Modern corporate environments demand new forms of personal sacrifice (bit). Make an ultimate sacrifice by naming your child as your company name (tip).
Examples: <Your Company Name>ina, <Your Company Name>in, <Your Company Name>a with generic catchalls Companin and Companina.
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
A colleague surprised me yesterday when telling me he was reading a book on power. I asked him why and he told me he wanted to learn how to use power in his organization. Immediately I seized an opportunity to lecture him on power basics because I also read a few books on power and had been digesting them for some time. So I told him the Principle of Power I discovered through sheer reading of case studies, mainly power struggles in communist Russia (POP, like a stack operation if you know a bit about computer science or programming). This was later generalized to POPs, Principle of Power Shift:
Kiss Ass. Kick Ass.
Hope you find this succinct definition useful and easy to remember.
Note: The proper sequence is very important for your mental health.
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
If you need an employee with a statistical bent ask appropriate questions during interview, for example: “What would you do you come to a cafeteria and find that you need to empty a coffee machine bin?”. The word bin should trigger an appropriate answer after the appropriate counter questions (coffee machines vary), for example: “I would count the distribution of various coffee pack types in the bin”.
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
A relation of an employee to an employer and vice versa can be metaphorically modeled by these stages:
Fiancee
Feelings of admiration and love from a potential employee towards an employer or from a potential employer towards a desperately needed future employee
Married
Employment contract
After that a relationship path can diverge into these states:
Separated
Untouchable or ignored employee or employer. No feelings or other ties other than basic bottom line contractual obligations like monthly payments and office hours
Divorced
When an employee is made redundant, dumped or quits a company voluntarily
Widowed
When one party or both are deceased
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
Previously announced book (publication date is 1st of September, 2010) now got preliminary front and back covers.
Front cover:
Back cover:
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
Some people cling to their jobs unwilling to move on because of the possible redundancy payout accumulated over years. They just afraid of loosing it when moving to a new job (bit). Consider job hunting companies that offer a sign off bonus. As a fraction of your possible redundancy package it can ease your departure. Alternatively divide your minimal redundancy package into the number of months, for example, the length of a probation period, and add this to a new compensation when negotiating with your potential employer (tip).
No comments here.
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
Observing people maturing in their profession I found these signs of overqualification visible when a person:
- Becomes more proficient with foundational issues in contrast to specific minutiae.
- Spends more time on specific issues due to the accumulation of the deep foundational knowledge in the respected discipline.
- Delivers less from the current job requirements, for example, an architect as a builder.
- Starts reading and thinking a lot.
- Publishes a seminal book.
I would be grateful if you comment on above and share other signs you see.
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
Downflooring / upflooring could be the mild version of downsizing, promotion or demotion, depends on the office space plans for your next office move. It could also mean nothing if staff streaming is rotational, as mathematicians say, div rot S = 0 or it might say which employee team or a functional unit is important if streaming was done relative to some non-movable office. It might also mean team compression, to minimize staff gradient, like mathematicians say, grad T = 0.
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
“… those people who are really good at what they do and yet are at the bottom of a management hierarchy have a power that no one else in the hierarchy has. They can’t be demoted.”Robert Glass, Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering
Understanding and overcoming resistance is one of the tasks of a manager. A public performance (transcript) of the manager is different from an inner transcript and the same can be said about transcripts of engineers. I now recall that in one of my previous companies I worked for, a senior engineer was telling one recently hired junior colleague in a private setting (canteen) to always tell VP of Engineering how he loves the work. I recently became interested in analysis of managerial domination and of various forms of hidden resistance and stage performances of subordinates and internal pressures they experience. Doing my research I stumbled across this book on Amazon and bought it:
Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts
The book is written in almost jargon free style and highly recommended as a stimulating and refreshing read to remind about additional perspectives on relations inside teams and engineering organizations, between customers and their relationship managers (inverse domination).
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
If you move to work in another country it is always useful to read about local workplace norms, redundancy regulations, various employment acts and other smart knowledge. If you happen to be the native of that country then you should prefer to read such books as well. More than 8 years ago when I moved to work in Ireland I bought this guide (one of the previous editions):
Today I was visiting a local bookshop and browsing the bargains section where I found this book written by the same author and immediately bought it. “Exit” chapter is recommended to read during the current turbulent times in Irish economy.
Smart Moves at Work in Ireland
- Dmitry Vostokov @ ManagementBits.com -
