So influence me already!

Personal note: I have to admit, my job over the past several months has been a challenge.

For the past several years, I ran teams of various sizes, 4 - 16 people. But, since a major change last year, no one has reported to me. Everyone that I worked with reported to someone else. My role, on several projects, has been basically that of an "advisor". I was expected to have expertise, and to utilize that expertise in these projects to help guide them to success.

In other words, I generated my own responsibilities. My job was to identify work that needed to be done, and then convince others. If they agreed, they committed their own time or that of team members; if not, they could just ignore me.

My responsibilities have thus been entirely about influencing others. It's a role that requires my active effort. As with a lot of coders, my first instinct is to identify something that needs to be done and then just do it myself.

Once, on a big testing day, I felt we needed a central command point. I wasn't sure why. But, I arranged for an all-day open conference line, and told people I'd just wait there in case issues came up. Then I sat on the call, not really sure if anyone would need it. Over the course of the day, many people popped in and out, and we resolved a lot of problems quickly.

All of this has convinced me that managing requires fewer direct commands and more persuasion, motivation, selling -- various manners of putting oneself out in public in a vulnerable way. By this demonstration of beliefs in action, one can influence others. That's really what the game of management is about.