Line management is currently on my mind as I’ve moved to a new company (VP Engineering, team of 30+ people). Coincidently it’s also something I’ve recently been asked about by a peer in a similar position. Modern management practices tend to frown on line management as it smacks of traditional organisational structures. However – out with line management tends to go any formal pastoral care for staff as well as inexperienced or unqualified people getting left to deal with complicated situations with little
Below is advice based on my experiences . I’m happy to answer any questions, but I don’t present anything here as a shining example of good or bad (“where’s the Holacrocy dude?”), just stuff that has worked well for me over the years.
Everyone needs good guidance I wrote this article on Roles & Responsibilities in Software Teams over 5 years ago and have used these effectively in 3 companies now. I find it really helps for everyone to be clear on what’s expected of them, it certainly makes the line managers job easier to have something which defines positive (and negative) behaviour.