dawasthi notes

1.1.  Directors create the framework in which others can succeed and in this process the director succeeds.  The importance of the framework is for employees to follow process to reduce risk.  Before the framework is put in place employees give their inputs, however in the end directors have to approve them and take responsibility.

1.2.  There are some key aspects of framework that must be addressed by a director or a midlevel management:

1.2.1.     What are the goals?

1.2.1.1.         A director should be clear on the goals of the strategic plan.  A VP or senior management is too busy to explain the goals, however it’s the director’s job to ask questions and understand the goals.  As directors have a clear understanding of the goals shows understanding of which process needed to achieve the goal.  If the goal is not achieved or misunderstood it is the directors fault for not understanding and asking questions in the first place.

1.2.2.     What is the schedule?

1.2.2.1.         A director must know from the VP or upper management what is the time line that the product / service needs be completed.

1.2.2.2.         A director must take the completion date and break the time line into smaller achievable goals.  If the goal of the product is for 6 months then every month a feature or goal needs to be completed.  This way the engineering is focused on the things that need to be achieved and be on task.

1.2.2.3.         Creating schedule is also another big aspect of a director.  A director should keep in mind if projects slip, who is impacted, how is the schedule impacted, what are the risks, how can it be finished faster so that the next feature or goal due date is not slipped.

1.2.3.     What is the process?

1.2.3.1.         After finding the goal and schedule a director needs to create a process for his team.  This process is hardly looked over by the upper management, mainly because they do not care what the process is as long as the end goal is achieved.

1.2.3.2.         A process basically consists of inputs and outputs.  What are the inputs and what will be outputs.  It is crucial for the engineers and managers to know the process, since this is process they will have to follow. 

1.2.4.     What resources are needed for the project?

1.2.4.1.         When a director gives the initial feed back to the upper management, he or she needs to indicate what resources are needed for a project.

1.2.4.2.         If the resources are not given or the schedule is shortened then a director needs to negotiate on which features can be in a project.

1.2.5.     What is the risk?

1.2.5.1.         Every project has risks associated.  The risks can be due to schedule slip, unknown bug, features not being complete, resources mismanagement, or the director’s incapability to lead.  No matter what the risk is the director should plan ahead of time, so that when something happens the director and the team are prepared.

1.2.6.     How to communicate status within the group?

1.2.6.1.         When the project plan is broken down into smaller achievable goals the director needs to oversea that these goals are being achieved.  If there need to be a feature out in a month the director should have weekly status meetings with the managers.

1.2.6.2.         The status meetings are about what was accomplished, what will be accomplished, if there are any issues, and does everyone have what they need to accomplish the smaller goals.

1.3.  Some of the other aspects of a framework are: how to mange and what went wrong and how to improve next time.  With all these aspects of a framework a director will create an environment where communication, cooperation, teamwork, and trust can exist.

1.4.  Once the framework exists the director can sit back and watch as everyone executes efficiently.

1.1.  Gossip or badmouth others.

1.1.1.     Badmouthing other looses trust between employees and specially directors.  If a director is bad mouthing someone then they can bad mouth about you, and this will cause employees to loose trust with the director.

1.2.  Obstruct or otherwise subtly sabotage changes.

1.2.1.     By sabotaging changes without knowing the whole story a middle manager can delay the product release date and can jeopardize the employees working on the product and the product itself.

1.3.  Allow differences in style or personality to get in the way of working productively with a peer or employee.

1.3.1.     This will cause the middle manager to be out of focus when talking to employees or peers.  And this will show others that a middle manager is bias or hateful towards others.  A middle manger will not last in his / her position if they are seen this way and they will be out of the company fast.

1.4.  Interfere or take over a project or task that one of your employees owns.

1.4.1.     This shows that a director does not trust the employee and this is how rumors will start.  Not only is the director taking the task but he is also showing the employee that they are no good.  This will hurt the employees moral and other employee’s state of mind.

1.5.  Let work pile or become disorganized.

1.5.1.     A director should never let work pile up, they have delegates and a framework.  They should be free to do anything they can to help the company, product and employees succeed.

1.6.  Play favorites or make business decisions based on friendship.

1.6.1.     Emotional decisions can ruin a person and a company.  When a company or a person makes decisions emotionally they are not thinking ahead in the future of the company and how their decision will impact all others in an organization.

1.1.  Honesty and Integrity

1.1.1.     As a director if he or she is not honest with the team, then the trust goes away.  When the trust is gone the team becomes individual people – this will either delay the project or key individuals from the team will leave which hurts the over all project.

1.2.  Understanding of people

1.2.1.     A director must understand individuals.  This helps to manage individuals and to negotiate with upper management. 

1.3.  Understanding of project and program technology

1.3.1.     A director must know the technology that they are working with.  A great director from Microsoft would fail if he was a director at Krafts foods.  This is because of the director is unfamiliar with the technology and the project.  It will take the director some time before he can know the project inside out.

1.4.  Alertness and quickness

1.4.1.     A director needs to be alert and know what is going on around him / her.  If there is an issue the director should quickly act, only when needed.

1.5.  Versatility

1.5.1.     A director needs to be versatile as mentioned above not only know how to manage people under him, but also know the technology with being business savvy.

1.6.  Energy and toughness

1.6.1.     A director knows that he or she has to be energetic; this shows his or her team that they are ready to be working.  With being energetic the director should be tough on making the right decisions and living by them, as in owning their decision.

1.7.  Decision-making ability

1.7.1.     One sentence summarizes this – owning your decision.

1.7.2.     As a director you don’t know what choice to make at a turn, but you have the tools to make the most probably correct choice.  Once the choice is made – roll with it, It can’t be looked back at and analyze the other choices.

1.8.  Ability to evaluate risk and uncertainty

1.8.1.     Before any project is on the way, risk analysis is done to prevent risks and be prepared for uncertain risks.  This is important to a director so that if anything happens his or her team is not stranded.

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