Thoughts — Learning Management from Games

https://akisute.com/2020/11/blog-post.html

Note: The section order of this article is similar to the original, but it is not a direct translation and includes my own subjective views. To read the accurate original text, please visit the original link.

The original article was written in Japanese, but it contains many points that resonated with me at work and even things I can learn from. Therefore, I decided to quote it briefly and share my own thoughts here.

The author is 36 years old. Formerly an engineer, he stepped into a management role because he was getting older and gradually losing his passion for technology. Right around that time, his boss said, “Why don’t you give it a try?” The pay went up, so he went along with it and took the position.

Amusingly, the author says, “There’s just one problem: I hate people the most. If possible, I prefer being alone. Why would I want to manage people when things were going fine?” Anyway, there were no sales targets to worry about, the paycheck was coming in, so he figured he might as well do it properly.

What I gathered from this is that although not every engineer is necessarily passionate about technology, it doesn’t mean they can’t do a good job. In other words, having a passion for technology and doing a good job are two different things. There are bound to be people like the author who simply do the job for the paycheck.

The most fundamental elements of a management role are actually quite simple. As the author describes, they are divided into capability and mindset. The capability side includes:

• Being able to think rationally and logically, at least at an average level
• Being able to speak properly in front of people
• Not showing shyness, hesitation, or panic

The mindset side includes:

• Finding genuine joy in achieving goals
• Being able to deeply empathize with and understand an engineer’s ups and downs
• Viewing oneself as a leader rather than a boss
• Acknowledging that you are the least valuable person on the team. The author sounds rather cynical here, so take it with a grain of salt. He feels that a manager produces zero value and merely bosses other team members around like slaves. Therefore, the team’s success is entirely credited to the members, while failure is due to one’s own incompetence and laziness.

Basically, management doesn’t require you to like or dislike people—meeting the conditions above is enough. So the author thinks anyone could really do it. However, I believe managers who can truly achieve this are very rare. Many managers don’t want to see you become better than them; they will do everything they can to hold you back to protect their own position, or claim all the credit for themselves. Honestly, being a competent manager might be harder than being an engineer.

Games and Joseki

The author goes on to say that he views management like a game—the principle is similar to working with a team to defeat an enemy. He touches on many elements later on, which we will examine one by one.

Joseki

When playing Go, there are usually established standard patterns, or joseki, to refer to. Joseki are specific sequences discovered and passed down by predecessors. For example, a Go joseki defines a sequence of moves that allows both black and white to achieve an evenly matched outcome. While you don’t necessarily have to follow joseki, straying from it easily lets your opponent gain an advantage.

The author also notes that in Age of Empires, you can use the shortcut key HCCC to quickly train villagers. Even though it’s a difference of only a few seconds, advancing to the Feudal or Castle Age before your opponent gives you an early advantage.

In other words, there are also joseki in management that one must master. Fortunately, software development has developed many methodologies (like Agile) and classic references (such as The Mythical Man-Month, The Phoenix Project, and Joel on Software).

Experience plays a part, too, but learning from joseki can save you from a lot of unnecessary detours.

”Parameters” in Management

The author identifies three parameters:

1. Morale
2. Respect
3. Voice (speaking up)

Morale is a critical metric. Once people lose morale, while they won’t literally die, they won’t be productive at all either. Personally, I think maintaining morale is extremely difficult—it probably needs to start from hiring. Engineers all have projects they want to build and technologies they want to play with; it’s nearly impossible to satisfy everyone simultaneously.

Respect is another crucial metric, because management isn’t like the game world where right-clicking makes a character walk there. The degree to which people follow your instructions depends on what you’re asking and how much respect they have for you.

That is to say, if you ask Member B to work overtime on a rush project today, their level of compliance depends on their respect for you. The required “respect points” vary depending on the difficulty of the task.

When developers have no respect for you, their motivation to work boils down to “I’m getting paid,” “because he’s the boss,” or “it’s an order.” When that happens, the entire development trajectory heads toward a dead end.

To increase “respect points,” the author suggests a few approaches. The first is to act according to the other person’s type. For instance, if the person values technical prowess and prioritizes the technical side, you need corresponding technical skills to raise your respect points with them. Conversely, if they care more about personality and interpersonal connection, you should try to make your personality bright and engaging. Of course, everyone has their own way of doing things—no need to force yourself to change who you are.

Another simple way to gain respect points is to listen attentively to others, regardless of what they are requesting. After all, once you’re an aging mid-career worker (around forty) whose technical edge is fading, doing grunt work and removing obstacles for engineers becomes the primary way to earn respect points.

Voice and respect points go hand in hand. Speaking up actively in meetings can earn you respect points. However, beware: if people often think, “Wait, what the hell are you talking about?”, your respect points will steadily drop, and you will gradually lose your voice and influence.

Humans are not strictly rational animals. Often, it’s not enough for something to merely make sense logically. Even when you are right, you might not gain agreement due to various emotional or interpersonal factors. That’s just human nature—logic only goes so far; in the end, it comes down to human dynamics.

I have my own thoughts on this: if that’s the case, shouldn’t we all just shower each other with warmth and live in a rosy bubble all day? Why bother talking about technology or demanding professionalism? There is no such thing as a decision that pleases everyone. In the CAP theorem, you can only pick two at most—nobody can greedily have it all. People can debate endlessly just over which programming language or framework to use, let alone the countless product decisions.

So I think neither extreme is healthy. What I hope to see is that professionalism is fully realized under the manager’s guidance—where those who master the technology and expertise have sufficient authority and voice to drive development, while those whose technical skills are still developing can actively follow along and offer timely input.

On Autonomy

The author believes managers cannot completely dictate everything to the team. Just like playing a match of League of Legends, your teammates won’t necessarily play exactly the way you tell them to. To achieve goals, a manager needs team collaboration, and this is where utilizing respect points effectively becomes vital. Whatever a team member wants to do, the manager should support them as much as possible.

Yet how much autonomy should be granted? This is another managerial dilemma. You can’t just let someone slack off if they come in one day and say, “I don’t feel like working today,” right?

The author uses LoL as an analogy again. First, observe your teammate’s actions: can they handle being ganked? Is their CS and laning stable? How is their positioning? Can they dodge skillshots? If you leave a teammate who is dragging the team down entirely on their own, the game will likely be lost. In that case, you might choose to roam more, use warning pings to guide them, show them where to move, or help tank skillshots for them.

Of course, you might also run into high-elo players whose mechanics are flawless and who coordinate seamlessly with teammates to start team fights and push towers. The same applies in the workplace—such people are rare gems. When you encounter teammates like this, the most important thing is to let them exercise their autonomy, whether through transferring responsibilities or delegating authority. Even if things might fail in the end, you must never dump all the blame on them. Instead, help them as much as possible.

However, the author also notes that there are people who blatantly refuse to work and are determined to drag everyone down (the original article uses クズ, meaning deadweight/trash). Working with someone like that makes it impossible to achieve goals in the first place. You don’t need to give any autonomy to someone who lacks self-reflection, nor do you need to keep them on the team.

The most critical takeaway here is: if you believe someone can do it, trust them from start to finish, and provide as much help as you can. That kind of trust is essential.

Morale

Next, the author returns to the topic of boosting morale. He suggests there are two plans, both of which are necessary: one is instinctual, and the other is rational.

The instinctual aspect is somewhat like a college club—the camaraderie of working together toward a shared goal. However, work isn’t a college club after all; it’s about delivering goals and projects, so a rational plan is also required.

Without rationality and clear goals, it turns into a college club where nothing gets accomplished—just a bunch of friends hanging out. Without the instinctual element, morale easily plummets.

He gives a few examples:

• No need to organize drinking parties: some people actually find them off-putting.
• Provide psychological safety to team members.

The Contradiction Between Psychological Safety and Autonomy

By default, human brains tend to avoid thinking and making decisions. In other words, the comfort zone. Ideally, people prefer having everything taken care of by others. However, providing too much of this safety net can actually backfire. Engineers make a living by thinking through solutions, and loving challenges is in their nature.

In this regard, what a manager can do is eliminate unnecessary decisions as much as possible—trivial things like what color a Trello label should be or what time today’s meeting should start.

Adding a Human Touch to Work

The author uses Trello board backgrounds as an example: you could set photos from personal trips as backgrounds to spark conversations. Our team’s current practice is to briefly share a recent “story” during our daily standup. This story can be anything—buying a new game, going somewhere over the weekend, cooking a dish, or trying good food. It only takes about 2 to 3 minutes, but it fosters communication among teammates. It has been quite a positive experiment.

Indeed, while engineers mostly think rationally, behind every engineer is a living human being, not a robot. As long as they are human, they have feelings and emotions—this is an inescapable challenge for managers.

Next, the author shares a few tips for meetings, ranking meeting objectives in order of priority:

• Clarify the meeting’s objective, what conclusions must be reached, and what action items are needed. Failing this will steadily erode your respect points.
• Boost morale.
• Earn respect points, or at least avoid losing them.

Blend in as Much as Possible

Simply put, “read the room.” Yes, while engineers might find this distasteful, that’s just reality. People from every culture read the room; it’s only a matter of degree.

Here, the author feels that what a manager can do is: if someone wants to speak, give them the floor as much as possible rather than monopolizing it yourself. Conversely, if no one is speaking, speak up yourself to open up space for discussion and get people talking.

Too much conflict creates unnecessary hostility, but having no opinions at all easily leads to low morale. Striking the right balance is an art.

Try to avoid silence in meetings, as silence can quickly sour the atmosphere. If you do hit a lull, one tactic is to propose a seemingly ridiculous idea. People will then chime in and discuss it, which might gradually jumpstart everyone’s thinking.

Toss Questions to Others

Often, someone actually has thoughts, but you don’t know it, and they aren’t sure whether to speak up. Tossing questions to them directly works very effectively in these moments.

Ask “Do You Like It?” Before “Is It Right?”

Sometimes you get stuck choosing between Option A and Option B. In these situations, you can ask team members which option they like better (not which is “right,” but which they prefer). Assuming everyone has already thought it through, weighed the trade-offs, and understood the pros and cons, even if it might not be the objectively optimal answer, you should move forward with the option the team prefers most. Doing this offers several benefits:

• Usually, when you ask members what they like, they will actively think about it.
• If members know their answers will shape the direction, they naturally think more deeply.

If that’s the case, what the manager needs to do is provide sufficient trust.

Praise Loudly and Publicly

While this isn’t necessarily the author’s own philosophy, praise should be delivered on the spot, loudly, and sincerely. For a team, this is an excellent way to boost morale and motivation.

Conversely, if you need to criticize or offer corrections: do it later, do it in private, explain clearly what needs improvement, and leave personal feelings out of it.

Pay Attention to Facial Expressions

An effective way to maintain initiative is to show your face. Furthermore, you can observe others’ reactions to what you say. If you never turn on your camera, people might wonder, “Huh, what is this person even doing?”, which leads to losing respect points.

The Most Important Thing

To the author, the most important thing for a manager is to “protect yourself.” That means not doing things beyond what your salary covers. After all, a manager is not a wizard; what is impossible is simply impossible. While having a sense of responsibility is a virtue, promising things you can’t deliver will only burn you out. So run away, resign. Your departure won’t harm anyone’s happiness.

What makes this article valuable is its raw authenticity. Compared to management books spouting endless theories, this is much closer to real workplace experiences. I used to be the type who was overly obsessive about technology, which didn’t bring good results and only burned me out. Devotion to technology sometimes depends on timing and luck; if the workplace doesn’t allow for it, you can pursue it outside of work.

While things aren’t always perfect at my current company, I’m generally satisfied. The projects offer good challenges, and there is plenty to learn. Beyond the tech itself, I’ve gained a better understanding of how to handle things smoothly. Being smooth doesn’t mean compromising your principles; it means finding a balance between both sides.

When it comes down to it, work is ultimately all about people. To be honest, there is a lot here that I need to learn. I’m not the type who craves praise or gets overjoyed by it, nor does unexpected praise suddenly fill me with fighting spirit. As long as it’s my job, I just do it well.

Consequently, it’s not natural for me to praise others either. You get paid, and doing your job well is your basic duty—why should you need praise like a child to get things done? Yet I completely understand the importance of these gestures, and I see this as an area I can practice and improve going forward.

Finally, I discovered that I was actually colleagues with this author and even worked with him for a period of time 😂, though I only found out by chance after I left the company.

Note: The section order of this article is identical to the original, but it is not a direct translation and includes my own insights. To read the accurate original text, please visit the original link.