TITLE: Becoming a Manager Changed My Perspective
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 23, 2017  2:50 PM
DESC: 
-----
BODY:
My perspective on the way the university works changed after I became
department head.  This paragraph describes rather well one of the
changes:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 The other major challenge is coming to terms with
 all of the constraints within which decisions are
 made.  From the outside, it's often easy to
 criticize actual decisions when contrasted when
 imagined ideal outcomes.  But when you know why
 those ideals have to be imaginary, and you have
 to maneuver within much narrower confines than
 you might have imagined, you start to understand
 the "why" behind some patterns.  That can be
 frustrating, but if you treat it as a series of
 puzzles, it can be fun.  Any idiot can get good
 results with infinite resources and discretion,
 but how can you improve results with flat funding,
 contradictory policies, and prickly personalities?
 That's where the challenge comes in.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, the university could do everything in its power to meet the
needs and desires of Computer Science.  It turns out, though, that
other departments have needs and desires, too.  Sometimes, those
needs are more critical at this moment than our are.

You would think that CS faculty, who identify and measure trade-offs
as a part of their academic discipline, would grok the notion of
trade-offs inside the institution more easily.  It took me a while
to really get.  Now, a big part of my job is helping other faculty
to see it, too, all the while advocating effectively for my
department.

The paragraph quoted above is by Matt Reed, from
<A HREF="http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/2017/05/how-to.html">
   How to...</A>.
This sentence from the same piece expresses one of the biggest
challenges to my peace of mind and daily sense of accomplishment
after becoming department head:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 The victories in administrative roles tend to be
 vicarious, rather than personal or direct.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

The way I help faculty and students most as department head is by
helping to reduce or eliminate friction that slows them down and
wastes their energy.  My biggest wins are usually when our faculty
and students accomplish something big.

The other most salient challenge to my professional peace of mind:
lack of closure.  Almost nothing is ever finished, no battle ever
won; it all starts again tomorrow.
-----