How to Manage Geeks

Fastcompany: Nine-point techie tutorial by Eric Schmidt, CEO of Novell

[…] Either Geeks are part of the solution—or they’re the problem

Here’s another thing you need to know about the geek mind-set: Because tech people are scientists or engineers by training, they love to solve really hard problems. They love to tackle a challenge. The more you can get them to feel that they’re helping to come up with a solution to a tough problem, the more likely they are to perform in a way that works for you.

Link via Burning Memoirs

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 6th, 2005 at 2:21 pm and is filed under management, english. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “How to Manage Geeks”

  1. nico D Says:
    November 6th, 2005 at 5:09 pm

    Hum, I’ve experienced this not long ago. Try no to remove a technical challenge because most dev-people will have the feeling you don’t trust them and think the could not have done it. Even if that’s not the case. I wonder if people could develop something faster or most efficiently (more motivation) if you add a major problem to the initial demand… maybe not :-)

  2. nico D Says:
    November 6th, 2005 at 5:09 pm

    Hum, I’ve experienced this not long ago. Try no to remove a technical challenge because most dev-people will have the feeling you don’t trust them and think the could not have done it. Even if that’s not the case. I wonder if people could develop something faster or most efficiently (more motivation) if you add a major problem to the initial demand… maybe not :-)

  3. Andre Says:
    November 14th, 2005 at 4:22 pm

    It also works when you find that you have an employee that is a perfectionist. Techie person or not – kinda like me :)

  4. Andre Says:
    November 14th, 2005 at 4:22 pm

    It also works when you find that you have an employee that is a perfectionist. Techie person or not – kinda like me :)

  5. Franco Says:
    December 19th, 2005 at 10:21 pm

    The problem is that many developers are mostly interested in having the feeling that they have found the solution. They often do not take the time to think of other possible solutions and/or to test and refine the solution they proposed.

  6. Franco Says:
    December 19th, 2005 at 10:21 pm

    The problem is that many developers are mostly interested in having the feeling that they have found the solution. They often do not take the time to think of other possible solutions and/or to test and refine the solution they proposed.

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