ITauthor

As a manager who never set out to be a manager (but who, nevertheless, is trying to be a good manager) Scott Hanselman's recent follow-up interview with Chris Sells about management struck a chord with me and I wanted to share it.

Among the things Scott and Chris discuss are:

• Being an advocate for the people you manage
• Getting things done means ignoring emails ("At Microsoft you either write code or you delete email")
• "No meeting Wednesday"
• Weekly or daily task setting and progress reporting
• Prime motivators for getting things done: shame and fear

Chris talks about Scott reduced posting to Computer Zen since becoming a manager. I think what he's saying is: you can be a good manager, a good website contributor, a good husband, a good father - but you only get to choose one of the above.

I'd like to think that's not true.

Please note: This video is from Microsoft's Channel 9 website and (I'm guessing) is the copyright property of Microsoft, or maybe of Scott Hanselman. Go to the original page on Channel 9 to see the video in its Channel 9 context, complete with comments.

Other links:

• Channel 9's RSS feed: http://channel9.msdn.com/Feeds/RSS/
• Hanselminutes on 9 Web page: http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/HanselminutesOn9/
• Hanselminutes on 9 iPod feed: http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/HanselminutesOn9/feed/ipod/
• This particular video: http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Glucose/Hanselminutes-on-9-Follow-up-6-months-later-with-Chris-Sells-on-Managing-People-and-Your-Time
• Scott's audio podcast: http://www.hanselminutes.com/