What did Steve Kerr do?

 

Context:

I'm a Celtics fan, and I've been one for a long time. After watching Jason Tatum in college, I prayed that the Celtics would draft him. And they did. But even now, Tatum remains the most frustrating Celtic for me to watch.

This blog post

draws a parallel between Steve Kerr’s coaching decisions and the most frustrating managers I've encountered in my career. Like Kerr, these managers would point to their past successes and say, “But we won” or “We delivered.” However, benching one of your top performers to favor others, or forcing the team to conform to your style, for whatever reason, can have serious consequences.

First and foremost, those successes required extraordinary efforts from the team's most experienced people, pushing them to their limits, and relying on some luck to achieve the goal. A team like USA Basketball, packed with talent and coached by seasoned veterans, shouldn't have to scrape through comeback games or narrowly win the final game. While those games might have been thrilling, that kind of stress wasn’t likely part of the plan.

Secondly, as a coach or manager, you must stay proactive and continuously provide feedback. Last-minute surprises don’t help anyone. Even though you may navigate through these challenges and win the gold, the impact of those surprises can hurt you and your organization in the long run. The Golden State Warriors had a rough season, and it all started with issues in the locker room.

In software management, we don't need to worry about dividing playing minutes, but we do need to distribute and balance the workload. The more you can get out of your team, the better you are. There's no first, second, or third place here—it's all about being as objective as possible. However, it’s easy to see when some talent isn't being fully utilized.

As a manager, your goal should be to unlock the full potential of each individual and the team as a whole. The project or release might have been delivered on time, but there’s still a laundry list of questions left unanswered:

  • Was the process as smooth as it could have been?

  • Is the quality up to par?

  • Could more have been done to meet non-functional requirements?

Steve Kerr managed to lead his team to win gold at the 2024 Olympics, but he came dangerously close to missing the mark. In four years, he might not be around, and the roster will definitely be different. But for those of us in management, we'll be back the day after hitting our milestone, working with the same group to achieve the next goal. Investing in improving individuals and the team, and fully utilizing their potential, is crucial for long-term success.

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