One of our managers at MySQL recommended the book "It's Not What You Say... It's What You Do" to me as something that he's used in managing teams. While there's nothing here specifically about open source, the book provides a good "back to basics" approach to management. Forget the big strategic initiatives in a company, the radical pronouncements of being customer-centric or sigma-six-oriented or whatever the latest buzzword is among management gurus. The key questions are: Did you set goals? Was there buy-in? How much did you follow up?
My own management style is not perfect, but I try to be very straightforward and objective. I sit down with my direct reports at the beginning of every quarter and we set 8-10 goals that will matter to the business. Sometimes there other things people want to work on and there may be more detail that the individual manager will use in managing their own teams. Sometimes I'll agree to having some items in a "time permitting" category which means I don't really mind if it doesn't get done. I follow up through the quarter, make sure things are tracking towards completion and determine if anything needs to change.
At the end of the quarter it is a simple exercise of "How did you do?" If the goal setting is done right, there's not a lot of ambiguity. The objective either got accomplished or it didn't. As a manager, I expect my direct reports are getting 8, 9 or 10 out of 10. If they're getting less, then I have to micro-manage them, and that's not fun for either one of us.
When setting goals, I try to make sure they are SMART:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Timely
The goals have to be in people's direct area of responsibility and they are ideally formulated in an objective quantifiable manner so that there is no confusion. You need to think ahead about the outcome you want and how you will know if it was achieved.
Here are a couple of useful links:
- Amazon: It's Not What You Say... It's What You Do
- Jim Rohn: SMART Goals
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