The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #004
Posted on 21. Jun, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #004
A Big Shot Guest For a Big Problem…
Hey everyone. As promised, this week’s guest on the podcast is Jeff Wuorio from MSN.com and just about every magazine you can think of. He’s helping us talk about why we mere mortals and IT don’t always get along…and what we can do about it.
Show Notes
Welcome to The Cranky Middle Manager, gang. The only podcast dedicated to those of us, as Steeler’s Wheel would say, stuck in the middle with you.
1:14 Our quote of the week… machines are designed to make our lives easier and they’re a gift from God according to this guy …okayyyyyyyyyyy then again any technology is a blessing when you write with a goose feather!
2:20 Welcome Jeff Wuorio from MSN.com
5:00 What do a Linux server and Lara Croft have in common?
8:30 Do IT folk like the mystique of the geek?
10:30 He suggests managers actually learn something about technology… I will let him babble such madness because he is a guest of the show and I am nothing if not benevolent….
15:30 A better idea than “Take your kid to work day”… but then how hard would that be? Ever take your kid to work? How do you handle the look on their face when they realize what you actually do every day of your stinkin’ life? I just said that out loud didn’t I……
19:00 Let’s give a little love to those of us stuck in the middle… How do we cope with big IT projects?
25:15 The Bullet Points: How do we choose an IT person?
28:00 Here’s where you can find all kinds of good stuff from Jeff Wuorio
I’d love to speak to your conference or meeting. Check out my website
WTT
IT is Drunk With Power- and It’s a Sloppy Drunk Too
Posted on 18. Jun, 2005 by Wayne in General
Folks, I mentioned last week we’d be looking at why different departments can’t just get along. We’ll be talking about it with Jeff Wuorio- MSN.com’s Tech and Small Business columnist. Why he’s gracing these humble pages lord only knows…at any rate, we’ll be talking about why we mere mortals in middle management can’t seem to get along with the IT department. Here’s why….
Dear Cranky Manager Guy:
Why does everyone in my company hate the IT Department? We’re good people and we make everyone’s life easier, but they make jokes about us all the time and treat us like we have a disease.
Kyle
Dear Kyle,
That cute admin turned you down again, didn’t she? Don’t worry about it. She doesn’t know she’s just lost out on a good thing- and you probably lost out on a sexual harassment suit, since one more email with a winking emoticon probably would have hit your permanent record like that SAT you should have aced but choked on. In the end, the Ivy League’s loss is the office fantasy league’s gain.
I’m going to tell you something that no one else has ever said out loud, and it’s not just because you helped me erase those, uhhhhh, questionable files from my hard drive before the last backup:
People make fun of IT folks for the same reason we make jokes about politicians, attorneys and blondes- we actually fear them and the power they hold over our lives.
We don’t fear you physically (well, except when you stand over the admin cubicles breathing through your mouth and telling them how much they look like Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager). Rather, we know that you are in touch with forces we cannot comprehend and possess the power to make our lives easy or more complicated and in the end, there’s not a darned thing we can do about it. You see, you in IT are the modern shamans.
Think about it. There are a lot of similarities between the folks in IT and the Medicine Man (or healing crone) in an aboriginal culture:
Both possess arcane knowledge passed down to each other but not shared with the tribe as a whole:
Both speak to an invisible world in language mere mortals don’t understand
Both can use their powers for good (healing, healthy crops, spam filters) or evil (curses, war, voicemail systems you can’t navigate)
Both are part of the tribe but are distinguished by their unique wardrobe (Buffalo robes or Def Leppard T-shirts, it doesn’t take a genius to pick the IT guy out in the cafeteria)
Both are an important part of the tribe, but are always socially separate. No one wants to be drinking buddies with the medicine man- one wrong word and they could wake up with boils the size of bocce balls
Here’s a hint- not everyone eats, sleeps and dreams technology like you do. For most human beings, the technology at work is designed to accomplish a task. We don’t want to know how it works, we don’t want to see the cool things that happen when you hit F6, we just want the #$%%#$% thing to work. When it doesn’t the world is a scary place. Ever see a sales weasel when the email server’s down? It’s like watching an Irish Setter with an empty food dish, they just keep nudging their laptops and whining pitifully til someone takes pity on them.
Show us why we need the technology. Show us what it can do to make our world a better place. Show us how to use it then make sure it works. Accomplish those things without looking at the rest of us like we took the short bus to a special school and we’ll get along with the IT folks just fine.
By the way, if I wanted to keep stuff on my laptop that NO ONE would ever find…where would a guy do that?
Just asking….
WWT
Listen to the next podcast and see what Jeff Wuorio from MSN.com has to say!
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #003
Posted on 14. Jun, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show
A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing
Hello and welcome to yet another edition of The Cranky Middle Manager. Did you know the number one people leave their job is their manager??? Damn whiners….
:30 Our quote of the week… you’ve probably said it yourself, but do you know the whole quote and who said it? Check out his Essay On Criticism …yes we expect you to read it
1:45 Yes, I did say that about Tom Peters, and I’d say it to his face but we are a lowly podcast….
2:20 Our guest today is Dr Dennis Benson, who is a well known consultant and writer. His company is Appropriate Solutions in Columbus, OH. If only we could get him to say what’s on his mind….
3:40 Did he really say managers have to take care of themselves first? What kind of training guy is he???
6:55 More cool stuff…The ROI of Human Capital
8:40 Why cranky middle managers are cranky…some of them- not me of course
9:45 The most politically incorrect and accurate description of performance reviews yet.
16:50 What skill set are most managers missing?
19:15 Some tools that can help (Disclaimer- I’ve done them all and look at me, but check them out for yourself….)
25:20 One last resource- www.walkthetalk.com
30:00 A shameless plug for upcoming shows…now would I ever want to stir up trouble????
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #002
Posted on 08. Jun, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #002
Welcome to The Cranky Middle Manager. Do you manage people who work from home? Do you have a manager who stays safely in the office while you dodge telemarketers? Then this episode is for you. We talk to Gil Gordon who has been writing about telecommuting for years. He’s even in the Teleworkers Hall of Fame…didn’t know they had one did you?
1:00 The Quote of the Week- from Anthony Trollope- how big an issue was telecommuting in 1882 anyway?
6:10 3 biggest challenges for managers of teleworkers…and one of them is a gift. (Gee thanks)
10:15 Why worry about managing your teleworkers…you’re not doing that good a job with the people you have there…
13:00 3 Skills managers HAVE to acquire
16:10 Gil dares to challenge one of my assumptions
20:30 Are Teleworkers losing out by not being underfoot?
25:00 What are the warning signs that something’s not right?
28:30 Bullet Points… Gil nets it out
33:00 A shameless plug for a future show with a cool guest and a politically incorrect reason to telecommute.
Folks, please let me know if there are books we should read, people we should talk to or subjects we should cover…. I’m cranky but not insensitive
WWT