Give credit where credit is due

Typical amateurish management attitude: It's his job, after all. Why does he also need a pat in the back? He gets a salary!


Giving people credit and compliments makes them feel good. People who feel good work better. So the more opportunities you find for complimenting your team, the more you gain.


That's besides the moral aspect; true they are being paid, but if they achieved something they deserve the credit.


Credits can be given in many ways:

• The "about" section can list all the team players; keep it alphabetic to avoid upsetting people.
• Patent applications can list all those involved, even if their idea didn't make the final cut.
• Progress reports can highlight those people who made a difference; rotate the names regularly to have everybody included.
• At company meetings make sure to mention a few people by name.

But beware of adding a prize to the credit:

• If it's not substantial, then it may have the opposite affect:
• After all those extra late nights all I got was a meal for 2?
• It can create internal competition - something we'll discuss in a future post. 
• It can put a monetary value on effort and people will start comparing their effort to their prizes and invariably you will get some unhappy campers.
• When finances get tight the first thing to go will be the prizes; and that's the time you need the most goodwill from your team.

Even sending out a company-wide "Happy Birthday" note to the daily celebrants is a way to make them feel special. If this comes with a birthday gift, then make sure that everybody (in a 6 - 9 months period, if not a full year), get the identical gift.

Another way of giving credit, saying thank you and making every feel appreciated is to occasionally give out freebies. Company T-shirts, pens and other give-aways can do the trick. If you order them for clients or fairs then order enough to also give one to each employee.

Celebrating major milestones or releases is another way to say Thank You to the teams involved. Ordering a cake or having some fun time with some games / quizzes or similar will cost the company 2 - 3 hours and will create the goodwill you need to start the next project with new energy.

Giving credit for non-job related tasks is also effective. Be it for somebody who keeps the coffee area clean or who starts an internal book club or even for somebody who did something outstanding in their private life.

Even though it's not work related, the person deserves a round of applause, and it will make them and their friends feel better - and they will all have a more productive day.

On the other hand, don't overdo it. Sending out a company-wide Bravo email when somebody does a 2 hour fix, is silly and shows that you don't understand the effort that goes into the bigger tasks. If you feel that a particular minor job was well done, then email that person - and her boss - but not the entire company.

Give credit where credit is due, and your team will respond by giving you lots of opportunities to give them credit. It's a win-win deal.

- Danny Schoemann

Overtime and All Nighters

Mid-1990s: The Gold Master Disk had to be in Ireland by the following afternoon, if we were to ship on time.


This required us to work all night; I got home in time to see the sunrise, and was expected back at work after lunch.


I was there because each new build required a new setup - and I was Mr. Setups - in those pre-internet days when CDs were a novelty and all programs were installed.

We made it! The Gold Master Disk was shipped, thousands of copies were made, put in boxes with a huge manual, and shipped back to us.

By the time they had arrived, we had discovered some serious bugs and the entire shipment was declared unfit for use. When the company closed down a few years later, we finally threw the entire batch into the dumpster.

That was my first introduction to all-nighters, and the more I lived through them and watched the results of all-nighters and overtime in general, the more I am against them.


After 10 - 12 hours of work, most - if not all - people start being too tired to think straight.


If you cannot think straight then you are a menace on the road and a useless engineer, tester or writer. You - and the project - are better off if you would go get some sleep and restart early in the morning with a clear head.


There will occasionally be that rare emergency that really warrants serious overtime.


When Answers.com - then still gurunet.com - was almost ready to launch, Walt Mossberg informed them - on very short notice - that he was going to write about it them the Wall Street Journal on a specific day. The team did an all nighter to be ready for their premature launch.


But as a general rule, chances are that you are wasting time working too hard. Some advance planning and professional Project Management would be a better idea.


Work smarter, not harder and longer.

- Danny Schoemann