Managing Up

In this episode of the Managing Up Show, Brandon, Travis, and Nick talk about meetings. How did they get a bad reputation? How can they be better? And no, the answer is not to abolish meetings, but rather to put the effort into making them actually good. They share disaster stories of meetings gone wrong and what makes one actually work. They cover: * Setting a clear purpose for meetings * Identifying the roles of participants, and * Setting up discussions that unstick our work and sharpen our focus Yep, there is such a thing as an effective, engaging meeting, and once you’ve had them, you’ll never go back. Mentioned this episode: * https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/standup-meetings-are-dead/ [https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/standup-meetings-are-dead/] * https://www.amazon.com/Death-Meeting-Leadership-Solving-Business/dp/0787968056 [https://www.amazon.com/Death-Meeting-Leadership-Solving-Business/dp/0787968056]

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk "hero culture" and how that affects teams. What are the drawbacks of encouraging hero culture? How do you draw the distinction between necessary heroism and chronic hero culture? What's the difference between heroism and professionalism? They also discuss common pitfalls of trying to overcome hero culture, and what it means to set a sustainable example. Show Notes: * Do Hard Things by Steve Magness * https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Things-Resilience-Surprising-Toughness/dp/006309861X/ * Navy Seals "Hell Week" * https://navyseals.com/nsw/hell-week-0/ * Radar Charts * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_chart * Kevin Goldsmith's Lead Dev talk on combining ingredients for the perfect engineering team * https://leaddev.com/team/finding-right-ingredients-perfect-engineering-team

OK, fine, y'all win. We finally did the episode of "Managing Up" about managing up. In it, Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about techniques for managing up, how they're similar to managing your own team members, and how it is sometimes very different. They share books and resources that helped them and talk about how communication, being crisp, and (gasp) _feelings_ play into managing your upward relationships. Show Notes: * Managing Up article by Stephen Gossett from Built In * https://builtin.com/people-management/managing-up * Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues by Dr. David Bradford, Ph.D & Dr. Carole Robin, Ph.D  * https://www.amazon.com/Connect-Building-Exceptional-Relationships-Colleagues/dp/0593237099 * Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David * https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Agility-Unstuck-Embrace-Change/dp/1592409490 * Ted Lasso: Darts scene ("Be curious, not judgmental") * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S16b-x5mRA

The Managing Up Crew is joined by Estella Gonzalez Madison (@chicagoing) to discuss how they've changed the way they manage since the start of the pandemic 2+ years ago. They discuss tactical changes and how they've changed philosophically during this time, and how they square their own humanity and that of their teams during the last 2 years, as well as how this affects how they plan to manage in the future. Show Notes: * Estella Gonzalez Madison * https://twitter.com/chicagoing [https://twitter.com/chicagoing] * Talking to your past self (humor) * https://mymodernmet.com/julie-nolke-funny-viral-video/ [https://mymodernmet.com/julie-nolke-funny-viral-video/] * Rethinking Remote Standups * https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/standup-meetings-are-dead/ [https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/standup-meetings-are-dead/] * Lara Hogan's Manager Voltron * https://larahogan.me/blog/manager-voltron/ [https://larahogan.me/blog/manager-voltron/]

Nick, pondering the Texas electric grid and the 2021 power crisis posits the question to Travis and Brandon: What role does pain play in leading teams? What is the role of a manager in managing and reacting to pain on our teams? What are the dangers of hiding or deflecting this pain? This leads to a discussion of processing feedback, helping teams learn from pain, and yes, launching trains at meteors. What roles do curiosity and fear play in managing organizational pain? What role do retrospectives play in this? How do you pronounce "gigawatt"? Show notes: * 2021 Texas Power Crisis * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis] * The lottery factor (AKA bus factor) * https://towardsdatascience.com/maintaining-a-good-lottery-factor-1eeb2b2f52a6 [https://towardsdatascience.com/maintaining-a-good-lottery-factor-1eeb2b2f52a6] * Ted Lasso: "The shower pressure is rubbish: make a note of that" * https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/cff607e3-f79e-4a84-a38c-ab6124c596c6 [https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/cff607e3-f79e-4a84-a38c-ab6124c596c6]