Managing
using
Intui+on
and
Rules
of
Thumb
Mickey
W.
Mantle
May
2,
2013

Two
Books

Intui+on

Rules
of
Thumb

Managing
–
an
audience
survey
• Everyone
who
is
a
manager,
please
stand
• Please
sit
if
you
have
never
had
any
management
training
• Please
sit
if
your
management
training
was
acquired
aIer
you
began
managing
people
• Those
who
remain
standing
actually
had
some
management
training
before
they
started
managing
people

Managing,
A
Defini+on
managing
programmers
–
making
sure
the
right
stuff
happens!

Using
Intui+on

Audience
Survey
• Those
who
use
intui+on
oIen
(at
least
daily)
in
managing
others
please
raise
your
hand

Malcolm
Gladwell1
1Source:
gladwell.com/blink

Example
Cited
by
Gladwell

Nega+ve
Example
Cited
by
Gladwell

Instant
Conclusions
• Intui+on,
or
Gladwell’s
instant
conclusions,
can
be
very
important
to
the
success
of
a
manager
and
leader
• Intui+on
can
be
improved
using
Gladwell’s
techniques
• Decisions
have
to
be
made,
oIen
without
enough
facts
to
support
a
decision
• A
great
manager
relies
upon
his
experience
and
intui+on
to
bridge
the
gap
between
facts
and
making
the
right
decision

Using
Rules
of
Thumb

Rule
of
Thumb
• A
general
guideline,
rather
than
a
strict
rule;
an
approximate
measure
or
means
of
reckoning
based
on
experience
or
common
knowledge
• A
way
to
borrow
experience
in
a
concise
fashion

Example
Rules
of
Thumb
• A
s+tch
in
+me,
saves
nine
• If
it
ain’t
broke,
don’t
fix
it
• For
any
soIware
project,
it
will
likely
take
twice
as
long
and
cost
twice
as
much
as
you
originally
es+mate
to
really
finish
the
project

Audience
Survey
• Those
who
use
rules
of
thumb
oIen
(at
least
once
a
week)
in
managing
others
please
raise
your
hand

Rule
of
Thumb
Managers
must
manage
– Andy
Grove,
Intel
President,
CEO,
Chairman
1967-­‐2004

Rule
of
Thumb
Not
to
decide
is
to
decide
– Anonymous

How
to
make
a
decision
• What
if
you
can’t
defer
a
decision
and
don’t
have
enough
facts
to
decide?
• Mickey’s
method:
– Flip
a
coin!
– But
listen
to
yourself,
not
the
outcome
of
the
coin
flip…
• Also
be
prepared
to
change
your
decision
as
soon
as
the
facts
demand
it

Rule
of
Thumb
Leading
by
example
occurs
whether
you
like
it
or
not.
– Jateen
Parekh,
Founder
and
CTO
of
Jelli
Crowdsourced
Radio

Rule
of
Thumb
I
praise
loudly;
I
blame
soIly.
– Catherine
the
Great,
Empress
of
Russia
1762
-­‐
1796

Rule
of
Thumb
We
have
two
ears
and
one
mouth.
Use
them
in
this
ra+o.
– Kimberly
Wiefling
paraphrased
from
Epictetus,
a
Roman
slave
and
philosopher
(55-­‐135
A.D.)
who
said
“We
have
two
ears
and
one
mouth
so
we
may
listen
more
and
talk
less”

Rule
of
Thumb
Communica+on
is
the
inverse
square
of
the
distance
domes+cally
and
the
inverse
cube
of
the
distance
interna+onally.
– David
C.
Evans,
Founder
and
CEO,
Evans
&
Sutherland
Computer
CorporaTon
Corollaries:
You
cannot
over
communicate.
Never
underes+mate
the
value
of
proximity.

Rule
of
Thumb
A
collocated
team
will
always
outperform
the
equivalent
distributed
team.
– Mike
Cohn,
Agile
and
Scrum
“Thought
Leader”

Rule
of
Thumb
Trust
but
verify.
– Ronald
Reagan
(and
others)

Rule
of
Thumb
A’s
hire
A’s,
B’s
hire
C’s.
– Steve
Jobs,
Apple
and
Pixar

Rule
of
Thumb
When
it
comes
to
gecng
things
done,
we
need
fewer
architects
and
more
bricklayers.
– Colleen
C.
Barre[,
President
Southwest
Airlines

Rule
of
Thumb
Gecn’
good
players
is
easy.
Gecn’ ‘em
to
play
together
is
the
hard
part.
– Casey
Stengel,
Manager
New
York
Yankees

Rule
of
Thumb
No
one
ever
jumped
ship
who
wasn’t
standing
close
to
the
rail.
– Jim
Hollingsworth

Rule
of
Thumb
Manage
salaries
as
if
you
had
to
post
them
outside
your
office
door.
– M.
W.
Mantle
There
are
always
salary
inequi+es.
– M.
W.
Mantle

Rule
of
Thumb
Genius
is
one
percent
inspira-on,
ninety
nine
percent
perspira-on.
– Thomas
Alva
Edison

Rule
of
Thumb
There's
just
a
tremendous
amount
of
craIsmanship
in
between
a
great
idea
and
a
great
product.
– Steve
Jobs,
from
"Steve
Jobs:
The
Lost
Interview",
1995
television
interview
with
Robert
X.
Cringely

Rule
of
Thumb
All
you
have
to
do
is
draw
a
picture.
– John
Warnock,
Co-­‐founder
Adobe
Systems

Rule
of
Thumb
Priori+ze.
Some+mes,
it
is
urgent
to
wait.
– Phac
le
Tuan,
VP
of
Engineering,
CEO

Rule
of
Thumb
Adequacy
is
sufficient.
– Adam
Osborne,
Author,
Publisher,
Computer
Designer,
and
Founder,
Osborne
Computers
An
update
on
Voltaire’s
“The
perfect
is
the
enemy
of
the
good”.
A
common
flaw
in
programmers.

Rule
of
Thumb
Don’t
boil
the
ocean.
– Anonymous

Rule
of
Thumb
There
is
no
reliable
rela+onship
between
the
volume
of
code
produced
and
the
state
of
comple+on
of
a
program,
its
quality,
or
its
ul+mate
value
to
a
user.
– Sco[
Rosenberg

Rule
of
Thumb
SoIware
is
hard.
– Donald
Knuth

Rule
of
Thumb
SoIware
isn’t
released,
it’s
allowed
to
escape.
– Project
Management
Lay
Wisdom

Rule
of
Thumb
Hofstadter’s
Law:
It
always
takes
longer
than
you
expect,
even
when
you
take
Hofstadter’s
Law
into
account.
– Douglas
Hofstadter

Rule
of
Thumb
The
hardest
single
part
of
building
a
soIware
system
is
deciding
precisely
what
to
build.
– Fredrick
P.
Brooks
Jr.

Rule
of
Thumb
Customers
will
grade
you
more
harshly
on
poor
quality
than
on
missing
features.
– Mark
Calomeni,
VP
of
Engineering,
Accept
Soaware

Rule
of
Thumb
Under
promise
and
over
deliver.
– Anonymous

Rule
of
Thumb
Brooks'
Law:
Adding
manpower
to
a
late
soIware
project
makes
it
later.
– Fredrick
P.
Brooks
Jr.

Ques+ons
or
Comments?
www.managingtheunmanageable.net

Thank
you!
Mickey
W.
Mantle
Founder
&
CEO
Wanderful
interac+ve
storybooks
mmantle@wanderfulstorybooks.com
www.wanderfulstorybooks.com
+1
415-­‐223-­‐1155,
x201
(o)
+1
800-­‐823-­‐0637,
x201
(o)