ESSENTIALS MANAGEMENT Good software is an act of empathy. Incentive Drive better results by linking your team’s rewards to the success of the project, not just how they individually perform. Remember that rewards don’t have to be monetary — global impact, visibility within the organization, career growth, or increased passion for the project can all incentivize engineers to perform better. A lot of managers forget how important their approval is. The bulk of your team is there and working as hard as they can to please you . That’s just the way it is, so you have to let people know when you’re pleased, when you’re excited, when you’re impressed. If you don’t, and if your team doesn’t get this type of reinforcement, you’re literally limiting their potential. Togetherness Reduce stress, boost creativity and increase productivity by giving engineers the time and space to build camaraderie. Happier, compatible teams create long- lasting positive outcomes. I take my teams out to dinner and encourage them to go out together without me. I seat my teams together because proximity builds relationships. The more you know someone, the more you trust them. The more you trust the people you work with, the better the product you’re going to build. Quantum managers encourage people to get to know each other on a personal level. They start meetings with people sharing about their lives, not just their work. They seed conversations about topics that are much more expansive than the task at hand so people truly get to know each other. 5. Embrace the challenge of self-observation. As managers, it’s diiffcult to recognize if we’re using our quantum leadership techniques effectively because — like Schrödinger’s cat — we exist in a state of success and failure simultaneously. Seeking constant feedback from those outside our quantum management box — like from our peers managing other segments of the business — allows us to stretch and grow without limiting our own outcomes. 14