I forgot to add one of the other great tools I've utilized which is the Manager Tools <http://www.manager-tools.com/> podcast (and its sister podcast, Career Tools <http://www.manager-tools.com/podcast/career-tools>).
I highly recommend listening to these, almost every single podcast has something of good value to offer. If you have a long drive or take the train into work, this is the perfect time to listen to them! On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 10:58 AM, Evan Pettrey <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Peter, > > I've been there and in many ways I'm still there! Just like our technical > challenges required us to be constantly learning, so too, do our managerial > challenges. The good news for you is that you've already taken the most > important step toward getting better which is to realize where you are > lacking and making an effort to make conscious improvements. > > There are four levels of understanding anything, in this case how to be a > leader: > > > 1. Unconsciously Incompetent - you don't know that you don't know how > to lead a team > > 2. Consciously Incompetent - you know that you don't know how to lead > a team > > 3. Consciously Competent - you know how to lead a team but need to > closely concentrate on what you're doing to accomplish this > > 4. Unconsciously Competent - you are such a good leader that it now > comes naturally without even thinking about it! > > > It sounds like you're on somewhere between step 2 and 3 and are willing to > put in the hard work to get to step 3 and beyond, which is a great place to > be. > > > With that out of the way, there are a few things that have helped me > dramatically since moving into a management role: > > > - *Project Management - *Earlier in my career I worked for a company > who was very strict in their processes and we even obtained our ISO 20000 > and CMMI:Level 3 certifications. This helped me a lot as I was forced to > learn what is the "certified" way to manage tasks. However, what I found > was that much of it overcomplicated things and I really need to adapt what > I learned with these hardened processes actually worked and develop this > into something that could allow my team to operate at the Unconsciously > Competent level. > > To do this, we started using a Kanban Board (we use > http://www.kanbanpad.com which is really helpful and free). Each of my > employees has their own task board and larger projects also have their own > task board. > > An employee task board includes 4 columns: > > - *To-Do* - Work that is in queue but has not been started > - *In Progress - *exactly what it says, work that is currently in > progress but has not been completed > - *Verification - *this is the testing phase for our work which has > to be verified as working by myself or our team peers > - *Completed - *work that is finished moves into this queue and > each Monday is moved to the "Finished" bucket where we can quickly and > easily look back on the year in review to determine what was > accomplished > > > In addition to project management, there have been a few books in > particular that have helped me as a leader: > > > - The Phoenix Project > > <http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Project-Helping-Business/dp/0988262592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389110106&sr=8-1&keywords=phoenix+project>(and > The Goal: A Process of Ongoing > Improvement<http://www.amazon.com/The-Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0884271951/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389110069&sr=8-1&keywords=the+goal>) > - These two books really help you take a step back and look at the big > picture. While The Phoenix Project is written specifically for DevOps I > think The Goal is the better of the two books but I recommend reading both > > - The Effective > Executive<http://www.amazon.com/The-Effective-Executive-Definitive-Harperbusiness/dp/0060833459/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389110158&sr=8-1&keywords=effective+executive>- > Written by Peter Drucker in the 80s this is still widely considered one > of the best books any leader can read today. It will teach you to think > like a leader, how to manage your time effectively, and how to accomplish > all your goals > > > > There are a number of other things that have been immensely helpful to me > as I've been transitioning from a technical resource to a leader but what > I've listed above were the things that really helped me start moving in the > right direction. > > If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to discuss. > > > > Best, > Evan > > > On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 10:15 AM, Peter Grace <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Hello list, >> >> Well, I've been an IT Director for about half a year now. In this time I >> have learned quite a bit more about what it takes to be a manager and the >> amount of self discipline it requires to keep all of the pieces on the >> chessboard moving safely. >> >> After 6 months, my self evaluation is I suck at being in charge of an IT >> department, and by gosh I want to fix that. I am asking for your opinions >> on all manners of self-help: certification ideas, books that have helped >> you "grok" how a department should work properly, ways to improve process >> management, things of this nature. I want to be the best I can be and I >> know that a lot of the people on this list have "been there, done that" and >> have lived to tell the tale. I'd love to hear yours. >> >> I struggle since the place where I work still has a lot of startup >> mentality but they're getting to the size where we need to start making it >> "enterprisey" to keep things moving smoothly. A lot of the people in the >> organization feel like making things more enterprise-like means that >> they'll be mired in paperwork and mucky-muck and it's tough to break that >> opinion. What are your experiences? >> >> Thanks in advance, >> >> Pete >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators >> http://lopsa.org/ >> >> >
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