. Leadership needs to identify those who are great problem solvers and empower them to make creative solutions.
• Managing developers is like herding cats being a captain on a pirate ship.
  • Developers crave adventure.
  • They don’t want to follow rules that have no purpose or add value to the current situation.
  • They respect leaders who have hands-on experience and lead from the front lines.
• Each ship and each captain had their own set of rules or Pirate Code.
  • Can’t light a candle after 9pm at night.
  • If you’re going to smoke or drink you must do it above deck after 8pm.
  • Each man gets a vote.
  • You must keep your pistols and cutlass (skills) ready for war.
  • The person who forsees the first sail gets the best weapons.
  • The captain is elected by the majority of the crew.
  • The musicians get to rest on Sunday but have to take requests on all other days by the crew.
• The captain has to understand every aspect of the ship and what each role entails.
• Each dev team should create their own Pirate Code and swear an oath.
  • Coding standards.
  • SDLC process.
  • Culture standards.

Resources Mentioned

• HTP-2 Scaling Down a Team to Get Results — Productivity Tuesday with Jeff Maxwell
• It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques From the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff (Listen on Audible)

Sponsors

• Burdene.com – SMS text-based bot for taking notes and getting reminders.
• HelloTechBook.com – Get a free audio book from Audible.

Contact Guest

• Jeff Maxwell on LinkedIn
• jeff@tcnsolutions.com

Available on Leadership Wednesday and Hello Tech Pros daily podcasts