http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2005/08/management-myth-6-i-have-to-be-the-technical-star.html Management, especially good management, is hard to do. This blog is for people who want to think about how they manage people, projects, and risk. Fri, 18 May 2012 15:02:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2005/08/management-myth-6-i-have-to-be-the-technical-star.html/comment-page-1#comment-193 Mark Williams Fri, 05 Aug 2005 22:16:40 +0000 http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=8126#comment-193 I absolutely agree with the point you make. However, here's a situation that I once found difficult to deal with as a non-technical-star manager: I managed a team of specialist engineers and technicians providing a service to the rest of the organisation. We had a very technically competent (PhD) guy who was knocking on the door of management, and who questioned my decisions at every turn. I would defer to him for advice on technical matters but because he had mangerial talents himself, was intensely political AND was a technical star, he was able to take the team with him, which took away my credibility as a manager. I absolutely agree with the point you make. However, here’s a situation that I once found difficult to deal with as a non-technical-star manager:
I managed a team of specialist engineers and technicians providing a service to the rest of the organisation. We had a very technically competent (PhD) guy who was knocking on the door of management, and who questioned my decisions at every turn. I would defer to him for advice on technical matters but because he had mangerial talents himself, was intensely political AND was a technical star, he was able to take the team with him, which took away my credibility as a manager.

]]> http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2005/08/management-myth-6-i-have-to-be-the-technical-star.html/comment-page-1#comment-192 Neil Rothman Thu, 04 Aug 2005 21:29:44 +0000 http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=8126#comment-192 There is good book by Patrick McKenna and David Maister called "First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals" that deals with this subject. It provides some good guidelines for moving from peer to manager and specifically talks about highly educated people who can be difficult to manage. There is good book by Patrick McKenna and David Maister called “First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals” that deals with this subject. It provides some good guidelines for moving from peer to manager and specifically talks about highly educated people who can be difficult to manage.

]]>