Leading Geeks

Can they actually be led?

Dear Job Applicant: Your résumé is driving me insane

Dear Job Applicants: Your résumés are driving me nuts.  So nuts that I’ve created a list: You don’t tailor your résumé to my job posting.  If my job posting says you have to know marketing and be able to teach, the word “marketing” should actually SHOW UP on your résumé.  If I specify that you [...]

I Can’t Keep You Fixed

Yeah, I know. Your job sucks sometimes. Servers crash, users complain, you are looking to your next job but haven’t quite gotten there yet, etc. Or maybe you’re having some troubles at home, not sleeping, etc. I promise you that I will do my best, as your manager/leader/director/chief whatsit officer, to make your job better. [...]

When You Shouldn’t Hire “The Best”

“We always hire the best.” “The people who work here are the best people in the world.” “We never use the phrase ‘good enough’ in our hiring.” I’ve seen countless companies completely mess themselves up by sticking to some sort of resolve to “hire the best” without thinking it through.  They hire the coolest, brightest, [...]

Leading Geeks through Disasters

Some of you have read this blog for a while might already know that I have some experience with technology disasters. Specifically, two back-to-back disasters involving many gallons of water and a server room, thereby earning me the nickname “Waterfall Girl” a few years back. (Which didn’t really stick, luckily.) Here are some lessons I’ve learned: [...]

Customer Service vs. Accuracy

I recently had two customer service experiences with a company that sent me a defective DVD and then sent me the wrong disk as replacement.  The discussions were nearly identical (both took place via online chat), but they left me feeling very different.  During the first discussion, I was confident that I had done everything [...]

What do you do with needy geeks?

Most geeks tend to fall into one of two categories: The “leave me alone.  I can figure this out by myself” geek, and the “I need to understand ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING about this situation before I can be expected to even think about doing it” geek.  I find the former type fairly easy to manage; just [...]

Does Management REALLY Mean Death by Meeting?

    I’ve been trying to figure out best practices for, well, just getting stuff done with other people.  Somehow, it seems like we use email when we should use a meeting, a meeting when we should use a quick face-to-face, and a quick face-to-face when we should use email.  I’m constantly left feeling somewhat, [...]

What Does “All Set” Mean, Anyhow?

There are very few phrases in the English language that I despise more than “all set”.  And there are very few phrases that I have found support geeks to use more than “all set”.  What bugs me the most about it is that it’s just about impossible to know what “all set” means–even from context!  [...]

Post-Traumatic IT Stress Disorder

My last job was a circus of IT disasters.  I arrived at the company just in time to have system after system crash and various others need to be replaced (having the windows open RIGHT BEHIND the blade servers was just FUN during blizzards, I tell you…).  It seemed that nothing had been configured according [...]

Geeks & Gag Rules

If you’re a geek leader, are you gagging your geeks?  (No, I don’t mean with your lack of showering.  That’s probably a different post.) What I’m asking is whether saying certain things is verboten in your department/team/company.  Are you so paranoid that a user or customer will hear someone venting and get offended–I used to [...]

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