I know we’re not about titles, but this type of a job and role needs a name that doesn’t have so much baggage attached.
This has to be one of the best, comprehensive explanations of this difficult to define role. The fact of it’s very nature, that of the generalist with applicable skills and history for many different roles defies the pigeonholing so often demanded by more specialized roles.
I know we’re not about titles, but this type of a job and role needs a name that doesn’t have so much baggage attached.
The middle manager sat at what anyone would consider a normal desk in a normal office in a normal building. His pressed white shirt…
The middle manager sat at what anyone would consider a normal desk in a normal office in a normal building. His pressed white shirt wrinkled from not leaving his seat for most of the morning as people filtered in and out of his office. Well, not really an office, but rather just a cube that happened to be taller than the others. The only thing missing was a red stapler. The benefits of management he smirked to himself.
The recruiter sat across from the middle manager. Polished, slick, his sheaf of papers close at hand he quickly ran his fingers through them until they found the one he was looking for.
“Here, this one is excellent. Meets all the requirements you told me about. Years of experience with very reasonable salary requirements and a willingness to take a junior role.”
A glint appeared in the recruiter’s eye. He had dropped the bait in the water…now all he had to do was wait for the fish.
The middle manager glanced over the paper in front of him. Buzzwords jumped out at him. The descriptions were written to order. Experience, skills, background. All were a perfect fit. Still, something didn’t feel right. Was this a ladder climber? Was something missing?
“What about project management AND full stack developer? We really need someone who can do both roles at a senior level. I’m not seeing that here.”
The recruiter grimaced inwardly. Dammit. Didn’t see that one coming. None of the prep work, the networking, the phone calls or schmoozing showed they’d want both. Who the hell has both on hand anyway?
“She’s very flexible and highly skilled at learning on the fly. Trust me, she’ll be successful at whatever you need her to do.” The punctuating grin covered a hint of worry the fish was going to get away.
“I’m just not seeing it. I have another meeting. If you have someone else who is a better fit I have some time tomorrow. Thanks.” The middle manager stood up and shook the recruiter’s hand; a limp, uninterested handshake leaving the recruiter annoyed and concerned.
After the recruiter left the main doors of the office he was on his phone.
“Dammit we were so close on this one! Full stack AND project manager. Frickin’ A. Ok. Dump this one and let’s get one with both queued up for tomorrow. Thanks. You da’ man.”
The head of cloning hung up the phone. What a waste. He reached over and pressed the release button, dumping the candidate into the incineration pits below. Turning slowly he reached to the biological skill samples on the shelf to begin a new candidate. “Full stack AND project manager? Who has that on hand?”
Learned and observed behaviors are the most complex social interactions we can teach our children and they cannot be taught through lecture…
You’re correct in recognizing the profound balancing act we have to maintain as parents in the messages both verbal and non-verbal we send our kids. It’s ok to be using your phone when they talk to you as long as you stop and put it down to listen to them. What you’re showing them is, “you and what you’re saying is important to me and I want to hear it.” It’s just as responsible to remind them to do the same courtesy for you.
Learned and observed behaviors are the most complex social interactions we can teach our children and they cannot be taught through lecture or demand; only through demonstration will they be learned. If we can’t perform a behavior consistently on our own we have no reason to expect our children to be able to do the same.
At some point all of us who are sports fans have crossed the line from being fans for their team to being fans of another team losing…
Is she cheering for success or failure?
At some point all of us who are sports fans have crossed the line from being fans for their team to being fans of another team losing. There are some that have always been that way, but for most it’s something we grow into. Perhaps a heated rivalry or some scandal pushes our thinking out of the positive support of our favored team to despising another team and reveling in their failures.
At a professional sports level I find this less damaging because, to be honest, they’re getting paid for this. Unfortunately though this is a learned behavior and our children pick up these actions and mindsets as permissible from us. (Just ask anyone who isn’t a Cowboys fan about the Cowboys for example.)
At a youth sports level though this can be a bigger issue. There are team rivalries, players that excel against your team, and referees you are sure have it out for you. When removed from the passion of the game it’s important to consider a few things:
That’s someone’s kid out there?
How would you feel if someone was yelling at your kid?
Are you teaching them to succeed at the sacrifice of someone else?
Now I’m the last person to advocate things like participation awards (yuck) or “we’re playing just to build character” because I believe failure is extremely character building. (For example watch a tot soccer game where they’re not officially keeping score, then ask one of the parents on the sideline what the score is. They’ll know, I assure you.) But I am advocating that coaches, parents, and people in influence remember at the end of the day very few of these kids will be playing sports professionally where they are getting paid to be yelled at by the opposition. These kids have to go home after a loss with the chants and jibes of the opposition ringing in their ears. They have to go to bed after a hard loss knowing the opposing coach kept putting their starters into a blow out game just to run up the score. Think back to your youth…what do you remember better; the successes or the failures?
Cheer for your team. Revel in their successes. Lift the kids up when they win and help them up when they lose. But don’t do it at the cost of someone else. Don’t let the passion for the game obscure the love of the youth involved. Adults choose these behaviors…kids get drug along for the ride.
A good product/project/manager in general makes sure they understand how best their team works, when their productive times are and are not, and tries their best to schedule accordingly. I’m an early morning creator, mid-morning consumer, and afternoon thinker. What are you?
This happens in personal life as well as professional. Typically the more active we are, the more important we perceive we are. We do the same things to our kids, pushing them into greater and greater levels of activity rather than concentrating on quality over quantity.
This metric targeting can happen not only in development but also in any process based measurement system. Dashboards are often subject to this kind of manipulation by those being measured, especially when those dashboards are used as part of personal and professional success measures.
This is a great breakdown of the estimation scoring for sprint planning in Agile. The numbers alone don’t paint as clear a picture as the questions and criteria included here.
To migrate or not to migrate. That is the question. With my recent upswing in writing I’m finding Blogger to be failing me on the mobile writing front. It’s been a good run, but it’s time to look at an alternative platform. I think I’ll make the move to Medium full time but that’s going to require me to move my custom domain as well as all the relevant back content. It’s not a big challenge…but it is a bit of work.
Doing the right things in the right ways at the right times
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