On Stanier (2020), 2nd chapter:
A manager's tools of trade
The manager's tools of trade are the calendar, the todo list, the email and a place to register new information.
- Keep your calendar tidy and dedicated to things coupled with time periods (so no reminders or todo items)
- Register all there is to do in your todo list religiously. Make a habit out of it and include this in your routine.
- Your email inbox should be your primary means of communication. Also keep it tidy by archiving things that have been handled. If there is a follow up on those, add them to your todo list
- Carry with you something to take notes whenever possible and use it
Meaning of productivity to a manager
A manager should spend time in activities that should be classifiable as:
- Information gathering
- Decision making
- Nudging (meaning participating in things that lead to decision making from others)
- Being a role model
As a personal note, I'd like to add that it is also important to ensure that your team is productive (would that be considered nudging? Not sure...)
A manager's outcome expands on the idea by focusing on the outcome aspect.
2026-10: nudging is just good old stakeholder management and also making sure your agenda is well-cared for
A manager's outcome
A manager's outcome can be summarized as:
team output + outcomes from influenced decisions
It is important to mention that, at least from my perspective, team outcome includes a manager's work that is not strictly related to Meaning of productivity to a manager. I.e., working on technical concepts or some piece of code that makes sense for the manager to write.
At this point I'm unsure about how non-people related work fits in this productivity framework...
More on influencing decision: Ways to expand your influence as a manager
2026-10: Going from experience, my take is that it depends. All the manager work ties into your team or your influence. Some engineering work of the critical path can accelerate your team. Working on new tools or exploring LLMs can open new possibilities. Reviewing people's proposals and documents will lead to better outcomes.