| Engineering manager here... I understand the sentiment around that managers should do a better job and many metrics based tools miss out on people performing necessary tasks that won't show up in the metrics. The people I have managed who fit those criteria were very obvious and it was known their code delivery was suffering because they were helping others. The good players always stood out. The areas where I had wished we had comprehensive people metrics were frequently for remote employees on drastically different time zones where daily regular interaction was difficult or where there was some clear under-performance but the WHY was unclear. It can be very tricky being a manager and to getting to the bottom of WHY someone isn't performing. Should a PIP be necessary, it's very important to identify specific behaviors that need improvement. During 1:1s, under-performing employees will provide the most vague explanations, copious excuses, blame other factors. Even when I've cross checked with their peers, no one wanted to really give any clear answers as to why something was late, had abnormal amount of issues, or development was standing still altogether. People were clearly avoiding the questions. Everyone here seems to assume direct reports are always honest, open and transparent. They are not, and especially when things are not going well. Manager need a way to verify what they are hearing. Do the metrics support the claims, or is someone who's slacking just BSing you. It's not where you get your primary information on performance, it's what you use to verify your own suspicions or find supporting evidence. For example, an employee who has a history of not testing their code and has in their development plan to improve on that. During 1:1s, the question comes up and invariably, every time I've been positively assured they are making great progress and everything is being tested. I now have 3 options:
1. perform my own review of their code to verify their claim
2. get a high level metric that testing has improved
3. trust what they are saying, move on and throw the dice that everything will be fine Option 1 is obviously the best but very micro-managerial and will clearly demonstrate I don't trust their word, further demotivating the individual Option 2 would be a good place to start unless employee gives me further reason to go with option 1 Option 3 is what shitty managers do |