Tag Archives: management

You’re sick, never mind the details…

As a manager, I occasionally hear variations on the “I’m sick and not coming in today” statement from my employees. Sometimes it’s a simple cold, other times it’s not. Sometimes it comes with much too much information. I’m not sure… (read more)

Posted in Management, Other Thoughts | Tagged | Comments Off on You’re sick, never mind the details…

Vendors: Superheroes or Villains?

As the lead IT guy in a small engineering firm, I get to deal with a lot of vendors. Vendors fill in my gaps: things like knowledge, skills, tools, hours and expertise. Really good vendors become my partners, my superheroes.… (read more)

Posted in Other Thoughts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Three top Management skills

Similar to top leadership skills, a list of three top management skills may depend more on the situation than anything else. So picking three top ones remains a risky task but yet one I was asked to perform recently. Here’s an… (read more)

Posted in Management | Tagged , | Comments Off on Three top Management skills

When “Free” upsets your model

When something is free (free as in beer, not free as in speech1), how many of us are tempted to over-consume? What if we’re separated from the true cost of something by policy or tradition? Do we find ourselves over-consuming something… (read more)

Posted in Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Connect in some way

I’d already been heavily involved in Unix/Linux for nearly twenty years by the time I found myself assigned as the leader/manager of the Windows Engineering team. Even some of my closest colleagues scoffed when they heard the news. How could… (read more)

Posted in Leadership, Management | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

All I Really Need to Know (about management) I Learned From my Toddler

Over the years I’ve learned quite a lot from being my toddler’s Dad. Here are some of the things I’ve been able to adopt and put into practice in my role as a leader and manager of technical people. Ask… (read more)

Posted in Management | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on All I Really Need to Know (about management) I Learned From my Toddler

Removing Roadblocks

One moment your team is efficient and effective and the next moment: they’re at a dead stop. What happened? Someone hit a roadblock.

Posted in Management | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A Charles Dickens Management Lesson

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a ghost grants Ebenezer Scrooge the chance to look back into his past and see a company holiday party that Fezziwig, his employer at the time, threw one year. Scrooge observes Fezziwig and his… (read more)

Posted in Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Getting over the hump

I had lunch with a colleague this past week and the subject of long, large-effort projects came up. Projects with a big “hump” keeping you from finishing easily and quickly. (see graph) He manages a small team of folks who… (read more)

Posted in Leadership, Management | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Responsibility/Authority Ratio

It’s not uncommon for me to hear the lament that someone (usually the person lamenting) has too much responsibility. On closer examination, however, I frequently find what’s really happened: They have been given too little authority. Their responsibility level is… (read more)

Posted in Management | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Responsibility/Authority Ratio