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Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

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Re: Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

#41

Post by organsnyder »

segmondy wrote: post #19
organsnyder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> strongly consider keeping your mouth shut if that way is only 5% better That's great advice. An experience with a director overruling his engineering staff is one reason I no longer work for him. As a leader, your most valuable asset is context : big-picture strategy, business priorities, and the like. If you're in an interaction where you find you're not utilizing that asset, you probably should back off and let y…

If the director is smarter and more knowledgeable about the engineering domain, he should overrule. that's what the big-picture strategy is all about, some people make it into leadership because they are really good and capable at engineering. So long as they stay sharp, they can still make technical decisions.

That might lead to the best technical outcome (if the director is actually right!). But the message it sends to subordinates is incredibly damaging. If a leader really needs to pull rank because they can't explain why a different approach is worthwhile, either they're not a good communicator, and/or their subordinates are incompetent. And this discussion should only be occurring for major, irreversible decisions in the first place.

Re: Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

#42

Post by weej »

organsnyder wrote: post #41
segmondy wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the director is smarter and more knowledgeable about the engineering domain, he should overrule. that's what the big-picture strategy is all about, some people make it into leadership because they are really good and capable at engineering. So long as they stay sharp, they can still make technical decisions.

That might lead to the best technical outcome (if the director is actually right!). But the message it sends to subordinates is incredibly damaging. If a leader really needs to pull rank because they can't explain why a different approach is worthwhile, either they're not a good communicator, and/or their subordinates are incompetent. And this discussion should only be occurring for major, irreversible decisions in t…

Agreed. A leader needs to be capable of indirectly & positively influencing the team's architecture and overall technical outcome while not doing so explicitly (manage down, up and out). The team needs to drive and come to their own conclusions, but a true leader can positively impact the vision and strategic execution.

Re: Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

#43

Post by BlackjackCF »

sokoloff wrote: post #8

You need to stop doing your old job and start doing your new job. That sounds obvious, but I see a lot of people get promoted and keep doing their old job, the one that they were so good at it and came so naturally. Even if the new person in your old job is only 25% as good as you are at, let/make them do it. Related, if you can see a better way to do it, strongly consider keeping your mouth shut if that way is only…

+!.

You likely also got very good at your job just by doing it A LOT. Give that person the benefit of the doubt and some time to grow into the role. Just like you will have to for your new role.

Re: Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

#44

Post by stackdestroyer »

sidlls wrote: post #40
chenning wrote: post #37

Would you classify someone like Linus Torvalds as a manager and an individual contributor? I see a lot of obsession with pigeonholing and defining roles with zero degrees of freedom. "A manager needs to stop doing ____ and needs to start doing ___". Who's making these definitions? I know plenty of small business owners who are quite successful at wearing both hats. I personally don't have a problem if someone out the…

About Linus: no; he's an architect. The small business owner very likely has to wear more than one hat due to the size of his staff. This discussion is in the context of an organization likely much bigger than most small businesses of the kind you describe. The organization is inside a company that is in turn bigger. I don't think that a direct comparison useful.

Agreed - my situation is currently a team of 20, but previously up to 75 in my org. I work for a mid-sized company that's ~2500 people in total.

Re: Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

#45

Post by stackdestroyer »

Thanks to everyone who took the time to add something to this thread. Lots of valuable stuff in here, and I've got some rearranging to do with my perspective, and how I think about my time and tasks. I'm sure I'll have more questions, but for now I've got work to do to get better at this.

Re: Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

#46

Post by yters »

jedberg wrote: post #24
yters wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly the problem I see with my division's supervisor. He was a developer, and is now a program manager, but he wants to directly influence every single project instead of delegating. What is an effective way to encourage him to do his new job? This is impacting the team b/c he takes away lower level decision making responsibility, while not spending the time he needs to spend planning out and setting top l…

Well you have a few options. You'll have to gauge your own situation to see what you can get away with. 1) Ask him for his deliverables to you frequently. If he's a program manager, presumably part of his job is to fill you in on context and the goings on outside of your group. Ask him for those regularly. Ask him to present the planning and top level vision. 2) Be direct and tell him what you just wrote -- that you…

I've done #2 a number of times, and #1 is a great idea, too. If I keep him focused on #1, it'll be harder for him to hop the line.

Re: Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

#47

Post by stackdestroyer »

sciurus wrote: post #36

Check out Will Larson's post on time management. https://lethain.com/time-management/ He has a lot of great posts on leadership and management; here's a collection of some of them- https://lethain.com/rails-for-engineering-leadership/

Huge value here - great to see another tech->mgr telling their story about how they got better.

Re: Ask HN: IT Directors and VP's – how do you manage your time and projects?

#48

Post by stackdestroyer »

codemac wrote: post #27

1. Your calendar is your new todo list, if it doesn't fit, get rid of it. You're negotiating about your time. Review your calendar at the end of the week to ensure you're putting in time on the projects you need to. 2. You'll start to see why GTD got so popular, you need a list of things you can do. GTD's Agendas & WaitingFor lists are for you. 3. If you don't have an ea/admin you trust, you need to get on that. The…

Diving in on GTD and have thus far really been converted. Having a system - _any_ system, is critical. It became clear pretty quickly that my "system" was just me using my head and brute-forcing my way through things.
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