Monday, 17 August 2015

The Engineer's Drive

Engineers are driven by the quest for the right answer. This can manifest itself in the ability to work long hours, sacrificing social life, hygiene and diet for this quest. Tech upstarts like Google, Facebook and Microsoft have been able to take advantage of this drive to change the world. But a forceful corporate culture can turn this drive ugly, into an Amazonian environment. Perhaps this is best for the company bottom line in the short term. But you'll have to get used to managing a constant stream of fresh meat for the grinder, instead of building relationships with your team.

Any good engineer with meaningful work will be self-motivated already. If you push them they will probably be able to work stupid hours in service of the quest. This is where you need to decide what kind of manager you want to be - do you relentlessly push for maximum productivity in the short term, or do you take a longer term view and keep your team together at a sustainable level. However, bear in mind that there is a point at which working more hours will mean less productivity.

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