The perfect manager for a software engineer

In the calendar of the senior developer Vasily, a notification “Performance review” popped up. It was an annual review in the company “Managers know Better” LLC. But the last year for Vasily turned out to be special. The competitor company “Only Managers Know” LLC had released a new product for recognizing disloyal employees. Although the solution was crude and more like a random response generator, its cheapness and ease of use immediately attracted users.

At an urgent meeting, it was urgently decided to make a similar product. Urgently! The fight for the project was loud and hot. But the great honor of implementing a new product fell to the manager Alex with the nickname Democrat-Autocrat, which he received for his love of arranging huge meetings, where the last decision was always made by him. Alex coughed a little and said: “No challenge. We will do it in a month!” Alex’s fighting spirit came to the liking of the owner of the company: “The project is yours!”

The Matter of Honor

Vasily was horrified. The team was already loaded with ongoing tasks and maintenance. The new project did not portend anything but huge overwork and sleepless nights. At the next planning stage, Vasily showed a road map. Even on the most optimistic assumption, the implementation of the basic functionality should have taken at least six months.

Alex listened attentively and walked around the room: “Colleagues, friends. You all know that the company is in a difficult situation right now, and we just have to show understanding,” Alex glanced at the team. “After all, the very fact that we’ve got this project speaks of great trust,” Alex’s voice became louder and more confident. “The company believes in our professional qualities! Believes in each of us! In each of you! What does it mean?” he asked. “It means that the company will never forget it!” Alex finished his speech and patted Vasily on the shoulder: “Let’s just do it!”

The team set to work on the development. Ill-considered and incomplete business requirements led to the implementation of workarounds and temporary solutions; pressing deadlines made the team tired and demoralized. The project first lasted for two months, then for three, then for six months. From burnout, the developers began to leave the team. But Vasily always remembered the main thing: “The company will never forget!” And how could he ever forget, if the manager repeated it at every meeting, patting Vasily on the shoulder?

The Fruits of Success

After eight months, the project was finally completed. “We just did it!”, Vasily thought and grinned. “Okay, time to go to the meeting.”

“Hello, Vasily! Good to see you. How is it going?”
“Hey, Alex, thanks, I’m fine.”
“Come in, have a seat. First, let me congratulate you on another year in our company. You have really shown great results. And most importantly — we have released a product! Do you remember when I promised you that the company wouldn’t forget that? So, on behalf of me personally, and on behalf of the entire company, let me give you as a gift,” Alex rose from his chair, “a strong handshake!”

There was an awkward pause in the room. Vasily was somewhat surprised, including because he had already received such a gift last year. But Alex’s hand was still hanging in front of his nose, so Vasily smiled and accepted the gift.

“But, Alex, we’ve been working under a terrible load…”
“Vassily, listen,” Alex interrupted, “of course I don’t think that’s enough. Of course! You understand it, I understand it. Believe me, at every meeting, all I did was mention your huge contribution. But let’s be honest. Did we close the project in a month?
“No, but…”
“Here it is. All right, friend, cheer up! Keep it up, and I give you my word the company will never forget it,” Alex encouraged, and patted Vassily on the shoulder.

Vasily said goodbye and went to his office, thinking about everything that had happened, when Alex suddenly called out to him:

“Yes, I completely forgot!” Alex’s face was beaming. “No more overworking. I still managed to beat out the quota for hiring a dozen of new developers! I’m afraid that it will be difficult for me to manage such a large team myself, so next week I will introduce you to a new manager. And I, to my great regret, will be forced to move to the main office. All right, see you!”

Instead of a Conclusion

As they say: any reference to living persons or real events is purely coincidental, no developer was harmed (except Vasily, obviously).

We certainly feel sorry for Vasily, but he probably also learned a valuable lesson: negotiate all the conditions on the shore and better avoid all the various overwork that is not a part of the contract.