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I have a couple of questions that have been building up.

1) When the long-awaited Manager Tools book gets published, will it include the information that we've been getting in the podcasts.
Here's the background to the question. I listen to the casts in the car, and I've caught up to May, 2006 so far. But there are lots of topics where I feel I'm going to have to go back and listen again and take notes because you covered the 10 steps and I want to keep hold of them to refer back to, and there's nothing on the website. Lately (for me), there's been: preparing and giving reviews, the agenda for skip meetings, and retention. But I'm thinking if those steps are going to be in the book, then I'll wait and use it instead of going back through the podcasts again.

2) I think it'd be really valuable to have kind of a skeleton "effective manager's calendar." There are lots of regular items that you recommend to have on our calendar (weekly 1-on-1s, quarterly review of resume, quarterly retention review, bi-monthly skips, ... seems like there have been others that I'm forgetting. Having all of these accumulated in one place seems valuable. I've started a list, but I'm afraid I've forgotten some -- and there are probably good ones that either you haven't covered yet or I haven't gotten to in my listening.

Chuck

Mark's picture
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Chuck-

Thanks for your question. I'm not sure this answer will be completely satisfying, but I'll do my best.

My book is called The Effective Manager, and it addresses many of the topics that are here at Manager Tools. Mike and I are sharing my years of management coaching wisdom, and it's not like there is a completely different set of stuff that are only book-worthy.

The book is intended to be a complement to Manager Tools, but also is intended to reach many who may NEVER come to our site or become members. (People learn all different ways).

Please do not wait for the book. Publishing is an unusual business. I make no representations regarding when it will come out, so you can't rely on planning around it.

Your other question touches on some work Mike and I are doing around management software. There are MANY issues here, but we intend to provide something similar to what you're asking about, and more functionality as well. We're working on it.

All of this is "in the future." We are going flat out, but are careful to not let our plates get too full that they break. I am on the road for 23 consecutive days right now - all for Manager Tools.

Thanks for the input... we're getting there, slowly.

Mark

PierG's picture

Mark I'm sorry, we all are waiting for a special edition of your book with your autograph! ;)
PierG

chuckbo's picture

Thanks for the update. That's about what I'd expected. (I'll just have to drive with a pen and pad in the car so I can take notes when I'm listening to the cast. :lol: ) Your casts have been a tremendous find for me as I'm moving from being a project lead to being a true manager. It's also been very enlightening to be able to look back at managers I've considered good or not so good through the perspective of your recommendations.

That's intriguing news about additional tools you guys might be putting together and another thing to look forward to. I sure hope you all have considered your listeners who prefer Macs and make everything available cross-platform.

chuck

*** Update on Oct 18 ***
I just listened to your Anniversary Cast (I'm getting caught up slowly) and heard about your plans to have supplemental materials for subscribers. I think that's a terrific idea, since that's what I had in mind here. I just hadn't gotten far enough along to discover that you had similar plans. Congratulations on the first year, and I'm looking forward to the next ten.
chuck