Good People Manager / Bad People Manager

“Take care of the people, the products, and the profits - in that order.”

- Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Background: Over 15 years ago, Silicon Valley tech CEO / author / venture capitalist, Ben Horowitz, wrote a training document for software product managers. He called it Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager, and over time it became part of the unofficial canon for tech startups. You can read it here.

I adapted Horowitz’s training document to apply to managers of people, not products.

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Good People Manager / Bad People Manager

Good managers know the culture, norms, customers, and products extremely well and operate from a strong basis of knowledge and confidence.

A good manager is the CEO of their team and measures themselves in terms of the success of their team. They know their goals and take full responsibility for devising and executing a winning plan (no excuses). Bad managers have lots of excuses. I don't have enough resources. My own manager is a jerk. I don't get enough direction. It's a bad market. My team's compensation is too low.

A good CEO doesn't make these kinds of excuses and neither should the CEO of a team. Good managers put first things first. They don't let their time get sucked up in the thick of thin things. They prioritize results getting activities. Good managers consistently work in Quadrant II (important, but not urgent activities). As a result, they're able to manage multiple projects simultaneously without compromising quality. They break down big projects into a series of manageable tasks with deadlines. High priority tasks drive their activity, not email. They check Salesforce / Zoho / Slack regularly.

Good managers teach their team how to follow cultural norms around communication, and they follow those norms themselves. They respond as quickly as possible to emails and phone calls. They arrive at meetings on time and follow 1-1 best practices.

Good managers are engaged in 1-1's even when they have competing priorities. Good managers send their 1-1 agendas 24 hours in advance and also send follow-up emails because they value discipline. Bad managers fail to send their 1-1 agendas 24 hours in advance and don't send follow up emails because they don't value discipline.

Good managers stick to agendas, and they show up at team meetings and events on time and are engaged. Bad managers show up late and are distracted. Good managers know that others watch them closely, and they manage their own behavior and emotions. They don't write emails in anger. They never give constructive feedback in public.

When something goes wrong, good managers ask,"What mistakes did we make? What could we have done to prevent them?" They don't say, "there's nothing we could have done." They seek first to understand. They prepare for important conversations by practicing in front of a mirror. They listen more than they talk.

Bad managers don't hold their team accountable. They don't give constructive feedback when it's hard or uncomfortable. They prefer to be liked by everyone, even if this means compromising the company’s success or the professional development of their team. They don't take responsibility for business decisions, instead saying "this came from my own manager." Bad managers complain about decisions that came from above. Because they fail to serve their team at a high level consistently, their team sometimes reaches out to other managers for direction when they need it. Bad managers constantly want to be told what to do. They assume their team knows what their goals are.

Good managers focus on revenue and clients and their team. They seek out feedback wherever they can. They ask their team “What do you need from me?” “What should I do more of?” and “What should I stop doing?” They're not only able to solve problems twice, but they teach their team how to solve problems twice. They don't assume their team knows what the goals are, so they remind them. They define success for their team and tell them exactly what needs to be done to be successful. They delegate and follow up. They memorialize by putting it in writing.

Good managers ensure their team’s tools are updated, including guides, marketing collateral, templates, and scripts. They role play with their team until scripts are memorized. They care about the details.

Good managers know it's their responsibility to hire A+ players and maintain a recruiting pipeline. They get excited when one of their team members takes on more responsibility or moves to another team, even if sometimes that team is at another company. They understand that one of their most important jobs is creating more leaders. They give their team opportunities to take on challenging projects even when they feel uncomfortable. They take responsibility for their own professional growth and the professional growth of their team.

Bad managers don’t ask their team, “How are you? Really, how are you?” As long as the job gets done and organizational goals are met, they don’t care if their team is reaching their own personal professional goals. Beyond shared organizational goals, bad managers don’t even know what their team’s goals are.

Good managers have laser focus on the organization’s goals, but they’re interested in their team’s personal professional goals too. And they help them reach those goals. They search for strengths, they put people in the right seats, and they help members of their team become the best version of themselves.

Good managers say, “Thank you.” And “I trust your judgment.”

Good managers take care of the people, the products, and the profits - in that order.