Priorities, Impact, and Wrangling the "Manager's Calendar"

Managing Up

#Business #Technology #Travis Swicegood, Brandon Hays, Nickolas Means #Nickolas Means #Travis Swicegood #Careers #IT Management #Tech #Industries #Brandon Hayes

16:32

You’re busy—but are you actually growing? In this episode, Nata Salvatori exposes a trap that’s costing service providers time, money, and sanity: chasing busywork that feels productive but doesn’t move the needle. She walks through a clear, five-step growth path—from clarifying your offer, validating through real sales, delivering sustainably, building repeatable systems, to scaling confidently. You’ll learn: How to spot and ditch “fake work” Why clarity beats complexity every time How to use real feedback to validate your offers Delivery tips that prevent burnout System creation that enables scaling How to honor your current phase of growth 📌 Ready to stop spinning your wheels and make real moves? Map your phase, pick your next action, and don’t be afraid to ask for help: 👉 accidentalceo.co/coaching Support the show…

6 years ago 46:35

MP3•Episode home

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the vast array of "priorities" that can overwhelm a manager. The group talk through strategies they use to wrangle the "manager's calendar" and reclaim control over your time. Nick talks about how useful procrastination can be as a signal, and the group talks about using focus to make an impact in the face of "busy-ness".

Notes:

Effective DevOps
- https://www.amazon.com/Effective-DevOps-Building-Collaboration-Affinity/dp/1491926309
Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker
- https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Oneself-Peter-Ferdinand-Drucker-dp-1633694836/dp/1633694836
Possible Minds by John Brockman
- https://www.amazon.com/Possible-Minds-Twenty-Five-Ways-Looking/dp/0525557997
Deep Work by Cal Newport
- https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692
Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator
- https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator

44 episodes

Managing Up

Priorities, Impact, and Wrangling the "Manager's Calendar"

Managing Up

91 subscribers

published 6 years ago

MP3•Episode home

Notes:

Effective DevOps
- https://www.amazon.com/Effective-DevOps-Building-Collaboration-Affinity/dp/1491926309
Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker
- https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Oneself-Peter-Ferdinand-Drucker-dp-1633694836/dp/1633694836
Possible Minds by John Brockman
- https://www.amazon.com/Possible-Minds-Twenty-Five-Ways-Looking/dp/0525557997
Deep Work by Cal Newport
- https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692
Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator
- https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator

44 episodes

#Business #Technology #Travis Swicegood, Brandon Hays, Nickolas Means #Nickolas Means #Travis Swicegood #Careers #IT Management #Tech #Industries #Brandon Hayes

All episodes

Managing Up

1
What If Meetings… Were Good, Actually? 1:02:20

2 years ago1:02:20

1:02:20

In this episode of the Managing Up Show, Brandon, Travis, and Nick talk about meetings. How did they get a bad reputation? How can they be better? And no, the answer is not to abolish meetings, but rather to put the effort into making them actually good. They share disaster stories of meetings gone wrong and what makes one actually work. They cover: Setting a clear purpose for meetings Identifying the roles of participants, and Setting up discussions that unstick our work and sharpen our focus Yep, there is such a thing as an effective, engaging meeting, and once you’ve had them, you’ll never go back. Mentioned this episode: https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/standup-meetings-are-dead/ https://www.amazon.com/Death-Meeting-Leadership-Solving-Business/dp/0787968056…

Managing Up

1
Moving Past "Hero Culture" 58:35

2 years ago58:35

58:35

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk "hero culture" and how that affects teams. What are the drawbacks of encouraging hero culture? How do you draw the distinction between necessary heroism and chronic hero culture? What's the difference between heroism and professionalism? They also discuss common pitfalls of trying to overcome hero culture, and what it means to set a sustainable example. Show Notes: Do Hard Things by Steve Magness https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Things-Resilience-Surprising-Toughness/dp/006309861X/ Navy Seals "Hell Week" https://navyseals.com/nsw/hell-week-0/ Radar Charts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_chart Kevin Goldsmith's Lead Dev talk on combining ingredients for the perfect engineering team https://leaddev.com/team/finding-right-ingredients-perfect-engineering-team…

Managing Up

1
Actually Managing Up 1:02:20

3 years ago1:02:20

1:02:20

OK, fine, y'all win. We finally did the episode of "Managing Up" about managing up. In it, Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about techniques for managing up, how they're similar to managing your own team members, and how it is sometimes very different. They share books and resources that helped them and talk about how communication, being crisp, and (gasp) _feelings_ play into managing your upward relationships. Show Notes: Managing Up article by Stephen Gossett from Built In https://builtin.com/people-management/managing-up Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues by Dr. David Bradford, Ph.D & Dr. Carole Robin, Ph.D https://www.amazon.com/Connect-Building-Exceptional-Relationships-Colleagues/dp/0593237099 Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Agility-Unstuck-Embrace-Change/dp/1592409490 Ted Lasso: Darts scene ("Be curious, not judgmental") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S16b-x5mRA…

Managing Up

1
How We've Changed the Way We Manage in the Pandemic, with Estella Gonzalez Madison 1:02:59

3 years ago1:02:59

1:02:59

The Managing Up Crew is joined by Estella Gonzalez Madison (@chicagoing) to discuss how they've changed the way they manage since the start of the pandemic 2+ years ago. They discuss tactical changes and how they've changed philosophically during this time, and how they square their own humanity and that of their teams during the last 2 years, as well as how this affects how they plan to manage in the future. Show Notes: Estella Gonzalez Madison https://twitter.com/chicagoing Talking to your past self (humor) https://mymodernmet.com/julie-nolke-funny-viral-video/ Rethinking Remote Standups https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/standup-meetings-are-dead/ Lara Hogan's Manager Voltron https://larahogan.me/blog/manager-voltron/…

Managing Up

1
Pain, Learning Organizations, and Trainwrecks 1:05:01

3 years ago1:05:01

1:05:01

Nick, pondering the Texas electric grid and the 2021 power crisis posits the question to Travis and Brandon: What role does pain play in leading teams? What is the role of a manager in managing and reacting to pain on our teams? What are the dangers of hiding or deflecting this pain? This leads to a discussion of processing feedback, helping teams learn from pain, and yes, launching trains at meteors. What roles do curiosity and fear play in managing organizational pain? What role do retrospectives play in this? How do you pronounce "gigawatt"? Show notes: 2021 Texas Power Crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis The lottery factor (AKA bus factor) https://towardsdatascience.com/maintaining-a-good-lottery-factor-1eeb2b2f52a6 Ted Lasso: "The shower pressure is rubbish: make a note of that" https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/cff607e3-f79e-4a84-a38c-ab6124c596c6…

Managing Up

1
Accountability & Trust in a Distributed World 1:02:23

4 years ago1:02:23

1:02:23

Travis, Nick, and Brandon discuss the word "accountability". What does it mean? Why has it developed a negative connotation? What's the connection between "trust" and "accountability"? They discuss the sometimes uncomfortable conversations that must take in place before a conversation about accountability can bring real results. They also talk about how remote culture changes the shape of this conversation by removing shortcuts some leaders have leaned on in offices. Show Notes: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team Start with Why by Simon Sinek https://simonsinek.com/product/start-with-why/ Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Focus-SECOND-Achieving-Objectives-ebook/dp/B091ZL2SRL Remote by Jason Fried and DHH https://basecamp.com/books/remote…

Managing Up

1
One on Ones: Beyond the Basics 59:00

4 years ago59:00

59:00

Nick, Travis, and Brandon revisit the one-on-ones topic from several years ago and go beyond "1:1s 101". The hosts dive past the scripts and formulas to discuss challenges with regular one-on-one meetings with your team. How do you discern "gripe sessions" from a genuine request to intervene? When do you share context vs. listen? How do you get people to shift past surface-level concerns to the most important topics? What are some 1:1 antipatterns? Also: The group restrains themselves to only one Ted Lasso reference. Show Notes: Episode 5: "One on Ones: The Basics" (Oct. 2018) https://www.managingup.show/episodes/54705bed Ted Lasso https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10986410/ https://twitter.com/TedLasso…

Managing Up

1
"Marketing" Your Team as a Manager 42:55

4 years ago42:55

42:55

Nick, Brandon, and Travis discuss the term "Marketing" and the myth that doing good work will speak for itself. How can you advocate for your team's work authentically without feeling like you're bragging? They talk about using tracking documents to track and showcase team accomplishments, and why it's important to demonstrate your team's impact, and not just their efforts. Episode links: Get your work recognized: write a brag document https://jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/…

Managing Up

1
Inviting Feedback and Creating Psychological Safety 53:41

4 years ago53:41

53:41

Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about how they increase psychological safety on teams to create space for a variety of voices, starting by debating the value of "strong opinions, weakly held". They explore the questions: How do you bootstrap trust and safety when joining a team? How can you make space for less vocal team members? What are things managers do that reduce trust within their teams? How can you encourage and receive important and valuable feedback? Episode links: Strong Opinions Loosely Held Might be the Worst Idea in Tech https://blog.glowforge.com/strong-opinions-loosely-held-might-be-the-worst-idea-in-tech/ How to Get Your Team to Challenge Your Ideas https://medium.dave-bailey.com/how-to-get-your-team-to-speak-up-4d403bfc10c9…

Managing Up

1
Is "Resources" a Dirty Word? 56:29

4 years ago56:29

56:29

In this episode, Nick, Travis, and Brandon talk about the word "resources", thinking of humans versus abstract notions of people, and balancing company needs with individual needs. What changes as your role moves further from managing individual contributors? Show Notes GE's "Up or out" environment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve Episode 1: OKRs https://managingup.simplecast.com/episodes/podcast-episode-1-measure-what-matters The Passionate Programmer by Chad Fowler https://pragprog.com/titles/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer-2nd-edition/…

Managing Up

1
Just Culture, Blame, and Accountability 43:50

5 years ago43:50

43:50

In the last episode we recorded in the "before times", Nick and Brandon discuss the connection between blameless culture, systems thinking, and just culture. Nick explains how blame robs learning, and how to foster an environment that allows the system to learn and improve. They talk about how accountability fits into a blameless culture, and Nick introduces Sidney Decker's idea of Forward Accountability and shifting behavior rather than assigning blame. Show notes: Just culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_culture Nick's talk on Three Mile Island https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMk6rF4Tzsg Field guide to understanding human error https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Understanding-Human-Error/dp/0754648257 Sidney Decker: Forward accountability https://sidneydekker.com/just-culture/…

Managing Up

1
How Much Process Is Enough? How Much Is Too Much? 57:54

5 years ago57:54

57:54

In another episode recorded in the "before times", Travis talks about finding the balance between not enough and too much process. Is Scrum too much process? How do you tell when process is designed to help versus be a remote control for a team? What if the process is being blamed for other problems? They discuss the signals that tell you when a process isn't working for you and when to modify existing processes versus throw them out. Notes: Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658 Scrum Guide ™ ™ ™ ® ® ® https://www.scrumguides.org/index.html Taylorism (Scientific Management) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management…

Managing Up

1
The Manager's Calendar 48:04

5 years ago48:04

48:04

In an episode recorded in "the before times" that we feel is still relevant, Nick suggested we talk about what to do when you can't do it all. Nick, Brandon, and Travis discuss how the game of "Calendar Jenga" is symptomatic. What happens when your calendar is so full of "valuable" things that you have to choose between lunch or more meetings? Nick talks about using WIP limits to keep your calendar clean, and Travis talks about how designing your schedule is like designing teams. Notes: @catehstn tweet: https://twitter.com/catehstn/status/1231685231909974018 Your calendar is a trash fire https://speakerdeck.com/tehviking/the-new-managers-toolkit?slide=62 Time blocking https://blog.rescuetime.com/time-blocking-101/ Time Management Matrix https://facilethings.com/blog/en/time-management-matrix…

Managing Up

1
Getting Clarity in Times of Change 51:08

5 years ago51:08

51:08

Travis, Nick, and Brandon ask: what do you do when you have a sense that things are about to change? What about when your work evaporates due to a startup pivot or major organizational change? They talk about how to help maintain a team's composure and capability during times of uncertainty or lack of clear direction, including leaning on your own manager.…

Managing Up

1
Breaking the Cycle of "Burnout Debt" 59:52

5 years ago59:52