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Category Archives: Management
On Methodical Problem Solving
Co-workers who have solved problems with me over any period of time have heard me talk about “building the matrix”. Sometimes its an actual table on a whiteboard (virtual or on the wall) while other times it’s in my head… (read more)
Posted in Management, System Administration
Tagged problem solving, processes
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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 management
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Crabby Managers
I’ve been a bit crabby at work recently so when I saw this classic Peanuts strip from June 13th, 1965, I had a flash of insight into my own situation. Lucy, wearing dark shades, walks first into a fence (wump!), then… (read more)
Posted in Management
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Worst Organizational Announcement email
At a previous employer it was not uncommon to send out “Organizational Announcement” emails from time to time. Sometimes it was a re-org, others a promotion, but frequently it was a resignation or transfer. In these cases it was customary… (read more)
Posted in Management
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Escalate early, Escalate often
Coworkers and colleagues might remember one of my phrases: “Escalate early, Escalate often”. Today I got to use it anew and explain it to my current group of coworkers and colleagues. Escalation In short, escalation gets you needed resources when… (read more)
Posted in Management
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Think about the next three
My company recently purchased three shiny new 1U[1. A “U” is a vertical unit of measurement for racked equipment: 1.75″ tall.] servers, some new network and SAN equipment and a new rack to house everything. Just about as close to… (read more)
Posted in Management, System Administration
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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 management, supporting the business
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When “Free” upsets your model
When something is free (free as in beer, not free as in speech[1. See Gratis versus libre and Richard Stallman‘s many thoughts on this.]), how many of us are tempted to over-consume? What if we’re separated from the true cost of something… (read more)
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 change management, ITIL, leadership, management, team development
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In their cube
Seth Godin’s post on Empathy sat me down to pound out this post on something I did frequently while managing IT Teams at a previous employer. Very simple but unconventional. I’d sit at their desks. That might sound creepy, so… (read more)
