Last night a dozen technical leaders gathered for the Bay Area Engineering Managers Support Group to answer the question:
“What are the most effective steps a manager can take to retain key employees?”
Mike Cohn has a great article in the Agile Journal in which he describes ‘patterns’ of agile adoption. The basic premise is that there are 3 choices that an organization needs to make about their agile rollout:
“Do you read xkcd?” It seemed like an innocent question when my friend Patti asked me last night. I didn’t hear the faint sucking sound. You know the one, the sound of a bunch of time about to go away. I laughed. I cried. I sent links to friends.
I’ll be leading a workshop called “What Makes Engineering Managers Succeed?” at the next IEEE Silicon Valley Engineering Management Society event. It’s open to the public, and a real bargain. For the cost of dinner, you get a facilitated networking session, dinner, and my workshop.
When:
Wednesday, January 30th, 6:30 PM.
Where:
Ramada Inn
1217 Wildwood Ave, Sunnyvale CA 94089
All the details are here.
Young IT workers disillusioned, hard to hold, survey says
I’m amused that the woman interviewed in this article thinks that the solution to the problem of retaining IT workers is for the workers to change their expectations. I wish her good luck with that. If you would like to find some more realistic ways to improve retention, come out the January Engineering Managers Support Group meeting.
Retaining Key Contributors: What Works…
Retaining key employees can make the difference between success and failure. This month we will examine what works, and what doesn’t work, when it comes to retention. Have an opinion? Some insight gained from experience? Join us on Wednesday, January 23rd. We will be starting a half-hour earlier, at 6:30 PM. We will once again enjoy the hospitality of Rearden Commerce, as they provide us with great facilities and tasty food. Rumor has it that we will be enjoying some fine Middle Eastern cuisine this month!
Sometimes I wonder if I should find another line of work. You know, something a bit more thrilling…
A struggling young cruise line offers a cruise from London, bound for Miami. At the very beginning of each trip, the captain and the two helmsmen make a navigational plan for the voyage. It appears that a straight line, southwest along a compass heading of 220 degrees, will get them to Miami. They plot their course on a chart and file it away, eager to get on to the real work of sailing the ship.
The helmsmen work alternating 12-hour shifts watching the compass closely and adjusting the rudder any time it moves away from their heading of 220 degrees. The work is grueling, but the helmsmen are diligent.
