Am I meant to be a manager?

Ah! I have worked as an IC now for almost 7-8 years. I need to focus on getting transitioned into a manager. Is that what your mind telling you?? Do you think a manager is ready when he/she gain certain number of years' experience? Unfortunately, we at Management Buffs do not believe so.

Management is another skill just like coding, or designing, or marketing. Just because you have been a programmer for 8 years, doesn't mean managing 10 programmers will be easy for you. It is just of a subtler version of a coder getting into selling, or vice-versa. Even a salesperson may not make the perfect manager, though he has a higher chance of being a good one.

Building a whole search engine can be a piece of cake for you, but, getting it done through 10 people may take all the frustration out. Be it a people manager, or IC manager, you need certain common criteria to be a good manager. Hence, we have listed few for you to actually understand if you are a better IC or Manager.

Interest to Communicate

Whether you like it or not, you would need to communicate more once you have become the manager. This will include all interactions:

1. with your reporters

2. with your managers

3. with stakeholders (other internal teams and third parties), and

4. in all your 24/7 meetings or calls

There are many soft-spoken managers who transitioned back to ICs due to the lack of interest in communicating than due to inexperience in communicating. Communication doesn't stop with talking alone unfortunately. You need to answer your overflowing inboxes and keep checking for priority messages every now and then.

If this doesn't sound anything interesting to you, there are high chances that management can get the hell out of you. The question is "What would happen if you are not interested in communication?" right? It would be like you want to build a house without any land. It means you are compromising your opinions and are bad at defending your team or idea, which can cause trust issues with your team, that will backfire you sooner or later.

Ability to see the bigger picture

While an IC gets the privilege of executing only the requirements, they can just focus on that particular problem and find a solution. However, a manager needs to know the whys, whats, and how of the task and whos and whys of the execution. How would this add value to my organization? What negative impact will it lead to if I don't take this to production?, etc. The major prioritization lies in the leader's hands.

So if you are interested in understanding each and every aspect of what you do, you would make a perfect manager. However, if you spent all your years just executing what was assigned, chances are the ball will keep rolling to you often when you transition to a manager.

Taking Responsibility

Again, as an IC, you would have had the privilege to only accept blame for what you did, or did not do. However, as a manager you need to accept responsibility not just for yourself, but for your whole team. Not just that, you would have just faced your manager or senior manager as an IC when you made a mistake, but you may have to face your stakeholders and other teams when it comes to being a manager. Ensure you are mentally prepared for the same before you make a commitment. Especially if you were too sincere as an IC who did not get into any trouble at all.

Influencing People

Have you noticed some people light up the entire room when they start talking? The whole floor would be eavesdropping them. They are natural influencers. It is not necessary to be like them to get work done.

However, you need to know the knack of convincing different types of people by silently observing their nature. Some people may be driven by deadlines, whereas some may be driven by fear of getting fired, many would have an affinity to growth.

Organizational Skills

We are not talking about coming up with plans and processes, but implementing them and cultivating the culture in your team. Somehow, everyone can come up with great plans, but only a few can actually implement it consistently. Did you know? Top achievers are fast in setting a routine but very slow at changing them. On the contrary, others work the other way round.

Business and Data-oriented

Everyone gets to work with data. But its the intensity and the obsession that matters. Metrics are everything that speaks a team's success. And managers need to know what all metrics they need to:

1. Quantify success of the business

2. Make unbiased decisions on their team's growth

3. Track the product's successes and failures

4. Benchmark their product with or success with their competitors

5. Understand Customers Feedback

6. Construct the roadmap and priorities, and what not!!

Edwards Deming rightly said " In God we trust; all others must bring data". A manager who doesn't work with data would sooner or later fail.

Stalking skills

Sounds comical right! However, you need to watch your employees, especially when you have a bunch of newbies in your team. It is not only to check if they are sincere at work, but also to understand if they are blocked on something and are hesitating to reach out to people.

If you feel hesitant to do so, you may not be able to make a good relationship with your employees.

If this post sounded overwhelming for you, maybe you like the job you are at, and should try senior positions in the same path, without transitioning to management. However, if this is exciting or challenging, welcome to the community!! Need more guidance on whether you want to be a People Manager or IC Manager, you can check here.