Execubot - Do I Need to know Tech to Manage my Technical Team?

Execubot - Do I Need to Know Tech to Manage My Technical Team?

The short answer is: No. A non-technical manager does not need to have technical skills to effectively manage tech teams.

A lack of technical experience, however, must be made up for. Additional tools, skills, and an understanding of your team is essential to best lead them. Clear insight and communication can be more productive than having the same credentials as your engineers.

So although you, a non-technical manager, do not need to know how to code - you do need to know how your team is doing to best manage them.

What Do I Need to Know for a High-Performing Technical Team?

Do high performers make up the majority of your technical team? High performers drive high performance in a company. You need to know who your most productive engineers are, where the team is lacking, and where to bring out your team's strengths.

Your Most Productive Players

A manager of a tech team is like the coach of a sports team. If you're aiming to win, you would identify your most valuable players, and then make them the starters. In addition to starting games with the best players, you would also keep them in the game for longer - more play time for those who will most likely win you the games.

When it comes to your technical team, you want to give the most important assignments to those who'll get them done right. So how do you find out your most efficient, valuable players?

1. See Who Puts in the Most Work

Identify the engineers who are putting in the most hours. It's not just about when they clock in and clock out, however. Which leads us to…

2. See What They Are Actually Doing in Those Hours

What are your engineers doing when they clock in? Are they working on priorities, or are they wasting time on less important tasks?

3. See How Resources Are Used

Is your team taking the long course when they could be using tools to speed up processes? Make sure your engineers are aware of what resources and tools are available to them so that they can use their time wisely.

Your Weak Spots

Weak spots are not just stragglers on your team. Miscommunication, lack of clarity, and poor management can lead to poor productivity.

A few bottom feeders in your team can indeed lead to delays or lack of success in projects. However, it's up to your leadership to bridge gaps and create the best environment for your team to thrive in. Mismanaged engineers can be unproductive. Once you have a basis for success, it can be easier to identify true slackers.

Are these weak spots slowing down your technical progress?

1. Lack of Clarity and Focus

Use a dashboard or platform to highlight current priorities. Keep meetings short and to the point. Don't spend more time than necessary on minute details or busy work that you could delegate elsewhere.

2. Micromanaging

One of the killers of a great team is micromanaging. Stay with what you are good at - leadership - and trust that your engineers can do the technical things. An overbearing manager can deteriorate morale and productivity quickly.

3. Blocked Channels

What does an open-door policy look like in a remote company? You may not have a physical open door, but you can make sure your team knows they can talk to you any time. Don't discourage concerns, as they can help bridge gaps between you and your team.

Driving Strengths from All Sides

Your team is made up of people with different strengths and weaknesses. Foster an environment that will cultivate strengths and make room for learning. An engineer working in their weakness can seem lazy, but they may be working hard at an angle that doesn't work for them.

1. Identify Individual Strengths

Use a tool such as Execubot to discover where your engineers excel. Is one better at debugging than the others? Is another more adept at a particular software language than others?

2. Create Growth Opportunities

With your team members' identified strengths, assign them to projects and areas that cultivate their abilities. Doing so will create a well-rounded team with each engineer thriving where they do well.

Additionally, provide resources and training that correspond with each team member's natural talents. You can also have an engineer proficient in one skill teach others how to improve upon those skills. Encourage continual learning as part of a growth environment.

3. Recognize and Respond

Acknowledge the effort your engineers make in utilizing their strengths and improving their knowledge. Promote and celebrate accordingly, and have the high achievers set an example for the rest of the team.

Measuring Productivity With AI Versus Without AI

Can AI Measure My Tech Team's Productivity?

Yes, AI can measure your technical team's productivity.

In fact, AI can identify who your most productive engineers are.

With the right AI tool, you can see who your biggest contributors are. This makes decision-making easier - who to promote, who needs help, and who could better use their strengths elsewhere.

What Aspects of Management Does AI Make Easier?

Tracking progress and employees is a crucial aspect of management. Unfortunately, manual tracking can take up time that could be otherwise used for higher-priority tasks. In essence, manual tracking is the busy work of management that leads to your next decisions.

AI can make the busy work of tracking progress and engineers automatic so that all a manager has to do is see the data and metrics of what matters. Here are the key management tasks that AI can streamline for you:

1. Measure Productivity

AI can take over collecting and analyzing productivity patterns and project completion rates. Where you used to check in weekly or even daily, you can simply ask AI to give you compiled data on aspects such as code commits and project progress.

2. Identify Ghost Engineers

Identifying ghost engineers can be difficult when they appear to be logging in and showing up to meetings, but don't truly contribute to projects. Instead of digging around and wasting time finding out who is wasting company time, AI can give reports on how much work each engineer puts in. You can see who gives the least amount of time to projects and act accordingly.

3. Assess Skills

Use AI to measure the strengths and weaknesses of each team member. Self and peer assessments can work, but such can take time and may not be completely transparent.

AI can use compiled evidence from work patterns to show you where an engineer works well and where they could use some help.

How Using AI Minimizes Micromanaging and Other Errors

Good cop, bad cop - are you the manager that looks the other way or the one that everyone will look busy for when you're around, but will go back to doing whatever they want once you leave?

There's no need for long meetings or conversations that can seem like interrogations on your engineers' work. AI can tell you where workers are spending company time and resources. You can be hands-off and involved at the same time with insight that's collected for you, instead of having to play detective yourself.

AI as Your Partner in Your Tech Success

Execubot as Your Team Management Tool

You Don't Need to Know Tech to Get Tech - Execubot is the AI tool that will simplify managing your technical team. Don't let manual tracking get in the way of strengthening your team. Let us free up your time so that you can focus on what matters in your company.