People often talk about "managers" and "management" as if they are well-defined and universally understood terms, and that we know who the managers are. But that's not always the case.
Basically, a manager is one who makes decisions and coordinates activities for some group of people, in pursuit of some goal. But there are distinct types of management roles that influence different aspects of a software development project:
- Technical Management -- architecture, tools, development methodologies, research
- Project Management -- project budget/finances, schedule, scope-of-work, completion, procurement and allocation of project resources
- Organizational Management -- company finances, procurement and allocation of company resources to projects, choices of which projects to pursue, company-wide infrastructure, company-wide strategy, management of managers
- Administrative Management -- company policies and procedures, movement of resources throughout company, records collection and maintenance
- Customer Management -- coordination, advertising/marketing, expectations, hand-holding
- Personnel Management -- motivation/happiness of people, career growth, recruiting, training, mentorship, discipline, resolution of interpersonal conflicts, pay/benefits
One need not hold an official title of "manager" to have such a role. Technical management is often done by someone called a
ChiefArchitect or
TechnicalLead. Project management may be handled by people in the marketing department. But even people without fancy titles perform management roles once in a while. For example, a junior programmer may select a development tool that is later used by the entire team, or the project manager may delegate progress tracking to a subordinate, or a secretary may engage in a little personnel management by organizing a morale-building company softball game.
Each of these roles may be held by multiple people, and multiple roles are often fulfilled by a single person. In small companies, individuals are often expected to simultaneously fulfill all of these roles. Thus, there are many tradeoffs that managers need to make while making decisions, because they must achieve a balance between conflicting goals. And most people are not good at all types of management (perhaps not at any of them), so they often make mistakes in their weaker roles, or put too much emphasis on those roles at which they are best, Failure or success in one role is not necessarily a good indicator of how one may perform other roles.
See WhatIsaManager, LeaderShip
CategoryManagement, CategoryEmployment
Management Roles