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Gathering status is important. Rands explains that engineers are typically using other tools in their job that can do that kind of reporting. A manager's job is

by reid 15y ago

Gathering status is important. Rands explains that engineers are typically using other tools in their job that can do that kind of reporting. A manager's job is to synthesize status from your distributed journal of bug closures, emails, wiki updates and notes from the 1:1. For looking back at what I did in the past, personally, I've started doing this: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2008/08/18/the_trickle_list.html http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2008/08/18/the_trickle... That's because I find it very hard to read through weeks of my written status reports from my past. It's easier to scan the Trickle List.

slantyyz 15y ago
A manager's job is to synthesize status from your distributed journal of bug closures, emails, wiki updates and notes from the 1:1. A competent manager might argue that it would be a better use of his time to delegate to his resources to identify what in their distributed journal of bug closures, emails, wiki updates and notes represents signal and what represents noise. I don't know any competent manager who isn't busy enough: * managing multiple projects * fighting fires with customers * chasing down issues, managing expectations * attending meetings he/she doesn't want to attend so that his/her resources can better spend their time on delivery tasks * triaging his/her own inbox (when you're a manager, everyone who sends you an email expects you to treat it like it's an emergency) * handholding the resources that for one reason or another he/she can't fire * writing his/her own status reports to deliver to paying customers Ideally, collecting status is great work for an administrative resource like a project coordinator, but that's usually a luxury item that managers can only dream of.
- VladRussian 15y ago
  >A competent manager might argue that it would be a better use of his time to delegate to his resource the first sign of all the bad managers i've met - s/he delegates. S/he aren't competent enough to perform his/her duties (including and especially - taking decisions) and covers it as delegation. Status reports are second worst - they mean that the manager doesn't have enough competence/skills/interest in being continuously aware of what happens in his team. Frequently the team responds in kind :)
  - eshamow 15y ago
    Er...the delegation thing depends on what the manager is being paid to do. Not every technical manager can be an expert in all the fields he/she supervises. That's why they hire other, individual contributors who are more focused on the details or tactical implementation without having to worry about the strategic.
    - VladRussian 15y ago
      >Er...the delegation thing depends on what the manager is being paid to do. until the manager is specifically being paid to do delegation, the manager should do his work instead of delegating it. >Not every technical manager can be an expert in all the fields he/she supervises. that pretty much equivalent definition of a bad manager. >the details or tactical implementation without having to worry about the strategic. and the strategy BS they bring in.
  - slantyyz 15y ago
    Seriously, bad managers delegate? That's probably one of the most important things for a manager to do.
- sethg 15y ago
  Ideally, collecting status is great work for an administrative resource like a project coordinator If project coordination isn’t part of a manager’s job description, what is?

by reid 15y ago

slantyyz 15y ago

A manager's job is to synthesize status from your distributed journal of bug closures, emails, wiki updates and notes from the 1:1. A competent manager might argue that it would be a better use of his time to delegate to his resources to identify what in their distributed journal of bug closures, emails, wiki updates and notes represents signal and what represents noise. I don't know any competent manager who isn't busy enough: * managing multiple projects * fighting fires with customers * chasing down issues, managing expectations * attending meetings he/she doesn't want to attend so that his/her resources can better spend their time on delivery tasks * triaging his/her own inbox (when you're a manager, everyone who sends you an email expects you to treat it like it's an emergency) * handholding the resources that for one reason or another he/she can't fire * writing his/her own status reports to deliver to paying customers Ideally, collecting status is great work for an administrative resource like a project coordinator, but that's usually a luxury item that managers can only dream of.

VladRussian 15y ago
>A competent manager might argue that it would be a better use of his time to delegate to his resource the first sign of all the bad managers i've met - s/he delegates. S/he aren't competent enough to perform his/her duties (including and especially - taking decisions) and covers it as delegation. Status reports are second worst - they mean that the manager doesn't have enough competence/skills/interest in being continuously aware of what happens in his team. Frequently the team responds in kind :)
- eshamow 15y ago
  Er...the delegation thing depends on what the manager is being paid to do. Not every technical manager can be an expert in all the fields he/she supervises. That's why they hire other, individual contributors who are more focused on the details or tactical implementation without having to worry about the strategic.
  - VladRussian 15y ago
    >Er...the delegation thing depends on what the manager is being paid to do. until the manager is specifically being paid to do delegation, the manager should do his work instead of delegating it. >Not every technical manager can be an expert in all the fields he/she supervises. that pretty much equivalent definition of a bad manager. >the details or tactical implementation without having to worry about the strategic. and the strategy BS they bring in.
- slantyyz 15y ago
  Seriously, bad managers delegate? That's probably one of the most important things for a manager to do.
sethg 15y ago
Ideally, collecting status is great work for an administrative resource like a project coordinator If project coordination isn’t part of a manager’s job description, what is?