Disclaimer: I know not all jobs can be done from home. This article is aimed at the ones that can be done remotely yet have ‘management layers’ claiming otherwise. A little over two years ago the world changed almost overnight. Trains were empty, roads reminiscent of scenes from Mad Max…

On-call is, sadly, part and parcel of some roles in IT. Historically it has been mainly the Network Operations Centre (NOC) and Operations teams that participated in an out-of-hours rotation, with Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) taking up the mantle in recent times. But On-call, when done properly, does not have…

Recently I was catching up with a friend who had changed jobs a few months prior. They were telling me that they were enjoying the work, the company and the people but were having some issues with how their manager communicated. I listened to them describe a few scenarios, seeing…

Here’s the dirty, dirty, secret that the corporate world doesn’t like people knowing: probation periods work both ways. I’m long enough in the tooth to have come to this realisation myself, but am often surprised when I mention it to my peers and find that they think it is a…

Disclaimer: I have read a number of comments on this topic that all say the same thing so let’s get it out of the way now — No, not all jobs can be done remotely. However for those that can be done remotely, this article is for you. I’ve been…

Early on in my working life I learned a valuable lesson that has stuck with me ever since: You should chastise people in private, but apologize in public. Sadly, like all lessons of this nature, I had to learn it from first hand experience. Not just being a casual observer…

Not many people know this but the word ‘manager’ comes from the Latin verb meaning ‘to monitor your people’. That opening line is, of course, complete crap. But it does hint at an important and often overlooked part of what an SRE or Operations manager’s job entails. Businesses will instill…

In a previous post, I mentioned how it is important for managers to be able to listen to their employees during review time. I highlighted that a manager should be comfortable sitting in silence for a bit, while their employee speaks or prepares to speak. It is a skill that…

A crunch schedule is something that is sometimes unavoidable, but as managers we have to try and not allow Crunch Culture become The Culture of a company. …