As managers, we have to keep certain information confidential, such as personal details about others. As a manager, I can’t share everything with my employees, but I will tell you as much as I can. I’ll also let you know when there’s something I can’t disclose—unless I’ve been specifically instructed not to say anything at…
Too Stressed for Change? That’s Exactly Why You Need It
There’s a saying: If you’re too stressed for meditation, then you need meditation. How about, if you are too busy for process improvement then you need process improvement? Are you shooting yourself in the foot by always believing you’re too busy for activities that could actually make your job easier? This might include implementing process…
Balancing Help and Growth: A Manager’s Dilemma
As I grow as a manager, I’m realizing that I need to focus on developing my employees. This process isn’t as straightforward as one might think because there’s no step-by-step plan to follow. Each employee is at a different stage in their development, and they may not even realize they need development. On top of…
Sometimes you just have to sit down and color
I borrowed the title from phrase a friend says when we have to do things as described in this post. Thanks E.R. Sometimes we have to do things that don’t seem to make sense—such as attending a meeting that feels like a waste of time.This is often due to the complexity of the organization. The…
Before You Solve It, Define It
I find that engineers often jump to solving a problem without clearly defining it first. When they come to me for help, I ask them to state the problem. At that point, they usually hesitate and struggle to articulate it. I work with them to define the problem verbally, and once it’s clearly stated, they’re…
Optimizing for the Whole, Not the Parts
You cannot build a high-performing company with everybody self-optimizing.” — Robert Glazer We must always ensure that a process improvement benefits the business as a whole. If an improvement helps a small group but negatively impacts the company overall, it should not be implemented. The reverse can also occur—sometimes a company makes an improvement that…
Initiative Over Recognition: The Path to Promotion
Employees who consistently earn promotions don’t wait to be assigned projects. They identify areas for improvement and take the initiative to fix them. It’s as if they have an internal drive to solve problems—not for recognition, but because they genuinely care about making things better. On the other hand, employees who ask for projects often…
Your Job Needs Maintenance Too
Periodic maintenance isn’t fun. It would be much better if you could just drive your car without ever needing to change the oil. Getting a new roof on your house, painting, replacing your car’s tires—all are forms of periodic maintenance. You have to do them to keep things working as they should. Yearly reviews, project…
The Difference in Leadership Capital When You Become a Manager
Leadership capital is a concept from the book Extreme Ownership. “Think of the amount of influence you have on the people around you as a bank account. Leadership capital represents the funds available in that account.”— Echelon Front As an individual contributor, your leadership capital is limited because no one is directly obligated to follow…
Before You Escalate: Have You Tried Talking?
I often have team members tell me that someone hasn’t responded to their email, and they expect me to address the issue. I ask if they’ve tried calling or speaking to the person directly, and this suggestion often seems like a revelation to them. One person even told me it must be a generational thing…
Growing as a Manager to Develop Team Members
Growing as a manager can be challenging. While there are countless books outlining the obvious responsibilities of a manager, the most difficult areas for growth are often the ones you’re not even aware you need to improve. For example, when I first started as an engineer, I read Executive Leadership by Elliot Jacques, which described…
Metrics and Updates Are an Important Part of Your Job
Providing updates and supporting metrics is part of our job and helps us keep our job by ensuring the organization works together. As much as we might wish otherwise, we cannot work independently. We will always need to communicate with others and adjust our activities to minimize the impact on them.
Pockets of Reducibility and the Work We Can’t Control
In engineering, we’re taught that we can simulate certain physical processes using equations—but only within limited conditions. This limitation exists because there are simply too many variables to model every possible situation. Stephen Wolfram refers to this concept as “pockets of reducibility”—specific areas where we can model our world with some success. Outside of these…
Not All Bureaucracy is Bad
Bureaucracy is often blamed for restricting individuals from completing their tasks at work in whatever way they choose, while overlooking its impact on the rest of the organization. Not all bureaucracy is bad. It is a method of connecting everyone in the organization and ensuring that everyone is working for the company’s goals. The bigger…
Ignoring Emails Can Cause More Meetings
Sometimes I need a simple answer to a question, and I send several emails but receive no response. As a result, I have to schedule a meeting to get the answer. I wonder how many people ignore these requests in email and then complain that there are too many meetings. This is another instance where…
Teamwork Over Convenience
We must remember that we are a team working toward a common goal. It’s easy to get frustrated when we can’t work the way we want, make the changes we prefer, or simply wing it. In a company, being part of a team means prioritizing what benefits the group as a whole. Sometimes, we have…
Is Your Phone Keeping You Behind at Work?
I’ve been hesitant to address phone distractions at work, assuming most people could manage them. However, as the “older guy,” I’ve noticed that not everyone can. I often see engineers splitting their attention by watching videos while working, which obviously reduces productivity. Even the slightest notification—even if you don’t check your phone—can break your focus…
Stop Expecting to Crank Widgets in Knowledge Work
It would be nice if we could do our job without having to deal with all of these annoying tasks that get in the way of our job. The problem is that all of the annoying tasks, fixing problems, figuring things out, that is our job. These are the variables we have to deal with…
The “Wing It” Hypothesis
We’ve been trained in problem-solving tools—whether it’s Lean methodologies or something as simple as making a plan—but we rarely use them. I believe this is because we prefer to wing it. Sitting down to think through a problem is difficult. A simple example is creating a project plan and forecasting dates. There are several reasons…
Faster Processes Are Not Always Better
Each business uses standard processes to accomplish its many projects. Typically, alternative steps can be used to complete the project faster. Sometimes, the alternative steps are more efficient, and this alternative should be made the standard. Sometimes, a project can be completed faster by moving activities up in queues or applying more labor hours. However,…