I work in a Software Company as a Software Architect. We deliver quality software to our clients who deliver quality services to their customers. Part of my job is to find a balance between keeping everybody satisfied at any given time.
Clients
Managers
Developers
My biggest fear, i must admit, throughout the last many years has been “Am I doing good enough”. This is not an unreasonable question to ask yourself. The difficult part has been finding the right way to measure the response to that question.
The very first thing to learn here, and this goes for anybody. There is no I in Team. You cannot measure how you are doing without measuring how your Team is doing first.
By taking some steps back, you can learn to forecast the weather situation, to use some kind of metaphor.
When working in a Team in an organisation you have several parties which rely on you. You do not have full control over the situation all the time, but what you can look for are signs like:
- Does your manager seem to be satisfied with what you do? A bad manager might not hold you accountable or might not even notice how you are performing, but that might reflect in missing or poor feedback. The key is regular dialog, make sure that your priorities fit to your managers.
- Do your direct reports or mentees seem to have the needed information and knowledge to perform their tasks. Do you feel you can trust them to do their part.
- Are your Clients satisfied with the work your Team is delivering. Are they happy about the price of the projects, the quality of the delivery. Does your Team deliver on time and does the delivery fit to the requirements. There are alot of small elements involved, and you will not and cannot always nail it.
At the end of the day it is a matter of finding the right balance.