A letter to a software development manager

Dear software development manager,

I understand your frustrations. Everyone is asking too much of you. You were thrown into this role without anyone telling you what should do. However, everyone has an exact idea of who you should be: a leader, a servant leader, a coach, an agile coach, a project manager, a scrum master, a product owner, a train driver, a facilitator, a mentor, an expert, a psychologist and a barista.

When we sold you the role we told you there was no need to keep coding. You should trust the team to do the technical work. However, the reality is much more complex. You found out that everyone expects that you stay “technical”. Your team members expect that you help them with their day-to-day problems. Your manager expects that you show technical leadership. Hiring managers expect that you know everything: cloud, machine learning, DevOps, agile scaling to six billion humans, blockchain, quantum computing, NFTs, and parallel universes.

You don’t have time to keep up with technology. You spend your day hopping on and out of meetings, 1:1s, and ceremonies (not the Oscars ceremonies, even if there would be occasional slapping). And between meetings, you open your favorite IDE (Outlook) and start debugging emails.

When you eventually get home, you try to open your computer to catch up with that Coursera or EdX course that is sitting menacingly on your browser. But you find yourself binging the latest season of a mind-numbing series.

Talking about the series, please watch “The Flash”. Because this is how your client sees you: Barry Allen, the fastest man alive. Agile, you can keep your team’s velocity growing. Available, you defend your product against evil meta-bugs. Proactive, you go back in time to solve regression issues. Multitasker, you create doubles of yourself to handle urgent matters.

When you finish your Flash duties, please do not forget your people management duties. You have outstanding listening skills, you are empathetic and you project positive vibes. You solve conflicts, absorb tensions, reassure your team and keep smiling. You are a psychologist with no couch nor degree.

Dear software development manager, your job is hard but you are doing your best. You are not perfect, and it is okay. Keep trying and learning from your mistakes and cancel your Netflix subscription because your machine learning course is waiting for you.

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