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>Managing an on-site group from an off-site location is practically
>suicide. (Ask how I know ... and I was just on another floor!) The
>dynamics of supervision means catching the near-disasters you overhear
>being discussed in the hallway outside your door/cubicle, watching for
>tensions between parties with conflicting deadlines and priorities, and
>so on. That's not to say working at home a day a week is a bad thing,
>but there's no substitute for physical presence as a manager.
I beg to differ.
Based on my eight months of offsite management, the secret is easy:
delegate. In other words, have at least one person on site whom you
can trust and who is responsible (and make sure that they have your
phone number). If you don't have hiring authority, then cultivate a
lieutenant.
It's all a matter, of course, of management style.
But the advantage of delegating is that you don't have to lurk about
like a KGB agent on benzedrine.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Co-ordinator ,Vancouver Technical Communicators' Co-op List
Vancouver, BC, Canada
(604) 421-7189 or 687-2133
bbyfield -at- axionet,com or bruce -at- dataphile-ca -dot- com
www.outlawcommunications.com
"Raise your flask, aim your rifles high,
I've had a dream, we three need have no fear at all,
You'll die in Kenora, Billy, you Jim in Winnipeg,
And I shall end my days in Montreal."
- Tanglefoot
