A Simple Yet Efficient Method to Managing More People

Problem

"I wanted to share my idea for SRE at BBC for providing an online broadcast in the same way as if you were watching on regular television. I couldn't however, just go in with this crazy idea on my own. I needed to work out the cultural and technical challenges with my teams."

Actions taken

• "I listened to the increasing number of opinionated voices I was managing."
• "Additionally, I asked open questions that facilitated focused opinions."
• "If they asked me to do something that seemed small, I would do it immediately."
• "Then, I presented a vision of what I believed to have learned and what we could be based on that. From there, I openly asked if I had the vision well understood as a reflection of the information I was getting."
• "Finally, we put together working groups with different focuses and I facilitated them to make sure they were achieving that vision over the course of a year."

Lessons learned

"As a leader, when you take on more people it can be hard to give everyone a fair representation. Likewise, it can take a lot of mental effort to harness the appropriate feedback. If you take the time to listen, ask concentrated questions, and reflect, you can create an environment that is adaptable and determined for the increasing range of engineers you will manage."