As a manager I always try and follow a certain way for managing my team. And the keyword for me is maintaining the correct balance between various aspects of regular work. Like, giving time to innovate AND delivering on tight deadlines; taking time-offs AND putting in extra hours; etc.

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The author of Burned Out and Handling Burn Out blog, points on 5 ways to keeping your team from burning out:

1. Keep communications open from top to bottom.
2. Keep the political crap off of your employees.
3. Keep the job varied.
4. Keep the employee learning.
5. Reward the employee.

Unlike my previous blog earlier: Guidance on Avoiding Redundancy, the author accepts the need to take good care of your team regardless of the economic situation.

In fact I’d say one must take extra care during these tough times. If you don’t and once the economy starts improving those will be the first ones to change jobs who were not treated well by their employers. :~(

I am currently working on a relatively long project and after 6 weeks into it I had found my sweet spot for the project.

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Sweet Spot? What exactly is ‘Sweet Spot‘?

Steven DeMaio in his blog – How to Find Your Project’s Sweet Spot helps us to identify when is the right time during long projects to do bulk of the work.

As per him there are two common approaches:

The 11th-Hour Approach. When you wait too long to do the bulk of the work on a project

OR

The 1st-Hour Approach. You’re also vulnerable to underachievement if you dive into a project before it has had a chance to stew in your brain

The approach he recommends is: The Optimal Approach. In which he recommends: “After you officially take on a project, give yourself a brief window during which you’re actively thinking about it but haven’t yet begun the work in earnest — that all-important “stew” time. Just as your ideas begin to bubble up and give off their heady aroma, that’s your creative sweet spot. It’s precisely when you should initiate your highest-intensity activity.”

Yeah right, agreed. Personally, yes I liked the idea and it will work fine for someone for his personal tasks and duties.

But I am not sure how much of it is applicable to IT projects and specially those projects with a huge team. As most of the work is inter-dependant and it is difficult to get everyone to give more than 100% at the same time.

Nevertheless I think it is worthy enough for me to share it with my Project Manager and other relevant managers on the project.