Managing and Mentoring

I’m often asked if I manage people, and my answer is, “Yes”. And the followup question is, “And how many direct reports do you have?” and my answer is, “None”. Heres’s why.

I’ve learned that people don’t like to be managed; it’s too much like “governance”. They prefer to “self-manage” in much the same way that agile development teams do. So, my “style” of management is to mentor. The most effective way to maintain productivity and get the “jobs to be done” done, is to maintain morale. And partnering with each of the team members I work with to help them develop their skills and for me to better understand what their inputs and outputs are is the most effective means to manage people.

Now, managing projects…that’s a little different. Projects don’t care if they’re governed or managed. Projects don’t need mentoring. But what they do need is process. As a compulsive gatherer and documentor of information, that part is…relatively easy. And understanding and optimizing people’s inputs and outputs speaks to that process, and subsequently project productivity.

People + Process = Project Productivity = Product.

That’s my formula for success. It’s all about the Ps, and the Ps are all about the Ms; mentoring people, and managing projects.

Relationship building is a skill that I apply to everything I do in Product Design (I’m preferring the term “Design” over “UX” these days after an inspiring conversation with a product team that finds UX to be too broad a scope to clearly define those “jobs to be done”.) Building a relationship with your research participants helps you to get better answers to your questions. Building a “virtual relationship” with your customer-users through User Journey Mapping, Personas and Scenarios helps you to build a better product. And building an actual relationship with your cross-functional team members helps you to hone your process and accelerates your delivery to market.

Early on in my career, one of my mantras was, “I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to earn the respect of my peers.” But that ship has sailed. Since immersing myself in the world of (and here comes my favorite term) “User-centered Design Thinking”, my new mantra is…

“I’m not here to make friends,
I’m here to build relationships”

Dreux Sawyer is a User Experience Strategist, Researcher, Architect, Designer and Mentor currently working with ADP.