Help, I’m a Research Computing Manager! - Jonathan Dursi, SORSE event

This resource first appeared in issue #45 on 09 Oct 2020 and has tags Becoming A Manager: Other, Becoming A Manager: One-on-ones, Becoming A Manager: Feedback, Becoming A Manager: Delegation

At the really nicely run SORSE event last week, I gave my 10 minute pitch that research computing actually prepares you pretty well for the advanced skills managing needs, we just need to shore up the basics. The basics I covered won’t be of a surprise to any readers - one-on-ones, feedback, delegation.

The talk and the resources I recommended are on the page; also, I updated my one-on-ones quickstart guide (PDF, epub) that had been written at the start of the pandemic to start them fast fast fast to instead start them up at a more normal pace.

The talk started with a poll - what are the problems the (mostly new or not-yet started) managers see in research software projects? Not surprisingly, they were almost overwhelmingly people or institutional issues:

Fraction of respondents	Problem
60%	Staffing
50%	Funding
47.5%	Shifting needs/unclear requirements
42.5%	Poor communications with stakeholders
30.0%	Getting poeple in agreement on howto move forward
25.0%	Poor support from other departments/institutions
17.5%	Technology choices