I've played Dungeons and Dragons off and on since 1979. This should come as no surprise to you if you've read my blog before - I'm a big geek. I've found that overall I wind up being the Dungeon Master a heck of a lot more than a player. There are a variety of reasons for this, one of which is that not many people want to DM, another being that a lot really aren't very good at it, and the last is that I really enjoy doing it. I like how focusing my attention on multiple events at once really keeps me on my toes.
In the last couple weeks we've been working on some web development for a new client. It's fun stuff, and a lot of it is stuff that we're learning as we go. Well...I started out as Lead Developer on this, and suddenly got made Project Manager on it. Two hats. That's ok. I'm bucking to move into management anyway, and this a good chance for me to prove I'm capable of it. Last week I worked very closely with the two primary other people to get the first milestone delivered to the client on time. The next step required the skills of multiple people not normally involved with the project...so I annexed them yesterday and today. Yesterday at one point I had everyone in the office who wasn't management, sales, or support staff all doing my bidding at once...and I knew what they were all doing at the same time. Perhaps it was a bit of micromanagement, which I want to avoid (I want to just hand tasks to people and trust they they will get done), but this is a pretty time sensitive thing - it's due Monday. We were doing several things that nobody in the office except the owner had done before, so I was trying to get it all done. There was a false start or two thanks to a misunderstanding on my part, but everything got rectified and we are very nearly good to go. I'll be in tomorrow to resolve issues with Tomcat - I hate Tomcat, thanks to last weekend - but I'm confident they will be pleased when they see it in place.
The last couple days in the office have been a lot of fun, and I figured out why. It's the same reason I like being a DM. It's juggling fire.
5 comments:
Interesting. I've found personally that I like the sense of progress that can be found in a leader/manager role. That tends to be the hook for my ego.
Oh and also being Mr.Freaking Center of the Universe, but that goes with the territory =)
bah, snakes & ladders is where it's at.
Liberal For Life
Aaron u r missed on jos ?off!
i think i can take resposibility for bringing you back to JoS! :-) i started that thread too btw.
*snicker* So you're the reason I decided to cut back from working 70 hours a week?
:)
But it's nice knowing I was missed, too.
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