As a technical manager, what am I for? What are my core values?

Nurture a passionate, focused, autonomous team. Attract, retain and develop people who do right for their team.

Approach the manager’s work with humility. It’s not about getting people to do what I want. It’s about having a team that owns what they do and does it well.

Wed developers’ desire to contribute and love of problem solving with practices that minimize waste, reward learning and provide continual contact with customers.

Hold the team accountable for their commitments. Have them define their own standards of performance (estimates, quality practices, definition of done). Allow them to feel the inevitable disappointments. Celebrate their achievements. Always expect them capable of improvement. Treat their collective workspace, opinions, and time with utter respect.

Always seek out the next challenge and deliver on commitments.

Don’t wait for ways to provide value to my employer. Anticipate the next change or growth. If wrong, react to it.

Avoid make work. The goal isn’t to keep the team busy. It’s to keep them contributing.

Teach senior management the value of the team by what they do. Project success drives organizational change. It trumps reasoned debate. Project success can sometimes even win out over habit, emotional ties, and political ingenuity.

Treat all people ethically

Authority is a trust assigned to me for a purpose. A leader’s behavior shores up the workplace behavior of others and affects the health, happiness and family life of staff. Be accountable to that.

If there is a purpose in work and in life it is not to create unnecessary human suffering.