management

One of the biggest problems I’ve encountered working in small businesses and start-ups are the devastating effect blind spots have.

You might be thinking, “Hey, isn’t that important to every person, every business, and every conscious living thing?” Yes, it’s important across the board. I’m talking about the realm where blind spots can crush everything around them. One end of the spectrum feels the impact far more than the rest: smaller groups and individuals.

Why is this?

One word: resources.

The larger the group, the more resources the group has. While not all groups are equal, having many more people means there is a higher chance someone in the group can handle a certain task at any given time. If any task can be handled by finding the right person to do it, blind spots are less of an issue.Read more

For me, the most difficult aspect of managing a team is deciding when I need to let them do their thing and when I need to focus their efforts.

In college one of my professors loaned me a book on applying theories in quantum physics to management. What stuck with me was the section on chaos. The author described how an entire organization will structure itself if no one is given any guidelines other than “get the job done.” Since there is no structure employees find what they feel is the best way to communicate with one another and get things done. Some things seem obvious looking back, like having engineers, manufacturing, and design people all work close together instead of sending their changes back and forth to be rejected or approved by everyone else.Read more