If you do, if you delegate, if you’re a good leader and you assign responsibility to other people, and if these people are actually especially willing to help you:
Do not send them dozens of emails. Do not ask questions over and over. Do not keep changing the details and plans without telling anybody. Do not, when asked a question about a huge favor someone is doing for you, begin a sentence with, “You need to….” Seriously. If you suck at details and know it and then get willing people to take care of it, let them do it. It’s actually pretty insulting to keep checking.
And it wastes everyone’s time and might even build ill-will. Think of all the time you waste bitching and moaning. I mean, did I miss something? Do bitching and moaning suddenly and magically get ‘er done?
And if you change things until the day before, we all might have saved some energy and sanity by waiting until that day to do anything, huh?
There you go. Management advice from a student of [academic] philosophy.
Also: Invest in coffee for your staff. Good coffee. If I ever worked for something who did that, I might still work there!
Ummm…. Don’t go into Architecture.
Everything you just said, is exactly what I do all day. Work on what is delegated to me, while being hounded by the high-ups. Delegate work to my consultants and subordinates, while constantly checking on them. I bet you thought Architecture was about design… pfffftttt.
Oh, and for the 4 firms I have worked for, exactly none of them have had decent coffee. I make my own… thank you hot-pot and french press.
French press at work? Damn, I have to score an electric kettle!
I love the fact that I essentially get paid to personify your pet peeve (only at work), is a mute point to the fact that I have a french press sitting next to me on my desk. I take my caffeine delivery systems very seriously.
Now I use a $3 pyrex from target and the office microwave. I wanted to take my nice kettle home.
I love delegating, when it’s done well. I hate when the delegating people micro-manage. :)