A Guide for Technical Managers
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Everyone’s situation is unique. Work pressures are seldom the same, and sources of overload can be quite different. The following Quick Start Guide allows you focus on your individual situation immediately. After you examine the sections related to your dilemma, you should read through two other topics: Core Principles and Working Cycles. They address the details that make the system easier to use. For example, how to accelerate learning by leverage different times of the days. They also describe tricks for maintaining during those super-overloaded days. Skim the following list of situations. The category that fits your overload condition should jump out at you. The location of each area is noted after the selection listings.
Quick Start GuideSelect the category that most accurately reflects your situation:
1. Project bound.You are juggling far too many projects. It always feels like you’re on the edge with the possibility of everything falling apart. Start with the sections on:
2. Information overload.The amount of information and technology you have to assimilate is overwhelming. Start with the sections on:
3. Business growth.Your business is at a point where something has to change if you are to continue your success. Opportunity is there -- it’s a matter of untangling the options, the market changes, and technical complexity to move in the right direction. Start with the sections on:
4. Career issues are surfacing.Your options seem to be in opposition to each other. It’s either: low pay or high risk, old technology or retraining, management or pure technology. And with the rate of technology change, you feel you should act on these decisions soon. Start with the sections on:
5. You design software.This one's a bit indirect, but here goes. If you are involved with software design, chances are that you're contributing to the overload levels in the high tech industries. It has to do with user levels and how it's easy to miss a particular user's practices. Check out the design suggestions in:
6. You feel yourself getting agitated.Just considering all the things you have to do stops you in your tracks. It's overwhelming. Every once in a while you can feel panic stirring. You’ve been getting agitated more frequently and have less and less patience for others’ mistakes. Go to the section:
7. You’re busy.You’ve got 20 minutes to look at these techniques, and it’s unlikely you’re going to spend any more than that. It’s tempting to crack a joke about this response, but most technical managers know the feeling only too well. Go to the section on:If there’s a problem with the Quick Start Guide, it’s that life doesn't organize itself into neat categories. Technical managers often experience difficulty in several of these sections. If you find yourself with a variety of dilemmas, feel free to mix and match the principles. Don’t limit your learning by forcing yourself into one profile and a single solution. Experiment with them all. Go to: | AWSS Main | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Feedback: jdavis@awss.com |