I was just reading an article
about the Dean campaign's IT infrastructure, and there's an
interesting quote from their IT manager, Harish Rao:
"I believe in three principles", he said. "First I always make sure I hire
people I can trust 100%. Second, I always try to hire people who are smarter
than I am. Third, I give them the independence to do as they see fit as long
as they communicate about it to their other team members. We've had a lot of
growing pains, a lot of issues; but we've been able to deal with them
because we have a high level of trust, skill and communication."
I know for myself that when I (1) don't feel trusted, and/or (2) am not
given independence to do what I see as necessary to do my job, I don't
communicate with my superiors about my actions, and I also get lazy about my
job because I don't feel my work is valued.
Fortunately, I feel that in my current work situation, my employers followed
the same principles as Rao, and I've felt more productive and appreciated
than I've felt in any previous job.
