🐏 Javier Carnero

Managers: Understanding Our Role

As a developer, I often wondered about the true role of a good manager. Throughout my career, I've observed managers engaging in a variety of tasks, each shaped by the company's unique culture and norms. This left me with the impression that the role of a manager is fluid and context-dependent.

In recent years, as a manager myself, I've continued to struggle with these questions: What is my role as a manager? and How does it fit within the larger organizational structure? Seeking answers, I turned to books, colleagues, peers in similar roles, and even my own manager. The insights I found often emphasized an array of tasks and actions, including:

While these tasks are undeniably important, I always felt they answered the how but not the what or why. This lack of clarity persisted until a few months ago when a mistake I made brought things into focus.

A Lesson in Accountability

I allowed a change within a project's requirements that seemed to impact only one team. However, I failed to realize this change also affected a second team, leading to delays and bottlenecks. These disruptions resulted in lost time and money. Recognizing my error, I approached my manager to discuss mitigation strategies. Our conversation shifted toward how my oversight impacted both costs and team efficiency, and that's when everything clicked for me.

The Manager's Role: Ensuring Profitability

A manager's role, within any group of people, is to ensure and maximize the profitability of the value being produced. Developers create value by delivering artifacts that improve stakeholders problems. The manager supports the technical teams by supervising the consumed effort during the value creation.

That's it.

That's the core of the role in any software development company, and likely in any organization.

Once this perspective crystallized, the rest fell into place:

I define profitability as the ratio value creation / effort. Focusing on maximizing this ratio remains a constant throughout a management career. Whether managing individuals, a single team, multiple teams, or even other managers, the principle holds true. It applies whether you develop software for third parties, an internal product, or research & innovation projects financed inside the company. However, the specific tasks and responsibilities —the how— evolve depending on the scope and context of the company and manager's role.

A Clearer Evaluation Framework

This lens simplifies the evaluation of a manager's performance. It's no longer about checking off trendy activities like team-building exercises or adopting the latest performance review techniques. Instead, the focus is on whether we're taking the necessary actions to maximize the profitability of our team's work across time-frames.

Misalignment and Its Consequences

This framework also helps identify organizational missteps in defining a manager's role. A common pitfall occurs when managers focus on hiring, team well-being, and performance evaluations while delegating accountability for project execution entirely to the technical team.

Without accountability, the manager's role shifts toward HR and/or sales, leaving the technical teams burdened with both execution and invested effort concerns. This shift can lead to strained team dynamics, as technical members may feel overwhelmed or unsupported, and it jeopardizes project outcomes by placing invested time and cost oversight in the hands of those focused solely on execution. In the worst-case scenario, profitability is neglected altogether, leaving project success to chance or the team's experience.

Final Thoughts

Understanding the manager's role through the lens of profitability provides clarity and purpose. It aligns the manager's actions with the company's goals and ensures that teams can focus on their work without carrying undue burdens. As managers, our responsibility is not just to support but to actively create and sustain the conditions for value and success at the lowest invested effort.