Is in the gut, in the heart, and in the soul.

--Originally published at Site Title

TI2011

Is amazing when you found somebody that is in the same frequency as you, the one that can follow you and also teach you new things on the way.

While I was reading two chapters of a great novel about management I discovered about three specific qualities that any good manager must has, and these involves to lead with the heart, trust your g u t ( t r u s t your hunches), build soul into the organization and develop a nose for bullshit.  It sounds kind of hard but is true, you need it to be great on your job and not only another boring boss.

Sometimes to be a great manager you need help of someone you can trust, the one that allow you to express your doubts and help you to make a good decision, because it does not matter how long you have run as a leader, you can always screw up. For this reason you must trust in your team and make an environment where they can trust in any teammate, so by the time the battle comes, your real work is already done.

Remember, listen more than you speak.

Deadline, Chapters 6 and 7

--Originally published at TI2011 – Miguel’s Blog

When chapter 6 starts, Tompkins has to decide how he will organize the teams and managers for the 6 projects he has to do. To prepare for that, he reads a book on structural cybernetic management. When you hear those words, you may think that it has to do with some type of futuristic management since it has the word cybernetic. However, cybernetic comes from the Greek word “kybernetes”, which means “helmsman”. This word was used to describe the captain of a ship, so that’s how it’s connected with management.

Mr. T realized he needed a consultant to help him with his work. His assistant suggests asking the person that was supposed to have the job that Mr. T has now. Webster asks Lahksa about this person and it turns out she’s a woman. Webster assumed it was a guy. This goes to show some of the stereotypes that exist. Thankfully, this isn’t the case nowadays. The percentage of women in management positions is growing.

Image source

When he finds this woman, named Belinda Binda, it turns out she’s a bag lady. However, as the conversation between the two progresses, it’s evident that Belinda hasn’t forgotten what makes a good manager. She says that management is about three main things: your gut which is used to make decisions, your heart which people respond to, and your soul which allows team members to have close, warm interconnections. Webster originally thought that management had to do with your brain, but Belinda showed that there’s much more to it than that. And finally, she agrees to work with Mr. T, but he has to give her a shopping car somehow and there are no supermarkets in Morovia.

Chapter 7 starts off strong. Belinda just throws all the resumes into the trash. Since everyone

Continue reading "Deadline, Chapters 6 and 7"

Management is not exactly a cerebral science

--Originally published at TI2011 – Press enter to continue…

Mr. T., now as the general manager of the project, has to hire his managers for the different projects. And as his own human resources department, he has the frustration of going through all the resumes. "paper piled" by Ampersand Duck is licensed under CC BY-NC Everyone would be overwhelmed with that amount of resumes; … Continue reading Management is not exactly a cerebral science

Chapters 6 & 7 reflection

--Originally published at Project Evaluation and Management

Chapter 6: The World’s Greatest Project Manager

Photo by slon_dot_pics in Pexels. Free license

In this chapter we see that they have to have a good administration to be able to handle all the personnel they need, and there is also talk about Structural Cybernetic Management, is the concrete application of natural cybernetic laws to all types of organizations and institutions created by human beings and to interactions with and within them.

It is very important to know how to manage your staff, because he had two thounsen people and had to do 6 projects, but he also had to choose which ones were the best to be a project manager. If we do not know how to handle our staff we can have many delays in many things, so the importance in the previous chapters of how to choose the right people.

Photo by pixabay in Pexels. Free license

The essential parts of the manager’s body. “Management involves heart, intestine, soul and nose. guide with the heart. So trust your instinct (trust your hunches), build soul in the organization and develop a bullshit nose.”

He is right, because you have to get completely involved, you have to guide yourself with what you think is right, follow your instinct even though others tell you no, have your organization’s shirt on, identify with it and be able to reject or accept things when you’re doing right or wrong.

Chapter 7: Taking on staff

Photo by Startup Stock Photos in Pexels. Free license

In this chapter he begins with Belinda, Webster and Mr. T, doing interviews for project manager, as in the previous chapter they were in the search for 8 project manager. The first interview they had was a complete failure, since the interviewee was talking about a movie saying

Continue reading "Chapters 6 & 7 reflection"

The deadline Chapter 11

--Originally published at TI2011 – Alex’s Barn

We all love daydreaming and we usually do for any context, including (and lots of times ) for laboral situations.

As Mr T. said, it would be the best picture if we have “a supportive manager above and competent people and challenging work below”.

Once again, we could start deaming how this utopian situation could be, as exciting and relaxed as a trip accross a vineyard.

Src. Giphy

But we know, reality most of the times is far away from our sweetest dreams.

Mr. Belok. The dark face of politics, economics and presure.

Mr. Belok, according how he sound for a manager. Src. Giphy

The truth is, most of the times, work enviroments are involved by politics, requirements, goals, deadlines, gains, losses, money money, money.

As a good manager, we should being flexible enough to adapt any changes it could happen meanwhile the project is developed.

As Mr T. says at the end of the chapter, “Pathological politics can crop UP anywhere, even in the healthiest organization”. We are not safe of politics, because work enviroments ( as real world ) is always changing.

Sometimes is not because of some devil guy who want’s to spoil everithing up, but because of external causes.

At some point in my life, while I was working in certain enterprise, I was present in a Q&A where the CEO announces that the enterprise had to change its internal politics in order to adjust to the newest laws. It was surprising to hear, in this kind of huge company, lots of engineers arguing and yelling, complaining about all the extra work they had to do, ( and the changes about the way they were working till that moment).

Mark Z. at F8. Src. Giphy

Changes are real stuff. How could we handle this kind Continue reading "The deadline Chapter 11"

Morovia – the new Silicon Valley

--Originally published at Parra’s Project Management Blog

Tomkins continued his adventure in the mysterious land of Morovia, and it turned out more crazy than before. This is the second part of my “Deadline” by Tom De Marco blog reflections. If you are interested in the first part, where I talk about the first two chapters, visit to my entry: “Management’s Wonderland”.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 set up the structure in which the whole book will likely be presented: a special situation in Tomkins’ journey that he faces and analyzes at the end, drawing important conclusions regarding project management.

Chapter 3 introduces life in Morovia, how Tompkins will be involved and what his job will be. Turns out the leader of this strange land settled a zone called “Silikon Valejit”, where hundreds of excellent software engineers were hired to produce 6 important projects. The main goal is to be one of the biggest software exporters by the year 2000 (this book was written in the 90’s).

Chapter 4 starts with Lahksa giving Tompkins a journal, with the first entry being some advice he gave out years ago in a seminar:
The essentials of Project Management:

  • Get the right people
  • Match them to the right jobs
  • Keep them motivated
  • Help their teams jell and stay jelled

The rest of knowledge is Administrativa, according to our main protagonist. They visit a man called Mopoulka, who is the lead behind one of the six projects: a CD-ROM plant that can produce all software products they will sell massively. Tompkins finds out that they were late development, but the reason why was that the lead was scared. Morovian dictator, called the NNL, threatened him to finish the project in a very short amount of time and with a fixed plan.

Tompkins then analyzes the strategy and finds that the plan must Continue reading "Morovia – the new Silicon Valley"

The Deadline Chapters 8-9

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

It has been long since the last time I read such a captivating book. I have always been interested in management, but a story with the likes of an adventure book seems to be just the thing I have been waiting for! It honestly has made me get back the faith in non-practical books. I do not intend to discredit its message and lessons about being a manager, how dealing with people is the essence of a good company, etc. But being straight: it requires you to stretch your imagination just a little bit to believe that a billionaire just buys a country and gives a blank check to a kidnapped manager from who knows where just because he emphasizes the importance of people in business and walks out of a conference (“Wow, so managing!”). Where I am going with this is mostly that I am impatient to see what the results of these experiments they are bulding up to may bring and whether or not they are based on real life managerial experiments or they are just a hoax.

If you recognize this then you understand what I mean and how it relates to our story so far.

Other detail that keeps making me see this as an epic adventure book is how we have the characters presented chapter after chapter. In this case, I am talking about General Markov and his not-so-subtle bad guy golden tooth. Get real, a former army general who, rather than kick it in the Caribbean with his millions and forget life, simply decides to stay working for the new leader? He is holding a sign and a loudspeaker shouting: “BAD GUY HERE! IMMA MOLOTOV YOUR ENTERPRISE AND TAKE OVER”. Although, you could argue that Belinda does not flinch when they decide to

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DEADLINE, chapters 3, 4 & 5. We actually want to keep them alive!

--Originally published at TI2011 – Roger's Rad Records

I just read these three chapters and the story has already gained some more depth. I think that’s cool.

Chapter 3 is practically a big setup for how Mr. T is going to be working. We are informed about Morovia’s future plans and its current situation, as well as how Tompkins ought to be operating. He’s told that the country has way more capable and competent employees than they could possibly need, even taking into account all of the six projects that have been put under Tompkins’ administration. Ms. Hoolihan suggests running a big management experiment that could take advantage of the number of people at their disposal: they could create various different groups with people with different characteristic, backgrounds, ages, experiences and relationships among themselves to work on the same tasks so they could find out what kind of group turns out to be the most efficient.

“Business team” flickr photo by slon.pics https://flickr.com/photos/156723268@N03/31859775947 shared into the public domain using (CC0)

In chapters 3 and 4 we are introduced to some key elements:

  • Silikon Valejit: the area where all of the projects and operations take place. The name doesn’t ring any bells.
  • Waldo Montifiore: Mr. T’s personal assistant, he does everything a personal assistant does. This character is useful to provide information and apparently, he looks like Tin Tin.
  • *The Personal Journal of Webster Tatterstall Tompkins ◉ Manager ◉ : basically, where Mr. T writes about what he learns while running the controlled experiment. It’s also the way the author explains different management concepts.

In chapter 4, Mr. T faces his first problem and has to make a decision. A pressing-plant for CD-ROMs has to be built in Silikon Valejit, but the project is far behind of what was planned. While talking to the construction manager,

Continue reading "DEADLINE, chapters 3, 4 & 5. We actually want to keep them alive!"

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