Virgil
That Management Job
by , 07-25-2010 at 12:24 AM (2222 Views)
Before I left for Kazakhstan, you may remember I was temporarily sitting in on that management position I was ambivalent about. I had blogged about it here, http://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?b=9964. I never did close the loop on this, and one lit netter with a very good memory asked how this turned out. So let me complete the story.
Technically I was to work only the management job, and while I had a young, though very capable engineer, filling in for me leading my project, but in essence I was really doing both jobs. Now the management job was really rather simple and straight forward, but it so happened that my project was at a very critical and intense time that I still handled all the big events. So the two months leading up to my trip to Kazakhstan were active and chaotic. I wish all I had to do was that management job.
Here’s a list without getting too specific of several of my entries into my notebook I used exclusively for the management position. Staff meetings every Tuesday at 9:30, Tom’s [Division Chief] office; branch reviews once a month; new org chart needs my input; new hire needs introducing and integration; fellow employee from other division gravely ill; next year financial problems – possible 20 to 30% cuts; sick and vacation time can now be taken in half hour increments; need to reassign projects to three of my engineers; required monthly review of building safety; assign Tony to coordinate building safety; potential summer hires need their resumes in by March 31st; Director is looking for a young engineer to fill in administratively for three months – check for volunteers; annual review due for Jessica; Rash is transferring out; all memos going to directorate require division chief review; storage room is full; auditors are around; three new projects approved and funded; more juggling of personnel to fill in for minor projects; resumes for summer hires are in; another new employee; leadership training is now required for everyone; division will get five summer hires; midpoint reviews are due; employee lodging complaint over not getting a promotion; need to hire two new secretaries; all email inboxes may go unlimited; Peter going in for an operation to remove stomach growth. In addition I signed off on my branch’s time (essentially their paychecks), approved vacation time, approved business travel and reimbursement, and checked in on Peter after the operation and sent a fruit basket over to his house.
Some people like that kind of stuff. Frankly at the end of the day I can’t see exactly what I accomplished. Personally I prefer to design and build and test something, or at least manage the project that does. I will say my secretary thought I was great and tried so hard to convince me to take the job. She said I was a natural, or something like that. She said I understood what a manager’s role is. And yes I know what escapes poor managers who think they have to lord it over people. A good manager is just the opposite. He is there first and foremost to serve his underlings so they can do their job. You are there to serve, not be served. Sure, you make certain rules and juggle things to make the branch run more efficient, but you must remember that it’s the engineers who are doing the real work; you are there to make sure they can execute.
So a few days before I left for Kazakhstan, a list of four people who applied for the job came out and no surprise I was on the list. I had debated whether to send in the application (this is how we do these things at my place) but my secretary talked me into it. But the timing was unfortunate. I would be away for the interviews. On my last day at work before Kazakhstan I walked into Tom’s office and told him to drop me off the interview list. He tried to talk me out of it. He said I had done a great job. He even offered to have a phone interview with me from Kazakhstan. I joked I would have to call in at the middle of the night and I would be too groggy to answer correctly. To my surprise he didn’t fight me very hard. I think he already had in mind the person he wanted for the job and that was Stew, who would have been the natural person to promote into it from the beginning, but he had been filling in at another position within the company and it wasn’t clear at the time I was needed if Stew was coming back. But he did and I wasn’t as needed as before. I did see the email in Kazakhstan that Stew did get the job.
Funny side story to go with it. While I was in Kazakhstan Tom emailed me to see how I was making out, and a final sentence to the email (though that sentence seemed like the real gist of the email) was to send him in writing that I had refused the interview as per our discussion. He needed it in writing, probably in case I wanted to file a complaint later on. And once I did, he never sent me another email while I was out there. Hmm.
And so I am not in that job. I do miss having a secretary to answer my phone and keep me on schedule. But I’m back to my old chaotic and intense project. And working twice as hard as those managers. But it’s fun.
And there is no update on Matthew. It’s now been twenty-four days since we last saw him. The British couple who were ahead of us in the cycle emailed us to say they finally got to pick up their son. I think they had to wait seven or eight weeks before they got to pick him up. To our dismay they said that they didn’t think their son recognized them after the interim. That sucks. We’re still hoping it’s the second week of August. We’ll be on a plane in a flash.
Here’s another picture of Matthew.
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