What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make?
Published on: May 22, 2022
Last updated: December 08, 2022 Read in fullscreen view
Last updated: December 08, 2022 Read in fullscreen view
Recommended for you
- 01 Aug 2024
The Standish Group report 83.9% of IT projects partially or completely fail 150/1772 - 13 Apr 2024 Lessons on Teamwork and Leadership from Chinese story book "Journey to the West" 41/949
- 28 Oct 2023 The GOLDEN Rules of Software Engineering 27/522
- 02 Nov 2021 What is Terms of Reference (ToR)? 23/1466
- 18 Oct 2020 How to use the "Knowns" and "Unknowns" technique to manage assumptions 21/989
- 08 Dec 2021 What Are The 4 Types of Maintenance Strategies? 20/1031
- 01 Oct 2020 Fail fast, learn faster with Agile methodology 13/973
- 03 Apr 2022 Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) 12/1157
- 12 Oct 2022 14 Common Reasons Software Projects Fail (And How To Avoid Them) 10/504
- 13 Oct 2021 What is Bug Convergence? Why is it important for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)? 8/684
- 02 Dec 2022 3 Levels of Quality in KANO Analysis Model 8/1000
- 18 Dec 2023 The Cone of Uncertainty in Scrum & Requirement Definition 8/643
- 10 Nov 2022 Poor Code Indicators and How to Improve Your Code? 7/213
- 13 May 2022 IT Training and Development: The most effective options for upskilling IT staff 7/1021
- 18 Oct 2021 Key Elements to Ramping Up a Large Team 7/1108
- 19 Oct 2021 Is gold plating good or bad in project management? 7/754
- 06 Feb 2021 Why fail fast and learn fast? 6/375
- 14 Oct 2021 Stream Story - Low land stream or fast moving stream? 6/569
- 13 Oct 2021 Outsourcing Software Development: MVP, Proof of Concept (POC) and Prototyping. Which is better? 6/424
- 28 Jul 2022 POC, Prototypes, Pilots and MVP: What Are the Differences? 6/606
- 08 Nov 2022 4 tips for meeting tough deadlines when outsourcing projects to software vendor 6/254
- 01 Sep 2022 Facts Chart: Why Do Software Projects Fail? 6/540
- 01 Mar 2023 Bug Prioritization - What are the 5 levels of priority? 6/207
- 07 Oct 2025 Case Study: Using the “Messaging House” Framework to Build a Digital Transformation Roadmap 5/45
- 31 Aug 2022 What are the best practices for software contract negotiations? 5/215
- 05 Mar 2021 How do you minimize risks when you outsource software development? 5/317
- 06 Mar 2021 4 things you need to do before getting an accurate quote for your software development 4/615
- 14 Oct 2021 Advantages and Disadvantages of Time and Material Contract (T&M) 4/789
- 12 Dec 2021 Zero Sum Games Agile vs. Waterfall Project Management Methods 4/374
- 05 May 2021 TIGO Magic Scale - PoC tool for you to apply dichotomous thinking before submitting RFP 4/297
- 20 Jul 2022 Software Myths and Realities 4/797
- 04 Oct 2022 Which ERP implementation strategy is right for your business? 4/278
- 07 Jul 2022 Managing Project Execution Terms 3/379
- 01 Dec 2023 Laws of Project Management 3/249
- 09 Mar 2022 Consultant Implementation Pricing 3/184
- 16 Feb 2021 Choose Outsourcing for Your Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) 3/150
- 16 Apr 2021 Insightful Business Technology Consulting at TIGO 3/376
- 18 Aug 2022 What are the consequences of poor requirements with software development projects? 3/242
- 08 Oct 2022 KPI - The New Leadership 3/557
- 18 Jul 2021 How To Ramp Up An Offshore Software Development Team Quickly 3/516
- 31 Oct 2021 Tips to Fail Fast With Outsourcing 3/375
- 03 Nov 2022 Questions and answers about Kano Model 3/805
- 10 Apr 2024 The Parking Lot Method: Unlocking a Simple Secret to Supercharge Your Productivity 3/403
- 05 Sep 2023 The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects 3/167
- 10 Dec 2023 Pain points of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) 2/416
- 05 Jun 2023 Fractional, Part-Time (virtual) or Interim CTO: Who Will Cover Your Business Needs? 2/109
- 26 Sep 2024 Successful Project Management Techniques You Need to Look Out For 2/368
- 01 May 2024 Warren Buffett’s Golden Rule for Digital Transformation: Avoiding Tech Overload 2/188
- 23 Sep 2021 INFOGRAPHIC: Top 9 Software Outsourcing Mistakes 2/411
- 17 Feb 2022 Prioritizing Software Requirements with Kano Analysis 2/280
- 28 Dec 2021 8 types of pricing models in software development outsourcing 2/417
- 28 Oct 2022 Build Operate Transfer (B.O.T) Model in Software Outsourcing 2/361
- 13 Dec 2020 Move fast, fail fast, fail-safe 2/292
- 04 Oct 2021 Product Validation: The Key to Developing the Best Product Possible 2/295
- 14 Jun 2022 Example and Excel template of a RACI chart in Software Development 2/707
- 15 May 2022 20 Common Mistakes Made by New or Inexperienced Project Managers 2/247
- 07 Jul 2021 The 5 Levels of IT Help Desk Support 2/380
- 10 Apr 2021 RFP vs POC: Why the proof of concept is replacing the request for proposal 2/254
- 24 Nov 2023 The project management paradox: Achieving MORE by doing LESS 2/193
- 02 May 2022 What Is RAID in Project Management? (With Pros and Cons) 2/734
- 12 Aug 2022 What is End-to-end project management? 2/382
- 09 Feb 2023 The Challenge of Fixed-Bid Software Projects 1/191
- 07 Dec 2023 12 project management myths to avoid 1/167
- 30 Oct 2022 How Much Does MVP Development Cost in 2023? 1/170
- 27 Jan 2020 Should a project manager push developers to work more hours due to mistakes of manager schedule setting? 1/412
- 01 Oct 2020 Handling tight project deadlines as a business analyst 1/313
- 19 Apr 2021 7 Most Common Time-Wasters For Software Development 1/525
- 07 Oct 2022 Digital Transformation: Become a Technology Powerhouse 1/216
- 01 Mar 2024 10 Project Management Myths 1/120
- 12 Aug 2024 Understanding Google Analytics in Mumbai: A Beginner's Guide 1/84
- 26 Dec 2023 Improving Meeting Effectiveness Through the Six Thinking Hats 1/205
- 05 Jan 2024 Easy ASANA tips & tricks for you and your team 1/180
- 11 Jan 2024 What are the Benefits and Limitations of Augmented Intelligence? 1/434
- 01 May 2023 CTO Interview Questions 1/296
- 12 Mar 2024 How do you create FOMO in software prospects? /127
- 23 Jun 2024 Best Practices for Managing Project Escalations /183
- 21 Jun 2024 Dead Horses and the Escalation of Commitment /123
- 06 Mar 2024 [SemRush] What Are LSI Keywords & Why They Don‘t Matter /131
- 01 Aug 2022 Is planning "set it and forget it" or "set it and check it"? /264
- 14 Mar 2024 Why should you opt for software localization from a professional agency? /117
- 01 Mar 2023 How do you deal with disputes and conflicts that may arise during a software consulting project? /145
- 17 Mar 2025 IT Consultants in Digital Transformation /62
- 10 Jul 2025 Building AI-Driven Knowledge Graphs from Unstructured Data /111
- 02 Jun 2024 Reviving Ancient Wisdom: The Spiritual Side of Project Management /204
- 07 Aug 2022 Things to Consider When Choosing a Technology Partner /249
- 03 Nov 2022 Top questions and answers you must know before ask for software outsourcing /264
- 13 Jan 2020 Quiz: Test your understanding project cost management /568
- 06 Nov 2019 How to Access Software Project Size? /236
- 11 Oct 2021 10 Myths About Low-End Project Management Software /274
- 17 Oct 2021 Does Fast Tracking increase project cost? /348
- 19 Oct 2021 Software development life cycles /628
- 09 Jan 2022 How to Bridge the Gap Between Business and IT? /163
- 02 Dec 2021 3 Ways to Avoid Scope Creep in IT Consulting /192
- 02 Nov 2022 Difference between Change Management and Project Management /216
- 20 Nov 2022 Software Requirements Are A Communication Problem /233
- 30 Nov 2023 Project Managers, Focus on Outcomes — Not Deliverables /143
- 06 Jun 2022 Change Management at the Project Level /292
- 03 Jan 2023 Organizing your agile teams? Think about M.A.T (Mastery, Autonomy, Purpose) /333
- 09 May 2022 Build one to throw away vs Second-system effect: What are differences? /297
- 10 May 2022 Levels of Teamwork /180
Below are some mistakes I made as a new manager or have seen other new managers make. Experienced managers still make some of these mistakes, though hopefully fewer:
Performance Management
- Being slow to deal with performance issues - Smoke becomes fire. If you take note of performance issues early you can give gentle corrective feedback. If you're too slow to notice you have to give stronger feedback, and the performance issues may be harder to reverse.
- Not documenting poor performance - Documenting poor performance via email helps employees understand the gravity of the situation ("This email summarizes the discussion we just had") and it is also helpful to have on hand if it comes time to terminate the employee.
- Not documenting good performance - Documenting good performance via email, to the employee alone or to a wider audience, is a great way to recognize their contributions to the team and company. It's also a good habit to regularly document good performance of team members for your own purposes, so you can remember what you want to praise them for at annual review time.
Career Development
- Not getting to know your employees - It's great to know the names of all your employees' kids. It's even better to know the type of work each employee most likes to do, their particular pain points within the team or company, what their career objectives are (depth, breadth, management), or why they might be thinking about taking a different job or moving to a different company. You need to develop a rapport and level of trust with each employee before they'll start to share these things with you.
- Not paying attention to your high-performing employees - If you're very satisfied with how an employee is performing you need to turn the tables and invest in making them more satisfied with their job. Find ways for them to do more of what makes them happy and less of what doesn't.
- Not investing in developing your employees - Every employee needs to be developed, either to support the career development (and retention) of strong performers or to improve the performance of weaker employees. Every year you should be trying to raise the level of performance of every employee.
Leadership
- Thinking too small - A successful leader is going to create growth and opportunity for their team. A leader who thinks small is unlikely to do either. Instead of planning how to grow your business 100%, plan how to grow it 10x or 100x.
- Not explicitly allocating resources - Explicitly managing resources means prioritizing projects, specifying how many (or which) resources will work on each, and in what order. Highly effective teams may be able to self-organize extremely well. New managers give less effective teams too much freedom to self-organize, leading to sub-optimal resource allocation.
- Poor delivery of unpopular decisions - The difference in how employees receive unpopular decisions often depends on how those decisions are delivered. The more important, or more unpopular, the decision, the greater the need to manage its delivery. In my experience, the best way to deliver unpopular decisions is at a team meeting where you have ample time to give the reasoning behind the decision and take Q&A. Good managers explain why the decision is made. Bad managers say, "Because the boss said so."
- Being slow to resolve team pain points - New managers don't pay attention to or understand their team's pain points. Good managers are always tracking their team's pain points, devising strategies to reduce or resolve them, and then moving on to the next pain point.
Recruiting
- Not investing in sourcing - Good managers source candidates themselves through their personal networks and take ownership over sourcing in other ways, treating any candidates that the recruiting department sends their way as gravy. Inexperienced managers are satisfied with whatever recruiting sends them.
- Lazy recruiting - Good managers act quickly on any recruiting activity. They review resumes as soon as they come in, make time in their schedules for phone screens, sell their positions to candidates, make quick hiring decisions, and are aggressive in getting from offer to acceptance. New managers act more slowly. They trust the recruiting department to brief candidates on the position and handle other candidate communications. Lazy recruiting loses candidates to other companies or internal teams.
- Reactive sourcing and recruiting - Bad managers wait until they have an approved position and a job description up on the company's website. Good managers are always sourcing and recruiting, and may be chatting up a prospective candidate today about a position they may not have open for a year or more.
Hiring
- Not being clear on the requirements of the role - Inexperienced managers don't spend time thinking about exactly what they need from a new hire. They hire generic candidates with generic skills. Good managers have a more narrow profile in mind, which helps them write stronger job descriptions and generate more qualified candidates.
- Lowering the bar - Inexperienced managers have low standards, or lower their standards, in an effort to make a hire. Good managers know that they're much better off keeping a high bar and waiting for the right candidate.
Organizational Development
- Letting dotted lines proliferate - It sucks to have two bosses. Good managers seek to have clear lines of authority and prevent their employees from getting caught in the middle between competing bosses. Inexperienced managers let other managers carve out chunks of their resources.
- Letting the team get swamped - Inexperienced managers keep piling more and more work on the team. Experienced managers either grow the team size to handle the increased load, or deflect the increased work. It takes an experienced manager who's earned the trust of leadership to push back effectively, or to effectively justify why the team needs more headcount.
- Being reactive - Inexperienced managers need their bosses to tell them when their team is over or under-resourced or unbalanced. The team might have too few or too many resources, or it might be heavy or light on a certain role (e.g. QA:SDE ratio) given the other resources on the team. Experienced managers are anticipating how the needs of the team are going to change over time and then proactively working to adapt their org's size and structure.
Visibility
- Taking the credit - New managers let themselves take credit for their team's work. Good managers attempt to redirect kudos and credit onto their team, or ideally, individual team members.
- Forwarding the blame - New managers pin the blame on team members. "Joe was out of the office and wasn't able to finish this in time." Good managers put the blame on themselves and understand that any failing within the team is a failing of the leader.
[{"displaySettingInfo":"[{\"isFullLayout\":false,\"layoutWidthRatio\":\"\"}]"},{"articleSourceInfo":"[{\"sourceName\":\"Ian McAllister on Quora\",\"sourceValue\":\"https://www.quora.com/What-are-common-mistakes-three-more-or-less-that-new-or-inexperienced-managers-make-What-could-be-done-differently\"}]"},{"privacyInfo":"[{\"isOutsideVietnam\":false}]"},{"tocInfo":"[{\"isAutoNumbering\":false,\"isShowKeyHeadingWithIcon\":false}]"}]
Via
{content}
Explore more on these topics
Guest Blogging: The Definitive Guide
Top Trending Topics
Share This
Link copied!