Business

Illness And Silicon Valley

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I worked from home for a day because I took rather ill.  What’s odd is I could deal with the mild nausea and weakness of what’s going around – I was worried about infecting my teams.

In many jobs I’ve had there’s always one or two patient zeroes, people who come in when sick and end up infecting everyone.  There are the inevitable statements by managers that yes, if sick, work from home, that are then promptly ignored.

Then everyone gets sick.

So I had a few thoughts:

First, despite the ability to work from home, many people forget they can do it.  It’s kind of automatic.

Secondly, people worry working from home looks lazy.  This is probably subconscious, but is still an issue.

Third, I don’t think the statements by many a manager to stay home have settled in for many people.  Which is kind of weird when you think about.

I think those of us in technical fields need to rethink how we handle illness, sick days, and so forth.  We need to do so because right now it’s hard to effectively manage the issue.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Brands and Choice

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Ever go to the Supermarket and see huge varieties of some simple products?  Which do you buy?

Inevitably, we tend to go with a simple choice.  One we know; a brand we like.

One of the powers of brands is that with many choices, they narrow them for us quickly.

Brands help us make a choice – even if the choice is no.  A good branding expert accepts that, because the “yes” is so powerful.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Why We Have Management

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As a Program Manager I sometimes speculate, analyze, and answer the question “why the hell do we have managers?”  Admittedly that question is usually “why the hell do we have this manager,” but people tend to tar us all with the same brush.

Management is a skillset like anything else, but here’s the thing – we’re all managers.  It’s just what we’re able to effectively manage.

Some people have the knowledge and intensity to write a program, others can lead and perform in a surgical team, others can guide a company.  All of that is management – even if you’re managing yourself (though sadly some people can’t manage that).  We’re all managers.

It’s just that some of us have the skill, perspective, and ability to manage people and organizations.  Not everyone can do it.  For that matter, some people who could manage a team couldn’t manage writing a book or managing a department.  We’ve got different management abilities – some of us just end up making a profession of it.

So we need managers – good managers – like we need anyone else.  I find looking at it this way gives a useful and true perspective.

So I don’t think less of people who aren’t managers, nor do I think everyone with the title is necessary good at it.

But necessary?  Yes.  Ask yourself how you organize things in your career, and what would happen if you weren’t there.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.