Experiences in Management: Week 3
Posted by junger | April 2nd, 2008
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Believe it or not, I'm a manager now. At the ripe old age of 24, I have an assistant Web editor for CE Pro — meaning that things are changing for me and for the site.
So far, things are going well. Steve — the assistant editor — is catching on quick and picking up a lot of the stuff that was slipping through the cracks previously. The site has grown a lot in the past year and we've needed more hands, so he's a welcome addition.
Because of this, my role has changed as well — in addition to doing the things that I need to do, I need to make sure Steve has things to do. There's no shortage of work to be done, but I'm not just looking out for myself anymore; I'm looking out for him, too.
Add into the fact that I'm managing virtually — literally. He's in Boston, I'm in DC. So while I was there for his first few days, the rest of our relationship has been over IM. It's not bad; it's just different. When you're doing things over IM, words matter much more. There are no body signs or emotions you can pick up on — it's only what the words say and mean.
So as he picks up some of the things keeping me from new ventures on the site, I'm working on developing an expanded community and growing our lead-gen content.
Change is good; I'm honestly not sure where I would be if change wasn't always happening. Doing the same thing over and over again is mundane. When people my age are changing jobs every 18 months, I've been with the same company for 3 years (but am now in my third position).
I'm excited for the future.
