jharkins@sagpd1.UUCP (Jim Harkins) (06/05/90)
Right off the bat I'd like to say this probably doesn't belong here, but I can't think of a better place to put it. Straight from one of my worst nightmares I seem to have been assigned 2 worker bees. I have never managed anyone else, I feel fortunate to be able to manage myself. Before I give the wrong impression, I'm at the point in my career where I either start managing people or hit the ceiling of the proverbial career ladder. (I won't bring up the complaint of why, now that I'm at my peak of technical brilliance, I can no longer do technical work). Anyway, how did those of you out there who have done this do it? Can anyone give me some advice, tips, whips, er, uh, wrong century. Any good books I can buy? As you can probably tell I have a lot of misgivings about this, but I don't see how I can get out of it. If I blow it for me thats one thing, but I really don't want to screw up 2 people just getting started in the field. Guess I should mention I'm a 'computing professional', which means 10 years ago I started playing with computers and now I get paid megabucks to do it. And re-reading this I feel I could give some people the wrong impression. I'm not against managing 2 people, I'm just nervous as hell and don't want to screw up too badly. -- jim jharkins@sagpd1 I hate to see you go, but I love to see you walk away.
jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) (06/05/90)
Here at Project Athena, our recent reorganization has placed a lot more people than before in the position of being managers of other groups of people. Often, the newly created managers are technically oriented individuals (i.e. "hackers" :-) who have little interest or experience in managing; also, the new managers are often managing peers rather than people lower than they are on the "corporate ladder", and peer management is usually more difficult than managing people lower in the chain of command than you are. Athena's upper management responded to this by hiring an outside consulting firm to design a two-day management course tailored to Project Athena's environment, and asking staff members who are likely to need this kind of experience to participate in the course. I was one of the people who did the course, which is why I know about it. (The course just happened last week, so it's convenient that you've asked about this now :-) Although it may not be convenient or cost-effective for your employers to arrange for a management course given on-site, you may be able to find such courses offered in your area for general enrollment; you may even be able to get your employers to pay for you taking the course. Unfortunately, such a generalized course won't be quite as beneficial as one tailored specifically to the needs present in your environment; however, it will certainly be useful to you, and may reassure you and give you a better idea of how to proceed with your managing. At the very least, such a course looks good on a resume. Hope this helps. Jonathan Kamens USnail: MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace jik@Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134 Office: 617-253-8495 Home: 617-782-0710
tjo@its.bt.co.uk (Tim Oldham) (06/06/90)
In article <802@sagpd1.UUCP> jharkins@sagpd1.UUCP (Jim Harkins) writes: >[How do you manage?] Start with Drucker's ``Management: Tasks, Responsibilites, Practices'' and go from there. It pays to start at the top and understand what the aims of management are. Personal opinion: everybody should read this book. Of course, some people don't agree with Drucker, but I'd say he's pretty right on. Tim. -- Tim Oldham, BT Applied Systems. tjo@its.bt.co.uk or ...uunet!ukc!its!tjo Living in interesting times.
rhill@ncrws1.Peachtree.NCR.COM (Dick Hill) (06/06/90)
In article <802@sagpd1.UUCP> jharkins@sagpd1.UUCP (Jim Harkins) writes: > Several years ago I too was "promoted" into this non-dead-end position. Luckily I had been placed in charge of my own kind. The only reason I was chosen was I was dumb enough to do it, and my brain was becoming cluttered and unusable. SoI had to make the best of a situation and educate myself in creative whip wielding. >Anyway, how did those of you out there who have done this do it? Can anyone >give me some advice, tips, whips, er, uh, wrong century. Any good books I >can buy? As you can probably tell I have a lot of misgivings about this, but >I don't see how I can get out of it. If I blow it for me thats one thing, but >I really don't want to screw up 2 people just getting started in the field. > Something important to me was not desturbing the flow of ideas and infringing on the creativeness of my group. I had to manage without managing. Some good books are: The One Minute Manager, there is also a film on the book that is very good; How to Win Frends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, old but impressive. >And re-reading this I feel I could give some people the wrong impression. >I'm not against managing 2 people, I'm just nervous as hell and don't want >to screw up too badly. > Get into some management classes at you corner college. With the legal hassles that a manager can get into these should contain some simple law courses. This primarily will deal with descrimination problems, promotions demotions and actions that can be taken with employees so you and your company don't put yourself in a legally vulnerable situation. The best of luck to you... > >-- >jim jharkins@sagpd1 > >I hate to see you go, but I love to see you walk away. R.Hill@peachtree.ncr.com
bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson) (06/07/90)
In article <_'`$'1+@masalla.fulcrum.bt.co.uk> tjo@its.bt.co.uk (Tim Oldham) writes: >In article <802@sagpd1.UUCP> jharkins@sagpd1.UUCP (Jim Harkins) writes: >>[How do you manage?] > >Start with Drucker's ``Management: Tasks, Responsibilites, Practices'' >and go from there. It pays to start at the top and understand what the >aims of management are. Personal opinion: everybody should read this book. Missed the original message by Jim, so this may be a bit off base. The best book I've read about managing programmers was: Managing Software People by Phillip Metzger (the title may be a bit off). The book is short, readable, and obviously by someone who has actually managed software people (i.e. matches many of my own experiences). A book for putting the whole software PROCESS together is: Managing the Software Process by Watts Humphrey, again by someone who obviously had done it for a living. Too many books/articles on software management are *academic* where 100 businesses/projects/etc are studied and generalized from. While this is interesting and useful, sometimes I would rather hear a complete story from one individual who has done well in the field. * Bruce Benson + Internet - bwb@sei.cmu.edu + + * Software Engineering Institute + Compuserv - 76226,3407 + >--|> * Carnegie Mellon University + Voice - 412 268 8496 + + * Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890 + + US Air Force
ray3rd@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ray E. Saddler III) (06/08/90)
There's always: The One Minute Manager
By: Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D.
Spencer Johnson, Ph.D.
ISBN: 0-425-09847-8
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Company
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY. 10016
--
Ray E. Saddler III UseNet ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
CAD System/Network Admin uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ray3rd /__// //__ / /\ // _
P.O. Box 3999 m.s. 3R-05 PhoneNet /__//__//__ _/_ / //__/
Seattle, WA. 98124 USA +1 206-657-2824 Missile Systems Division dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) (06/08/90)
In article <7459@fy.sei.cmu.edu> bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson) writes: > Too many books/articles on software management are *academic* where 100 > businesses/projects/etc are studied and generalized from. While this > is interesting and useful, sometimes I would rather hear a complete story > from one individual who has done well in the field. A former roommate of mine (an excellent software-engineer and "hacker" in the best sense of the term) commented to me a few months ago: "Managing senior programmers is like herding cats." -- Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 493-8805 UUCP: ...!{ames,apple,uunet}!coherent!dplatt DOMAIN: dplatt@coherent.com INTERNET: coherent!dplatt@ames.arpa, ...@uunet.uu.net USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303
john@nmt.edu (John Shipman) (06/08/90)
I'd like to recommend a couple of good books for software
managers.
1. ``Peopleware---Productive Projects and Teams,'' Tom de
Marco and Timothy Lister (Dorset House, 1987).
Overtime for salaried workers is a figment of the naive
manager's imagination. Oh, there might be some benefit
in a few extra hours worked on Saturday to meet a Monday
deadline, but that's almost always followed by an equal
period of compensatory ``undertime'' while the workers
catch up with their lives. (p. 15)
American office workers have barely looked up while their
work quarters have been degraded from sensible to silly.
Not so long ago, they worked in two- and three-person
offices with walls, doors, and windows.... In such space,
one could work in quiet or conduct meetings with colleagues
without disrupting neigbors. Then, without warning,
open-plan seating was upon us like a plague upon the
land.... (p. 52)
During single-minded work time, people are ideally in a
state that psychologists call FLOW.... Unfortunately,
you can't turn on flow like a switch. It takes a slow
descent into the subject, requiring fifteen minutes or
more of concentration before the state is locked in.
During this immersion period, you are particularly
sensitive to noise and interruption.... Once locked in,
the state can be broken by an interruption that is
focused on you (your phone, for instance) or by insistent
noise (``Attention! Paging Paul Portulaca.'').... If
the average incoming phone call takes five minutes and
your reimmersion period is 15 minutes, the total cost
of that call in flow time (work time) lost is 20 minutes.
A dozen phone calls use up half a day. A dozen other
interruptions and the rest of the work day is gone. This
is what guarantees, ``You never get anything done around
here between 9 and 5.'' (p. 63)
2. ``Up the organization'' by Robert Townsend (Fawcett, 1970).
There's nothing fundamentally wrong with our country except
that the leaders of all our major organizations are
operating on the wrong assumptions. We're in this mess
because for the last 200 years we've been using the Catholic
Church and Caesar's legions as our pattern for creating
organizations. And until the last forty or fifty years it
made sense. The average churchgoer, soldier, and factory
worker was uneducated and dependent on orders from above...
(``People,'' p. 119)
A manager cannot take as an excuse for his mistakes in
business an order given by his boss or his boss's boss,
when the person giving the order is absent from the field
of operations and is imperfectly aware or wholly unaware
of the latest state of affairs. It follows that any
manager who undertakes to carry out a plan which he
considers defective is at fault; he must put forward his
reasons, insist on the plan being changed, and finally
tender his resignation rather than be the the instrument
of his organization's downfall. (``Disobedience and its
necessity,'' p. 35, paraphrasing Napoleon)
People have different metabolisms. If you work better
from noon to midnight and your job makes those hours
appropriate, you should be able to do it. (``Office
hours,'' p. 113)
--
John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, NM/john@jupiter.nmt.edu
``Let's go outside and commiserate with nature.'' --Dave Farber