Bill Strahm's Weblog

Friday August 27, 2004

Out with the Old - In with the New
Well today my manager at Sun is leaving. Goodbye John, you will be missed.

I will espouse on what a good manager means to me. I have suffered under a few bad managers in my time, and been blessed with a set of managers that make work a joy. I have decided that I won't suffer under a bad manager anymore - it is too easy to find a job, and my health and happiness is worth more than any money I might give up. (Don't worry Brian - I am not talking about you right now, just a couple of those managers in my past). I jokingly tell my managers that they are graded on two metrics - my blood pressure (120/80 - 1 point for each number bigger than this) and inversely with the average weekly status meeting (Works well for managers that only have a bi-weekly meeting). So there are two things that a manager can do to be a good manager in my eyes, keep my stress level down so I can be productive - and not waste my time.

Seriously though - what makes a good manager - I look for a few things from my manager
Help determine what my highest priorities are - I want to be working on important things
Help with contacts around the company with people that I have to work with (ie. networking)
Help with isolating me from "bad" politics - in otherwords, shield me from random stupidity
Teach me something
Let me teach something

I'll see how good my new manager is... I've worked with him as a peer since I have been at Sun, so at least I know he is a good person - and I fully expect him to become a good manager in my list. In management personality matters

(2004-08-27 12:58:32.0) Permalink