People Management?
An individual review article for PPL UI 2020 Course
As we take more and more projects, surely we are bound to go through some ‘people management’ as we call it here in PPL UI Course. When working in a team, we should be able to interact with them, build relationships so the team can work in a better environment.
There are 3 main aspects that I would like to discuss in this article regarding people management:
1. Making Friends
Making friends is such an important ability. The more friends we have, the more help we can get. Friends are those we can go to whenever we need support and company. A study by the National Academy of Sciences in 2015 has even shown that there is a positive correlation between having friends and being healthier in general. Besides, if you are working in a team, you might want to make friends in order to make a better environment out of it.
So how do we make friends? Here I would like to share some tips
- Know who you’re looking for
What kind of people whose company you enjoy? What kind of personality fits you well? These are the type of questions you should ask yourself when you are looking for a new friend. The better you know who you’re looking for, the better the chances of you having a new friend fast. - Be Confident
Stop overthinking. Pretend you are confident and you’ll probably actually be confident. - Give Compliments
This is a sure way to get people to like you. People love receiving compliments (when in the appropriate context). This can also help in distracting your mind from overthinking since you are thinking of what to compliment the other person anyway. - Smile
Smiling can go a long way. This will help make you seem friendly and approachable. Other nonverbal cues and body language such as standing up straight wouldn’t be so bad too. - Make A Move
This is the most crucial step in making friends, obviously. If you never make a move, people might think you aren’t interested in making friends. Besides, if no one makes a move or approach each other, nothing will happen. Remember to not overthink every time an opportunity to make a move comes.
I would like to share a time when I made a friend despite not having any relation to that person. It was university orientation and I had no friend to talk to. So I approached this person and just asked what major he was taking. Then a conversation was started, talking about how we got accepted into the university, why we chose our majors, etc. After that, we exchanged our social media accounts and just like that, I made a friend.
2. Establishing Relationships and Helping People
This is all about building your relationships from just acquaintances to more meaningful relationships. You probably have lots of people whose name you know and you’ve probably seen them once or twice, but you’ve never had a conversation with them or got to know them a little. Working in a team, you are probably going to want to have good relations with the other members. Here are some points to look out when trying to establish relationships:
- Trust
Every relationship requires trust in order to work. When you have trust, you are able to be open with them. This means you can better exchange help, express your thoughts, and not waste time being cautious of whether this person will ‘backstab’ you. - Respect
Respecting each other means you value and appreciate each other’s opinions, inputs, suggestions, effort and most importantly, time. When you respect each other, you are most likely in an established relationship with them. - Self-Awareness
This means you are responsible for your actions. You are aware of what you do and how it may affect other people. Be aware of boundaries as well, for example, one person may like it if you call them out of the blue, some would want an early notice before you do. - Communication
Every relationship will involve communication, whether it is just through emails or daily conversation. The most important thing is that you communicate any problems, solutions and thoughts. This way, you connect with other people better. - Time
Understand that building relationships take time, which means you should probably make time for it. Take a couple minutes to ask someone how they are, make small talk to eventually start having ‘big’ talks. Also understand that people have time too, be conscious when people are busy and don’t have time to interact with you.
With all this in mind, remember to a person that is ready to help. Every team is bound to encounter problems. May it be personal or work-related. Since you are trying to establish relationships anyway, it would be best if you are always ready to help. Being a team player means helping each other. When you help each other, you work together, and when you work together, problems are solved much faster.
3. Understanding People
People have different personalities, strengths and capabilities. In order to work together better, it would be good to understand other people. This means to also know and appreciate other people’s efforts, weaknesses and mistakes. Here are a couple of tips to handle the different people in your team:
- Listen
Listening to people can go a long way. Listening means being present and mindful of what other people have to say. A lot of the time, people just want to be listened instead of being given suggestions or being pointed out where they went wrong. Listening can also help you understand what or why something happened. When you listen, you get to know other people better. - It’s not you
People have their own lives. Most of the time, people are focused on themselves and what they do are motivated by thinking about themselves. This leaves small room for them to think about other people. Adding to that, that small room is divided upon many other people other than you. The point is, don’t take things too personally when someone seems rude or intentionally offends you because they most probably didn’t do it on purpose. - Respect
Again, respect is mentioned. When you are trying to understand someone, it is crucial that you maintain respect and not undermine other people. People are allowed to disagree with your opinions. - Appreciate
This is closely related to respect. Appreciating means you value other people. You value their time, thoughts and efforts even when they make mistakes. - Strengths and Weaknesses
Everybody has strengths, but they also have weaknesses, including you. Understanding this will help you understand other people better. Would you judge a fish based on its ability to climb a tree? Keep in mind that some people are better at doing other things. So instead of focusing on what other people can’t do, focus on what they can.
People Management in the Team
In the team, we work closely together. We trust, respect and understand each other. But it has not always been this way, it took time and effort. Especially with our scrum master and PO. Eventually, we are all friends with each other in the development team, we slowly became more acquainted with each other through Line group chats, stand up meetings and external meetings. I understood that it will take time before everyone in the team can be comfortable and have an optimised working environment. This can only be achieved if everyone made a move to be able to work together. In the beginning, I sometimes initiated other members to work together by helping each other through Discord. From there, better friendships and teamwork were built.
I can say that communication is our most important practice. Without communication, how can we understand each other? Discord is the main medium of communication. The flow is that I would first invite one or more members through Line, then on an agreed upon time, we then went to Discord. Over time, we also worked a lot with our scrum master and received help on things we struggled on. For example, the other day, one other member and I went to our Scrum Master and conducted a meeting to help with an issue related to testing. Without communication, we would have never gotten help, and our scrum master would have not known we were struggling. Added with respect for each other’s time and trust that we would do our work, the team establishes better relations.
I can confidently say that we all now understand each other well. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This way, we divide the tasks much more efficiently. We also know the main blockers and obstacles that come in each member’s work process. This way, we understand why our work may impede at some times. Furthermore, whenever we encounter those obstacles or any type of problem, we can be ready to help in a moment’s notice. For example, one of our members had trouble in the last Sprint due to connection problems as he had to go out of town with his family. We understood his situation and appreciated that he still put effort, so we also offered our help. Another instance is when dividing the tasks in our current Sprint, I realised that someone else had more strength in backend than frontend, so I took the issue related to frontend and let the other member take the backend.
In conclusion, we made friends with each other already at the start, we establish better relations with each other along the way, and I believe we all now understand each other well.
Thank you for reading!
— Wilson
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