Hanselminutes on 9 - Chris Sells on Managing People and Your Time

Posted By: Glucose | Aug 7th @ 9:13 PM | 51,675 Views | 12 Comments
My role at Microsoft changed slightly this morning. I've got from being a dude on a team to being a dude with a team. I'm not sure if it's a big change or a medium change. There's no sack of money, although I think they put "Lead" at the end of my title and I get a copy of Halo 4*.

I wasn't sure if this would be a big deal or not, so I figured I'd ask a guy I respect a great deal, Chris Sells. Chris is a guy who has been in the community for years and is well though of. He gets lots done so I figured I'd ask him how my life will change by managing a team. Here's what he had to say, over lunch at the food court. (Note that Chris and I are both remote and live in Oregon, so that's ANOTHER reason I wanted to talk to him.)

* not really.
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#Aug 9th @ 11:57 AM
CKurt
CKurt
while( ( !succeed=try() ) ) { }

I'm guessing the future episodes won't show because you won't have the time Tongue Out Still nice video! Where was it shot?

#Aug 9th @ 12:27 PM
CSI3n
CSI3n

"lunch at the food court" "Note that Chris and I are both remote and live in Oregon"

Then Scott mentions "Washington Square Mall".

With that, and a little help from http://www.shopwashingtonsquare.com/ I'd guess Rainier Roaster.

But that's just a guess.

 

Great, great topic. "Every manager still writes code" - Be careful what you wish for. But anyway, still better than having no project manager or people manager care about code whatsoever.

 

Scott, I hope by now that shock and denial are behind you, so please lead us through the next stages, talking to as interesting folks as Chris who are helping you to make it through this. Or, maybe, even some of your reports.

#Aug 9th @ 12:48 PM
Charles
Charles
Welcome Change

Scott joins the ranks of middle management overhead... Smiley

 

Long live the IC!!

 

Seriously, congrats, Scott. Remember to not micro-manage and ensure your pleebs place in the higher quadrants of the review calibration matirx.

 

Keep on posting, dude. Being a manager means you'll have more time to do C9 stuff, not less. See, now you can farm the real work off to your subordinates and then take credit for it too!

 

I jest. I jest. In reality, you'll still be an IC, but you'll get the extra added bonus of herding and driving a team of ICs. Microsoft managers are typically overworked. Good luck, my man.


C

#Aug 10th @ 2:12 AM
mawcc
mawcc
Make it so

I didn't know the word "pleebs", so I entered it into Bing. And the first search result is, well, let's say interesting... Perplexed

 

What's the intended meaning here?

#Aug 10th @ 4:55 AM
TommyCarlier
TommyCarlier
I want my scalps!

Is it just me, or is “WMV (High)” now really high quality (meaning: needs way more buffering)?

#Aug 10th @ 6:06 AM
joechung
joechung

I think Charles meant "plebs," which is plural of "pleb," which is short for "plebeian," which is Latin for someone from the lower or middle class (Plebs [Wikipedia]).

If the Bing search returns an urbandictionary.com link, it's best just to skip it. Wink

#Aug 10th @ 6:11 AM
mawcc
mawcc
Make it so

OK, thanks for the clarification. And yes, that urbandictionary result was the reason I had to ask Wink

#Aug 10th @ 9:01 AM
Charles
Charles
Welcome Change

Yes. I wasn't an English major! Smiley Thanks, Joe!

C

#Aug 10th @ 11:08 AM
ChrisStepaniuk
ChrisStepaniuk

Congrats Scott for entrance into management.  Most people are sent there kicking and screaming!  I like now Chris put it, you have to go through grief.  It's true, your professional life is about to change, much like when my friend had kids, his Dad looks to him and said, "prepare not to sleep for two years".

 

It's nice to see Chris Sells, I've missed him, he needs to be on DNR or Hansel Minutes.

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