career development advice - SUMMARY

["Backer, Corinne" <CBacker -at- GLHEC -dot- ORG>]

I've put together some parts of the responses I got that were not sent to
the list, mostly those that dealt with practical day-to-day aspects (rather
than those from the kind souls who saw through my bravado and counseled me
personally :D)
Thanks to all for the great response.

Edited by me for brevity, apologies to the original authors.
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"...Being a first-line supervisor or manager is one of the toughest
situations to be in, and don't ever think otherwise. It is a crucible until
you decide which way you want to go - management or technical. Only you can
do that, and until you do it will be hard... If you go the management route
then your focus will be on how to delegate more to your staff, how to
organize their skills, aptitudes, etc. to accomplish your goals &
responsibilities, how to enhance their skills and
> knowledge to get more out of them, and how to make your organization more
> valuable and productive for the overall organization - stuff like that. My
> suggestions for you are to immediately start figuring out how you can
> delegate more of your current technical responsibilities (writing
> assignments?) to your staff. If you offload/delegate 50% of your current
> workload to your staff, that increases theirs by 10% each - in rough,
> round numbers. That is MUCH harder to do than it sounds, but you will have
> to do it in order to survive."
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"The short answer is -- the same way you balance learning the various tech
writing skills (writing, editing, usability, tools, layout and design,
etc.). Pick the one or two skills you feel you need to get, and work at
getting them. The longer answer is -- what do you want to do with your
career?  Is the management position a temporary one? Or, do you want to move
into full-time management?  If you do not really want to be a manager, then
you need to invest as little time as possible in improving your skills.  If
you want to be a manager, then you need to make this shift and emphasize
those skills.

By the way, I do not necessarily share the opinion that you have to write
50% (or even 20%) of the time to keep your skills current...A good manager
is one who understands that there are different tools out there, and not one
who insists on using the one they learned on 10 years ago because they
haven't bothered to keep up with the field.

...the purpose of a manager is to remove all of the roadblocks so that the
people can do their work.  In other words, my job is to prevent or quickly
deal with the emergencies so that my writers can continue working.  If I do
this (and give them adequate tools and training), then they will get their
work done, and I can concentrate on other things. What I did was to make
sure my management responsibilities were clearly defined..."
-----------------------------------------
"...although I am giving up writing responsibilities, I am taking on all the
internal editing responsibilities. Currently all our documents go through a
peer edit before final release. Usually I am not the editor, because I am
too busy writing or coping with mgmt. aspects. However, with giving up
writing I will become the de facto editor, and hopefully this will take
enough work back from the writers to make up for the projects I am dumping
on them.

I don't worry too much that I will lose respect as a writer or lose touch
with my company's business, since I will remain involved with our docs and
products on an editorial level...

Am I happy to give up writing? No, not at all. I enjoy diving full into a
project way more than going to meetings and hunting down product specs and
writing performance reviews. But, I will still be responsible for evaluating
new tools and methods for the team, so I hope to be able to keep up with
changes in tech comm."
----------------------------
"When I was a mgr, my (then) consulting firm took several us to a 2-day
workshop (local) run by AMA (American Mgmt Assoc)  check them out on the
web... that workshop was very helpful."
--------------------------------------------------
"...check out any management development seminars your company may offer,
and check out that type of class at local community or business colleges.
There are also "traveling" seminars on both management and technical
writing; some of them are valuable--if you can get your company to spring
for them..."
---------------------------------------------
"Decide which one [learning management skills or improving tech writing
skills] needs your focus first.  Address that and the other will follow. In
my case, I focused first on the management skills because I was having
trouble scheduling and fitting everything in (management skill). Learn to
delegate.  You're supervising 5 people.  Among them you should have skills
to accomplish the tech writing while you get the management thing under
control.  I've found that I need to get a handle on something and then move
forward from that rather than tackling all aspects at once.

...I've learned to pace myself more. I can put in long hours for 3 weeks,
then I need to stick close to 40 for the next two weeks...Learn to estimate
how much time is required and how to set boundaries. Those are your most
important survival tools. Does someone else's failure to plan have to
necessitate an emergency on your  part? That's one issue that I think
Hackos' (Managing Documentation Projects) addresses fairly well.  It has a
couple sample scenarios that might help you shift responsibility to those
who expect you to perform miracles. Whatever you do, don't get into a
superhero mode that you can't sustain.  You don't want something you're
killing yourself to do to become the baseline of what's expected.  Always,
always make sure your schedule includes time for career growth, whether it's
managerial or technical, not just for fighting fires.  Let others fight some
of those fires.

Even if it's a CBT course or a web-based tutorial, I make sure I'm always
doing something to upgrade my skills--and that my employer knows it.  YOU
CAN NEVER STOP INVESTING IN YOURSELF if you want respect in the job market."
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"The first thing you need to do is enroll in a management class specifically
aimed at Tech Pubs Depts. This will give you perspective on what you need to
manage and how. Here in San Jose, we have access to UCSC Extension, the
university program that provides such classes. All of them were extremely
helpful, because they focused on the type of management we do, not
management in general..."
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"What you have to do is delegate, except for some small deliverables, you
tasks to the others in your dept. Even though it is important for your staff
to learn about the latest technologies and how to use them, in my opinion,
it is your place to attend the conferences, training, etc. to provide
guidance on where to take your dept...Don't let management try to bully you
into doing it all."
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"...I took a class at Northeastern University in Boston that covered many of
the topics you mentioned. I'm a candidate for a Master's Degree in Tech
Writing, and the class was one of the options for my degree. (There's more
info about the class at
http://www.casdn.neu.edu/~english/graduate/sp99list.htm#ENG3367). I found
this class helpful not only for understanding people-management issues, but
resolving project-management issues as well...."
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"...find some of the classes on audio tapes (and video tapes) put out my
American Management Association (AMA). Some are very good. I strongly
suggest the ones on assertiveness training, negotiation, and dealing with
difficult people...Many companies have bought or will buy these learning
materials for you. However, if they are unwilling to invest in your
education, you may need to dig into your own pocket.

Next, ask your boss or boss's boss to either 1) be your mentor or 2) appoint
a mentor for you. It is really great to have someone you can bounce ideas
and problems off of. You can also use the TECHWR-L list. A number of us are
managers and can serve as a sounding board.

Here are the basics of good management as I see them:
1) Surround yourself with good talent. You may not be an expert in <name a
technology or program here> so you'd better hire someone who is....If you
can't hire someone with that skill, then train someone you have.

2) Delegate both projects and authority. The "1-minute Manager" makes a
great point. If you have hired good talent, and you trust their judgement,
you should be able to give them your guidelines for a project, then delegate
the project and the required authority to them to carry it out. This
cascades into point #3.

3) Communicate ACCURATE status...you never want to put your boss in the
embarrassing position of not knowing an answer about you and your group. If
your boss is asked about the condition of a project, she/he had better have
the answer...Concurrent with that is your staff must also tell YOU what
their status is...

4) Leadership.  There are managers and leaders. To be a manager, you simply
keep control of the existing situation. You manage it. To lead, you need to
educate and inspire others to follow you and support your "mission",
whatever you decide that should be. The elements of this are:
A) Create a vision in your mind of what your group needs to accomplish.
B) Communicate that vision to the group, in such a way that the see, feel,
and can share in your passion.
C) Get buy in. Ask each person individually if they agree wholeheartedly
with your goal, direction, approach. If they don't, explore why. You may
need to adjust your direction based on their feedback. Negotiate agreements
with each so as to achieve your aim.
D) Plan the execution of the vision
E) Execute the plan
F) Constantly gather feedback on progress, make adjustments as needed.
Most plans fail on item B, Communication. Most people fail to adequately
communicate what is in their heads. They use the words they are familiar
with, but those words may not make a connection with the audience.
Take some time, plan this out, and give it several tries. Don't rush it.

5) Set reasonable goals for each staff member. Everyone wants to know where
they stand. Set measurable goals, then provide REGULAR feedback on their
progress. Be a mostly positive person. When you review someone's work, make
a lot of positive comments IN WRITING and verbally. That helps soften the
blow of the editing you need to do. Make each staff member feel appreciated.
Compliment sincerely and often. A positive work environment is a great place
to be in!

...one last item. It sounds like the "Emergencies" are a major source of
problems. I suggest you take a few minutes and evaluate past emergencies.
Any patterns emerge? Do they usually come from one or two
people/departments? Were they real emergencies or just perceived urgencies?
Could you have delegated some? Could you have said "No" to some? Could you
have anticipated some? (example: frequent requests for RFP writing. You then
draft a generic set of answers to the common questions and give those to the
marketing group and inform them to modify it as needed for each RFP.) Work
with your boss and formulate a set of policies for dealing with the typical
emergencies, then COMMUNICATE those policies to everyone... educate that
person gently in your world, your priorities, and how much
effort their unreasonable request TRULY costs the company."

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