Glenn Burnside: Managing Developers - Episode 257

Glenn Burnside is the Principal Engineer at Skimmer. For 11 years, he was the Executive Vice President at Headspring until they were acquired by Accenture. Before that, he held a number of development management positions as well as leadership roles in the Boy Scouts and other community roles. Glenn holds an Executive MBA from Quantic School of Business and a Computer Engineering degree from Texas A&M University, where he held leadership positions in the Corps of Cadets, Company B-1. You can find more about Glenn at glennburnside.com.

Topics of Discussion:

[3:48] Glenn shares a funny story of threatening to quit if he became a manager, and what it feels like to bug people about filling out their timesheets.

[5:13] What Glenn realized about software team management and paving the way for others to grow.

[9:03] Glenn talks about his thought process of adding someone to the team, whether it's from scratch or adding someone to an existing team.

[10:08] A concept from The Ideal Team Player, of finding someone that is humble, hungry, and smart.

[13:14] Why Glenn asks to look for demonstrated ability or demonstrated actions from their prior history rather than answering a hypothetical question.

[14:05] The STARR method: Situation, Task, Action, Resolution, Retrospective.

[17:44] The importance of finding someone that can improve with you and learn as they go.

[19:46] The younger generation of developers has skills but lacks confidence.

[21:54] Gathering data points of the industry as a whole from outside your inner circle and place of employment.

[23:07] You've got the great people on your team, now how do you get them to stay?

[25:02] Keeping everybody aimed at the higher mission.

[31:11] Having respect for the whole team, not just thinking of yourself as an individual player.

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