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Johanna’s Books
Monthly Archives: May 2003
Measuring Productivity #2: Measurement Considerations
When we think about manufacturing work, we measure labor productivity as the ratio of the output of goods and services to the labor hours devoted to the production of that output, output per hour. (See U.S. Dept of Labor) … Continue reading
Measuring Productivity #1: Defining Productivity
In the past few weeks, too many managers have written to me, asking for help on knowing how “good” their people are. When I ask more questions, such as “What does good mean to you?”, they say they want … Continue reading
Use One-on-One Meetings to See People’s State
I’m a big fan of one-on-one meetings between the manager (or project manager) and the employee. Private meetings provide the manager a chance to see project and personal status in a way that group meetings and email status reports … Continue reading
Balancing Needs: Corporate, Employees, Self
Steve Smith commented on yesterday’s post, “I think managers have a tough job, especially middle managers. I think that middle managers who are respectful to their employees but choose to execute to abide with their management team’s decision are … Continue reading
Making Difficult Decisions: Choosing When to Lay Yourself Off
Steve Smith challenged me in a comment to the cowardly layoff/no feedback posting: “What would you have done if you were the manager who layed off these people?” I’ve written about layoffs in a previous Software Development column, but … Continue reading
Make Friends… and Expand Your Influence
I was at STAR East this week, facilitating some sessions with Esther Derby. The session was fun for us and the attendees seemed to learn a lot. For me, one of the best parts of conferences is meeting new … Continue reading
Feedback, Please
In the last two weeks, four different colleagues have found themselves suddenly unemployed, all for the same reason, “You didn’t do what we expected you to. Since your performance is inadequate, we’re firing you.” My colleagues and I were … Continue reading
There is No One Right Way
I’ve been thinking a lot about some of my clients’ problems managing their projects. Two of my clients are stuck on the notion that there is a silver bullet, one right way to solve their problem. Then I read … Continue reading
Open Book Management
I’m not big on information hiding. I’ve always wanted to know what was going on in other parts of the company, so I could better understand how to do my job. I recently read Laurent’s post on Information Hiding, and … Continue reading
Language (and Language Environment) Influences Process
I was extremely fortunate in my choice of companies and work early in my career. I developed in assembly language and microcode and Fortran for a few years. Then, I moved to object oriented languages, primarily at Symbolics, using … Continue reading
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