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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 management
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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)
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 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)
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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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 management, team development, trust, workplace environment
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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.
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)
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)
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 authority, management, Peopleware, responsibility, trust
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