Dave Christiansen is the founder and managing editor of TechDarkSide.com. He manages projects for a Fortune 100 financial services company and writes and talks about project management. He can be reached at dave@techdarkside.com. I’ve been thinking about this post for a couple of months now. On several occasions in my career I have given advice […]
Entries Tagged as 'Job Advice'
My Very Best Advice
July 31st, 2007 · 2 Comments
Tags: Job Advice
Building Balanced Influence Using the FEWD Pyramid
April 3rd, 2007 · 3 Comments
I’ve been thinking a lot about centralized groups lately. Centralized groups are usually created as an attempt to leverage common skills and practices in a uniform, cost-effective way. It’s most common in matrix organizations, and I’ve seen them formed for many different purposes, including: Development Analysis Testing Project Management Governance Architecture Infrastructure Centralized organizations have […]
Tags: Job Advice
Organic Change vs. Planned Change
March 13th, 2007 · 1 Comment
Once upon a time, Mike Kelly, Tate Stuntz, and I were discussing organizational change. We were observing an organization that was going through a great deal of change, some of it planned and some of it that just happened. Some changes were being orchestrated by committees of concerned people who put programs into place to […]
Tags: Job Advice
How to Write a Self-Appraisal
December 2nd, 2006 · 60 Comments
Most companies these days use a performance management process that is based on objectives. As I’ve complained before, I’m not a big fan of this approach. It’s very difficult to make it work, and seems too heavyweight for me. There’s got to be an easier way. That said, let’s face facts. If you work in […]
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How to Pronounce Indian Names: Part 2
October 22nd, 2006 · 5 Comments
Following up on a previous blog, how to pronounce Indian names: I found a great explanation of how to pronounce Indian names that covers some areas I missed. And, to make it even better, the author of the site (Chad Fowler), is also a Rails advocate. More power to him! Here’s a link to his […]
Tags: Job Advice
A Rant about Timesheets
October 16th, 2006 · 9 Comments
How much money does a time-tracking system cost at an enterprise level? I have no idea, but I’m sure it’s a heckuva lot more than my salary. What is the point of tracking the time of a salaried employee? I have been trying to figure this out ever since I left consulting, where time tracking […]
Tags: Job Advice
Be Nice To Admins
September 15th, 2006 · No Comments
Really, you should be nice to everybody. But let’s just talk about admins first. Mistreating an administrative assistant is an excellent indicator that someone is a complete jerk. There are few ways of deducing someone’s nature than watching how someone interacts with someone else who is significantly lower in the corporate food chain. In terms […]
Tags: Job Advice
Making Meetings Effective – Tim Sanders
September 6th, 2006 · 1 Comment
One of the great books I’ve read lately is Love is the Next Killer App, by Tim Sanders. It really opened my eyes to a lot of concepts that have been really useful to me in my own career. Well, now Tim has a blog, and his latest post is really very useful. It’s about […]
Tags: Job Advice
Would you like some Bacon with that?
September 6th, 2006 · 1 Comment
I’m reading The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant right now. Why? I’ll explain that later when I finish the book and review it. At any rate, something I read sparked a lot of thoughts this morning on my daily commute in to work. It compared the philosophies of Descarte and Francis Bacon, calling one […]
Tags: Job Advice
What I Look For in a Potential Manager
August 25th, 2006 · 1 Comment
A while back I blogged about questions you should ask your potential employer that reveal what it’s really like to work at the company. Lately I’ve been thinking about the kinds of qualities I would like in a manager. I’ve broken them down into a few categories: Need to Control Ability to Facilitate Ability to […]
Tags: Job Advice