Managing Delicate Resources
December 2, 2008 at 12:06 am | In Management | 1 CommentTags: delicate resources, lonewolf, Management, managing resources, not a psychologist, project team, resource management, resources, team, unproductive team members
Some resources are more delicate than others, they need attention, they are somehow the romantic type, they are peaceful, and they can get easily hurt, and most of the times they get hurt, it’s because of them, and not of you.
So what’s the best way to deal with such resources? Is it OK to make an exception and start walking on eggshells just to avoid disturbing their delicate little life, or should you treat them the same way you treat everyone else?
From my personal experience I found that neither way works with these people, they’re just not made to socialize, and they don’t like to be treated differently. Additionally, I discovered that these people are the least productive in any team I’ve managed, and having them on any project usually hinders its progress.
The solution (I’m sure there are much better solutions out there, but I’m not a psychologist) is to give them simple tasks that do not require a lot of interaction between you and them, as well as between them and the team. The optimal solution, in my opinion, is letting them go, as they’re not exactly the company’s best assets.
Deep into Project Planning
September 10, 2008 at 10:26 pm | In General Project Management, Management, movies | 1 CommentTags: at world's end, Management, pirates, pirates of the caribbean, project, project management, project management plan, project planning
Currently developing the Project Management Plan (nice sets of articles on the subject) for a project I wish the company didn’t undertake, while watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, for the 100th time.
The nice thing about this movie is that risk is not really a factor in the Project Management Plan, failure is not permitted, nor possible. If they fail then the movie will end in the first 5 minutes when Barbossa and Lady Swan meet the pirates in Singapore, they get killed, and end of story.
Unfortunately for me, I have to take care of risks and everything else in between in my plan, I cannot hope for things, hoping without planning is a recipe for failure.
Btw, after watching this movie for quite a lot of times, I think it’s excellent, it’s much better than the second one in my opinion, and I’m still not able to decide on whether or not it’s better than the first one. I like the treachery part of the movie, where everyone’s tricking everyone else to get what s/he needs. I highly recommend it.
What are you doing? Go buy this movie!
On Being a Tough Manager
July 29, 2008 at 10:26 pm | In Management, Musings about Work | 6 CommentsTags: Management, slackers, soft management, tough management
I’m currently undergoing some huge stress at work because of a project extremely vital to the company. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very smooth today when I imposed a 2 hour deadline on one of the employees to finish something. The employee responded, by email, when the 2 hours elapsed, that he didn’t know how to do it and that he’s sorry. Now that employee, in particular, is very hard working and loyal and he loves working with me, but he just can’t handle pressure (this is not the first time). I ended up doing the task myself and finishing late. I hate working late.
Was I too tough on that person or was he too soft? And who’s the one who wasn’t able to handle the pressure, was it him, or me? He’s just a developer after all…
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