LightVader (10/23/2013)
jarick 15608 (10/23/2013)
GeorgeCopeland (10/23/2013)
Ian Massi (10/23/2013)
I've heard that in some places it's mandatory to take at least a week at a time at least once a year in order to make sure that you haven't become mission critical.That sounds like a brilliant policy. I take it a step further. Every job that I have had, I have tried to eliminate it - improve processes and documentation so that my job becomes unnecessary. Everytime I am successful at this, they just give me more to do.
I always try to automate to the point that I even try to train my replacement. There are so many "empire builders" who keep their little secrets close to their vests. I've worked with a lot of those and they end up in the same job for like 20 years!! I want to grow and take on other projects, not maintain the same systems util I am retired along with that system. :w00t:
That's a really good point. Where I work now, we ended up with empires because the IT group is relatively small. We're working towards expanding who has knowledge of which systems and making sure that everyone has a backup so they can actually take some time off.
Big thumbs up to this. I also try as much as I can to automate and develop process so I can off load things. Because the complexity and importance of the projects have always grown, even when I am loathe to give up something interesting in the end it has always been for the best. What I was trying to solve 5 years ago, for instance, would bore me to tears if I had to do it now.
On the topic of vacations, I firmly believe we undervalue them in this country (U.S.). I try to set an example by taking all that I have accrued, and NEVER saying no to a request from one of my team. This means that there has to be enough overlap in our skills that this is possible, and ensuring this is possible I view as one of my principal responsibilities to the company as a manager. As was mentioned in an earlier post, if a person can't take a one week vacation it means they have become 'mission critical', which in my view is a management failure (read -- my failure). My standard is actually a two week vacation, not one.