This story has been updated and republished as Lessons Learned From My First Failed Meeting. That version is better. š
It was a bad day at Geekaplex. A star developerās computer had crashed hard, taking a weekās worth of new source code with it. The big boss was furious! How could it be that there was only one copy of the code? I spoke up, āWe need source control, and a backup system.ā The big boss looked at me and said: āOK, then get some people together and make it happen!ā
Heads up! The Chief Happiness Officer is urging people to complain at work. His point is that complaining in a constructive way can make the workplace better. Fair enough, but what if you are a new manager and you are the one listening to all of these complaints?
msnbc has a short online survey about workplace meetings. There is no great love for meetings among the respondents. As of today, 81% responded that they have too many meetings and 59% indicated that good ideas rarely come from their meetings. Could it be that ānone of us is as dumb as all of usā?
If you are hating your meetings and can make it to Foster City, CA on Tuesday May 29th, join us for a short class that will help you stop wasting time in meetings.
Engineering managers: does your team think meetings are t3h suck?
Join us for a super-saver sneak peak class that will cut the time
you and your staff waste in meetings. This class will show how to
decide which meetings are really necessary, and how to make them short and productive.
Average temperature ranges from 32 to 104 Fahrenheit. It has about twice the surface area and twice the gravity of earth, and it celebrates New Year’s Day once every 13 earth days. As soon as we can travel at the speed of light, trips to the planet, located in the constellation Libra, will only take about 20 years.
There is a full article on the World Science website.
I just read this article at cio.com. It had some excellent advice about how to give, and how not to give, feedback to others in the workplace. Feedback is one of the most powerful tools in a managerās toolbox. Use it early; use it often. It is far better to give regular feedback than to save it up for performance review time.
Hillary and I went to an Area Breakfast Meeting (ABC) sponsored by the Institute of Management Consultants this morning. At 5:30 AM I wasnāt so sure that getting out of bed to go have breakfast at a seafood place was a good idea. As it turned out, Scottās Seafood in Palo Alto provided a nice atmosphere and perfectly good breakfast fare.
While walking this morning, I listened to the HBR Ideacast #35, What it Means to Work Here. In it they mention a hiring practice used by Whole Foods, that I really like. New hires are on probation for the first 4 weeks. At the end of that time, their coworkers vote to keep them or let them go.
Managers, as well as engineers, are occasionally called on to give presentations. Preparation and practice are the biggest ingredients in a successful presentation. You donāt want the big day to be the first time youāve given the presentation. Practice out loud, first by yourself and then in front of some friends or colleagues who can give you constructive criticism. Practice with the actual equipment that you will be using, preferably in the actual room where you will give the final presentation. The more you rehearse, the lower the chances of something going wrong. Sometimes, things still go wrong. John West tells the story of one such occasion, and how he did a respectable job recovering, in this post to Leading from the Trenches.
One of the podcasts that I enjoy is The Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series from Stanford. The speakers tend to be smart, insightful, and inspiring. This morning I listened to the show from February 7th, which featured Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn.
Reid really grasps the differences between being an entrepreneur and being a manager. Listening to him compare and contrast the two will help you, no matter which you are. He also explains how even those who choose to have jobs are more and more entrepreneurial these days. You need to treat yourself as a product, and your career as your business. You even need a ābusiness planā for your career.
If you want to network with me on LinkedIn, you can find my profile here.