In chapter 19 of my book Get Back Up  I am now the Test Manager of Microsoft Publisher. In six short years I’ve progressed from configuring hardware in a lab to testing product software, then I became a test lead and now I was a test manager. Not bad for a guy without a college degree who had to interview twice and overcome four NOs to get the job.

The next role after test manager was product unit manager (PUM). This is the person who runs the entire business, and at this point in my career I wasn’t aware of any test managers who became PUMs. These jobs usually went to group program managers and development managers. While this was the next step in my career, the first thing I had to do was become a success at my current job.

Getting this test manager job wasn’t as simple as I thought it was going to be when Jeanne recommended me to Alex, the Product Unit Manager of Publisher. When I first met Alex, she told me that the job was mine but while I didn’t have to officially interview, I would have to meet the people I’d be working with. Unless there were any big issues the job would be mine.

I wasn’t worried about potential personality conflicts as I felt I could get along with anyone, and while things went very well with the first few people, I spoke with, they didn’t go as well when I met the group program manager. The group program manager (GPM) is the person who manages the program managers (PM). They are the people who write the specs that the developers code to and the testers test. They are also in charge of the overall features list and the schedule.

When I met with the GPM things went well for a while and then he asked me, “What would you do if I told you we needed to release a product before it was ready?” I told him I wouldn’t release anything before it was ready. He then asked, “What if I told you that you had no choice?” This was getting interesting. Did he think I worked for him? I told him a little about my fast food days and my philosophy of people being willing to wait for a quality product. He kept pushing and I kept standing my ground. In the end I didn’t think I was going to get this job after all.

The next day I got a call from Alex who said she wanted to talk. I assumed it was to tell me that I didn’t get the job. Instead she told me that things went very well and the job was mine. I thought I should probably get out of there; you know: don’t sell past the close, but I had to ask about the GPM. I was surprised when she said that he’d deliberately challenged me to see if I was willing to fight for quality, because apparently the previous manager was not. I was glad that I’d decided to stay true to my beliefs, not that I would ever do anything else.

Now that I had the job, I needed to find out what kind of a team I had. To do so I not only talked to my leads but to their people as well. I wanted to know what skills my team had and what skills they lacked. I also wanted to find out what motivated them so I could put the right incentives into place. There are many generic tools managers use to lead their teams but every manager is different. I used to say that a team of people is like an orchestra. Sure, there are some beautifully elegant instruments in the string section, but there are also some strange-sounding ones like the oboes. They are all played differently but they also each make beautiful music in their own right. Your job as a manager is to learn how to get the best out of each person, and also to pull them together as a team and get them all playing well together. A well-organized and managed orchestra can always make beautiful music together, and so can a well understood and managed team.

I learned so much from meeting with the induvial contributors under my leads that I decided I would continue to do that on a monthly basis. These became known as skip level one-on-ones. It was a useful way for me to understand what motivated our people. It was also a way for me to make sure they understood what our goals were and to hopefully get them to buy into them or at least to understand why they were our goals. I always found that you get more out of people when they understand not only what we’re trying to do but why we’re trying to do it.

I also gave all my people permission to openly express their ideas even when they disagreed with how we were trying to do things. Too many managers hire great people and tell them what to do. I want to know what they think. I want their ideas. That’s why we hired them. In the end, however, I am the boss and I make the final decision. If one of my people had an idea that I chose not to use and things worked out fine, then I get to tell them I told you so, but if it doesn’t go right, they get to tell me the same thing. Frankly, I’d much prefer to hear from one of my employees that they think I’m on the wrong path than to hear it from my boss.

Now that I understood my new team and their skills and strengths I also knew where we were deficient, so I started the process of hiring people who would fill our gaps. I started with my old friend Chris Burroughs, who would form our new automation team and we once again got back to looking for ways to not only benefit our team but the entire office.

Soon a new opportunity would arrive with the formation of a new product bundle know as Office Small Business Edition. This would basically be the current version of Office but with the addition of Publisher and some new small business apps. A new PUM was brought in to run SBE and Publisher and its PUM was moved under him. There would now be a PUM of Publisher reporting to the PUM of the SBE. Publisher would have a GPM and a Dev Manager, and I was still the test manager. While the PUM of Publisher would report to the PUM of the SBE, the SBE would have its own GPM, Dev Manager, and test manager. I was asked to recommend a test manager for the SBE and just like I’d done in Word, I said I would take on both roles.

I was now the test manager of Publisher reporting to its PUM. I was also the test manager of the SBE reporting to its PUM, who happened to be the boss of the PUM of Publisher, to whom I also reported. This was going to be interesting.

Lessons:

  1. Don’t worry about conflict. Be willing to fight for what’s right.
  2. Nobody cares how fast they get cold french fries. Quality takes time.
  3. Once you’ve made the sale, leave. Don’t sell past the close.
  4. Stay true to yourself. If you can’t get the job being yourself, you don’t want it.
  5. Surround yourself with great people and give them permission to share their ideas and voice their concerns.
  6. Never pass up an opportunity to expand your scope of influence and impact.

George A. Santino helps people who want to break down barriers, including self-imposed barriers, to success. Check out his Amazon bestselling book, Get Back Up: From the Streets to Microsoft Suites.