103: The Org You Were Born Into with Marcus Blankenship

Greater Than Code

• Episode: 103: The Org You Were Born Into with Marcus Blankenship
• Website: Greater Than Code
• Feed URL: https://www.greaterthancode.com/feed/podcast
• Duration: 01:07:41
• Published: 2018-10-31 06:00

In this episode, Marcus Blankenship talks about wanting to be in management vs. just ending up in management, the idea of organizational alignment and not agreement, defining the word “boss”, and the up/down managerial hierarchy. This episode is sponsored by Crickstart. They make organic cricket protein bars, gourmet crackers, and fruit smoothie mixes made with organically farmed crickets and other delicious wholesome ingredients. Visit crickstart.com and get 20% off with promo code GREATERTHANCODE! Panelists: Jessica Kerr | Jamey Hampton  | Sam Livingston-Gray Guest Starring: Marcus Blankenship: @justzeros | marcusblankenship.com   Show Notes: 01:12 – Marcus’ Superpower: Helping Engineers Become Good Bosses 02:30 – Bosses Who Don’t Wanna Boss: Ending Up in Management The Peter Principle 10:37 – Are there people who just aren’t cut out for management or leadership? 14:20 – Applying Rationality to Organizations 20:23 – Alignment Not Agreement 24:52 – Is there a safe way to try and fail at management? Trying on Hats Ruby For Good 31:16 – What does “BOSS” mean? Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell 36:03 – The Up/Down of the Hierarchy Metaphors We Live By Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling by Edgar H. Schein   36:03 – What are the skills that good managers have? How do you know if you’re doing a good job? Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager by Michael Lopp Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams by Mickey W. Mantle and Ron Lichty 53:26 – Giving and Receiving Feedback and Support, Reinforcing Behavior, and Focusing Attention Want to help keep us a weekly show, buy and ship you swag, and bring us to conferences near you? Support us via Patreon! Or tell your organization to send sponsorship inquiries to mandy@greaterthancode.com. Reflections: Jamey: Management vs. leadership. Sam: “I need this from you,” vs. “Why didn’t you do this?” Jess: When we react to something, it’s rarely about the thing we think we’re reacting to. Career narratives by Will Larson Additionally, management is like being on stage and you can be uncomfortable in your own role. Marcus: Listening to others is critical and impactful. Also, letting people taste and see what it’s like to be in management and leadership without the commitment. Are you Greater Than Code? Submit guest blog posts to mandy@greaterthancode.com Please leave us a review on iTunes! This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode. To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well. Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks! Transcript: JESSICA:  Good morning. Welcome to Episode #103 of Greater Than Food. I am here today with my friend, Jamey Hampton. JAMEY:  Thank you, Jessica. I think that maybe, you just made a typo out loud. JESSICA:  I never typo out loud. JAMEY:  But maybe, this is actually Episode 103 of Greater Than Code and I'm also here with my friend, Sam Livingston-Gray. SAM:  Why don't we split the difference and go out with a fishy theme and call it Greater Than Cod? JAMEY:  It's a good compromise. SAM:  Right. Enough of that. I'm pleased to introduce our guest today, Marcus Blankenship. Marcus has been a team lead, software manager and CTO for the better part of 19 years. He believes that every programmer deserves a great boss and he's working to build the next generation of technical leaders. Companies like Box, Netflix, PayPal and Atlassian hire him to help their best engineers become great leaders and build h...