Don’t Panic

Posted on 29. Sep, 2005 by Administrator in General

Hi TPN listeners and fans,

Between the 29th of September and the 3rd of October, The Podcast Network web site will be undergoing some major server work that will increase (fingers crossed) both the speed and the reliability of the service you have come to love and cherish ;)

Access to the web site and the functionality of the RSS feed will at best experience a small blip of down time… and at worst…well..it could vanish into the bermuda triangle that is tech land for upto four days. I have also had to switch of the ability to post comments on all the sites till we are fully operational as well.

Stick with us through this little hick-up and I promise we will return to normal transmission as quick as possible.

Thanks guys and gals…

Mick Stanic
Co-Founder of The Podcast Network

The Cranky Middle Manager #16 Manager Tools

Posted on 25. Sep, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #16

Welcome to another Cranky Middle Manager Show. Today’s show is dedicated to the memory of John Hanning Speke. You’ll find out why when you listen but remember people…. it doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t document.

1:59 The quote of the week is from Samuel Butler… Does biology drive our career path???? (All together now…DUH!)

3:04 Welcome Mark Horstman of the Manager Tools blog and podcast. If you haven’t checked out his show with his partner Mike, do it now…well not now, finish listening… but you know what I mean.

5:20 Okay, 6 billion a year spent on training and it doesn’t work…. interesting career choice Mark.

12:30 So what’s an example of training that IS do-able? Let’s look at the Feedback Model.

15:50 What’s the difference between “do” training and “be” training? “Do” is better.

19:00 Tools are only useful if you’re going to do the job anyway. Stuff like the “one-on-one”.

By the way, check out Bruce Tulgan’s newsletter and white papers. Here are the basics:
Weekly meetings,
Clearly defined goals and
Developmental opportunities and good coaching

24:00 According to Mark, a secret to becoming a good manager? Email only 3 times a day and schedule time for your employees…. we’re going to have to start drug testing our guests.

27:00 Here’s news…the majority of stuff that goes on is good.

Coming soon- the crankiest manager on the planet contest! Details next week.

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #015 Managing With Aloha

Posted on 17. Sep, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #015

Greetings fellow toilers in the fields and welcome to another Cranky Middle Manager Show. I have been accused on occasion of being cynical and sarcasting (Who me? Nahhhhh) so today to celebrate our 15th show, we’re going to look at something positive and sunny, with our guest Rosa Say from Hawaii. She’s the author of Managing with Aloha, as well as the brains behind the Talking Story Blog. We got turned on to her from our past guest Bren Connelly.

I love that there is a small, intimate group of folks who listen and share with each other. Of course, the danger is going from small and interconnected to inbred- so that a meeting of all the management bloggers and podcasters starts to resemble a West Virginia family reunion. We’ll be on the watch for cousins who are also grandparents. Meantime…welcome to all my fellow bloggers and podcasters. Thank you for your support and willingness to share resources, guests and ideas.

By the way, yours truly is quoted in the latest edition of Selling Power Magazine… the interview was done in May so there was no mention of this little show…but it’s still me.

Anyway, about this week’s show:

0:00 Budget time and the living is easy…. wake me when it’s over

2:09 our quote of the week. Come on, live a little. Shouldn’t we ask how much we’re going to like a job, rather than just whether there’s a co-pay on the vision plan? John Thelwall thinks so.

4:30 Welcome Rosa Say. Yes, the sound is a little bit low, I’m sorry but it’s worth listening to. Crank the sound and turn it down when I say thanks for coming. Check out her Aloha Manifesto

6:40 So what is it about Hawaii that gives one a different perspective on management- besides the fact that it’s just too tough to go to work?

10:25 Okay, am I just too cynical to get it or do I just need a hug? And what is “Managing with Aloha” anyway?

16:00 “Touchy feely” stuff has positive business results.

22:00 There’s no such thing as “it’s just work, it’s not personal”- of course it’s personal.

30:50 Rosa is a big fan of the Gallup Organization and managing to your strengths. Check it out for yourself.

If you know of anyone looking for a speaker to talk about why managers are cranky- and what my guests have to say about it- check out my personal site.

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #014 Sometimes It IS Rocket Science

Posted on 10. Sep, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #014

This is the another of our shows where we talk to working managers about what works for them. Today it’s Tom Comeau, who is the Branch Manager of the Servers and Application Services Branch at the Space Telescope Science Institute- the folks who run the Hubble Telescope.

He first contacted me as a result of hearing about the show on Heidi Miller’s “Diary of a Shameless Self Promoter”. This is what he sent me…

Thank you for podcasting the Cranky Middle Manager!

I’ve been listening to your ‘cast for a while now, and also Heidi Miller’s
“Diary of a Shameless Self Promoter”. Your July 31st episode got me thinking
about my next career move, which meant doing some thinking about self
promotion. That led me to an exercise Heidi suggested about two second
teasers and a correspondence with her about how I work and what I do.

I’m a technical manager, and I know you’re down on the IT guys. Often, I
hasten to add, not without reason. Some of us, however, are good guys, or
at least try to be.

Heidi’s suggestions for capturing how I work led to this:

> As soon as you gave the examples, I jumped to the motto that my own project
> team uses:
>
> Attack The Fracking Problem.
>
> We actually (mostly) say “fracking” because many of us are Battlestar
> Galactica fans. A few people use other “F” words. We also all come from
> Unix backgrounds, where “RTFM” is standard response, so “ATFP” is a natural
> thing for us to do. (Editor’s note- this is not going to help the image of geeks any, but carry on)
>
> … There are several points to this motto. The one I point out is
> that we’re trying to attack the problem, not the messenger. Don’t challenge
> the person who brought you the problem, they did you a favor by bringing it
> to you. The next point is to focus on the problem, not extraneous nonsense.
> How we arrived at the problem, if there are process issues, is something we
> get to later, in a post-mortem. For now, we focus on root causes,
> workarounds, and solutions. Finally, I want to *attack* problems. Not
> nibble at them, not fiddle with them, and certainly not whine about them.
> Go figure out how to kill them, stuff them, and mount them on the wall.

I’m not sure if/when/where/how you could use this, but I wanted you to at
least know there was one technical middle manager out there whose heart is
in the right place.

Maybe you can get sales to buy us lunch!

Thanks again for doing the Cranky Middle Manager. Listening to it always
gets me thinking, even when it doesn’t cheer me up. I’m keeping my
weasel-whacker handy.

Tom

Well, it got me thinking- first, why is anybody this smart listening to THIS show? Once I got past that I knew this was a guy you’d all want to hear about so here we go….

o:00 Welcome to the show- today’s hero is Sir Gareth- my favorite Knight of the Round Table

2:30 Quote of the week, from the Marcus Fabius Quintilius. Not much of a thinker but is that a cool name or what?

3:30 Welcome Tom Comeau. In his own words he “wrangles the geeks who build Hubble’s databases and servers”

8:30 So how do you get a cool job like that?

10:36 One more reason he’s my hero- he’s never had to fire anyone…

15:00 Attack the Fracking problem… really

18:54 What was it like being part of Hubble from the early troubles to the impending budget axe? This is cool stuff…

28:00 Here are the resources Tom likes:

Manager Tools podcast (Mike and Mark)

Lee Hopkin’s Better Communication Results podcast:

ACM Tech Tips email list (don’t need to be an ACM member)
Mostly tech news, but includes tech manager articles pretty regularly

Workforce Management Magazine
Aimed at HR managers, lots on salary, benefits and legal issues, but the
occasional nugget. Usually I only read a few articles, plus the statistical
summary in the back of the mag, which helps with understanding my HR people.
One the web at www.workforce.com

Speaking of books…don’t forget about mine. “A Philistine’s Journal, an Average Guy Tackles the Classics”.