Juggle This

I'm in a management role where I work, and though it's certainly not as difficult, technically, as what I was dealing with as a developer or architect, it's more difficult in other ways.

Certainly, the people-aspect of it is the most challenging, but also the most rewarding. What I didn't expect, and this may have less to do with management and more to do with my specific responsibilities, is the amount of pure "juggling." There are so many things to keep track of.

Development requires a certain amount of deep concentration and focus. Developers that are hounded all day about anything rarely have time to actually get work done. In my current position, it's been more about tackling a lot of different things (i.e. follow-up with this person on this issue; check to make sure that this task was done; review this or that work; go chat with person X because they look like they're having a bad day; etc.), with little time to focus on a particular task.

It's about juggling.

When you learn to juggle (and, as an interesting sidebar, learning to juggle can be a fascinating experience, if you think about what is necessary to learn), you have to learn to not only coordinate throwing and catching...you have to, internally, accept the possibility of dropping something. At least, initially, you accept this. Ultimately, you gain the confidence necessary to actually be successful by finding out that you can actually do it.

Here's the drill: take two juggling bags and throw one up and over to your other hand (which has a bag). At it's peak, throw the bag from the other hand, but don't concern yourself about catching the first throw. More than likely, you won't, but that's okay because it's more important to throw the second bag correctly. This drill is the most important in learning how to juggle (it's not the only one, though).

I'm finding that I'm going through a similar learning process with my movement into management. Some days I rarely sit at my desk; others, I rarely get away from it. In either case, it's tracking down and dealing with many small tasks that, ultimately, keep the overall show entertaining.