My son is 11,autistic, and obsessed with Minecraft. I manage a team of 4 Database Engineers. At some point I started to talk to them like how the parenting courses told me to communicate with my son and the team morale and overall performance has shot up so much we got an award
@fesshole Would you mind sharing some examples? This is great!
@jonm Very broadly (so not examples at all), communicate conscientiously and unambiguously (try to use words that don't have double meanings unless you're trying to be playful), realise that misunderstandings will _still_ happen and plan accordingly (if it's important, double check before they spend a whole day doing the wrong thing). Keep criticisms to a minimum and general while piling on praise for specific accomplishments (not just participation-trophy praise).
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@jonm Most of all, give people the time to complete their tasks in the way that best works for them. Deadlines are an unfortunate fact of life, but don't create unnecessary deadlines that just stress people out, and try to plan for both people to be slower and more meticulous and for unforseen delays. You don't need to go all Scotty and quadruple any time estimate, but at least increase it by half if not doubling it.
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@StarkRG @jonm This is all standard management advice, TBH, but too many people in management positions don't follow it.

@Sturmflut @StarkRG @jonm

They don't follow it because they never got it. Most companies follow the peter principle: promote employees until they fail to train themselves.

A good developer being promoted to management rarely includes anything more than legally mandated training so they just keep doing what they've always done or retreat into their old responsibilities when things get difficult.

@zimzat @Sturmflut @jonm Well, that just sounds like terrible leadership. Which isn't surprising, of course.