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>>Does anyone have a GOOD reference to recommend on developing
managing skills, or coordinating team efforts? I'm a Lead Technical
writer who works with 2 Technical Writers and need to develop better
management skills.
TECHWRLer geoff Hart addresses this subject in the lead article in
Intercom (the monthly STC mag) for July 1997. His brief bibliography
includes Managing Your Documentation Projects by Joanne T. Hackos.
Another work that you may find helpful is Managing Documentation
Projects in an Imperfect World by Gabriel Lanyi.
You might also bang around on the web for sites that apply to you and
your situation. Look under subjects like leadership, team management,
and especially sales management -- sales people are always talking
teamwork. Do a search on Ken Blanchard, and/or the One-Minute
Manager.
As a long term project, if you can handle baseball, I would recommend
that you try to follow the work of managers of the year such as Bruce
Bochy of the San Diego Padres or (and I am sorry I don't remember his
name) the manager of the Texas Rangers. A baseball manager works under
pressure that is generally no less than the pressure we know in a tech
writing environment. A baseball manager works with stars, some of them
making millions of dollars, some of them prima donnas, some of them
producing, some of them slumping. I think the manager of a technical
writing team could learn a lot from the way the recognized good
managers deal with their people. In case you haven't looked recently,
team management has come a long way since the days of Casey Stengel.
Bill Sullivan
bsullivan -at- deltecpower -dot- com
San Diego, California
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