Company Manual (View All)

Director

      Each group will probably benefit from one or more directors to function in managerial positions.

      This position requires solid people skills and a strong sense of vision for the group and for the project. An effective director understands that the tremendous variability in programmer productivity is something that he can affect — upset programmers produce below their abilities, inspired programmers produce above their abilities.

      The up-front cost for the first couple of weeks is significant for directors. You've got to quickly work through material that helps you understand better how to manage, and you have to effectively organize a group of several dozen strangers into a software development organization in a matter of days. Be prepared to absorb that cost up front.

      If a director is managing effectively, the week-to-week time hit should be no worse than anybody else in the group. The responsibilities are different, but shouldn't involve significantly more time in a given week.

      The director is responsible for the overall effectiveness of the group under his direction. That means helping to assure that deliverables are scheduled, and that project schedules exist and are managed with appropriate milestones. The director should help with risk management, and with problem resolution. He also provides performance reviews of team leaders that report to him as well as peer evaluations of other executive members of the leadership team.