Learning Management
For the last two years, I learning management seriously. Reading a lot of management books, reading hundreds of articles on the internet or hearing advice from seniors. I need enough source of information about management before I begin to manage.
That information mostly applied to my startup. Some of the management methods were working well, some were not. I use the information to manage the team, manage the product and marketing.
Even though some of the management theory that I practice did not work well, but I have some understanding and reflection about management.
In this article, I want to share my experience practising management based on theory that I read and from my personal reflections:
Management is the product of Sains
Good management based on scientific thinking. How you manage your business, even how you manage yourself, must be based on science. For me, scientific thinking in this context means simple, thinking rational and measurable.
Yes, this is the part of positivism. Where everything should be measure, no matter it is qualitative or quantitative. The jargon is simple, the things you can measure, you can’t control. If you can’t control, you can’t manage. If you can’t manage, things getting chaos.
That’s why measurement is the fundament of management. And the goal of management is to avoid the chaos.
Furthermore, management must be rational thought not emotional. Thinking rational means you maximize the ability of your reason in producing the plan. Your plan must be based on the reality that you have. So, a rational plan relates to a realistic plan.
If you only have 100 dollars in your account, make a plan that corresponding with your budget. Because having 100 dollars is a fact. So, don’t make the plan with strategy as if you have 1 billion dollars in your account. This is too emotional, not rational.
Good management is trackable
When I was in student organization we created some events in a year. Each event has its own management. From these events, I learned how to manage and make its working. However, the problem is we never try to track seriously about what we do and the result.
We just simply create some goals and some activities. Then, never seriously tracking our activities is align efficiently with the goals or not. Then, after I running my startup I always try to make the activities and the strategy are aligned with the goals. The tracking helps me more to achieve the goals faster and eliminate waste.
Besides tracking the alignment, I also measure the results. If you set a goal for getting 100 costumers for example in the month, then you should measure the result. How many costumers do you achieve? If you achieve the goals what factor that make it happen. Conversely, if not achieve the result what factor makes the shit happen.
Management is a map for the goals.
When leadership plays like a compass, to show the direction of the journey. Meanwhile, management plays like a map. it should help your journey achieve the goals step by step. Good maps will show you the details around that help your vision.
A good map will avoid you from the stray. Similar to management, it will help you stay on track with efficient time and effective activities. Like the maps that have detail direction about around, in management, you should make the plan details.
If you have a plan for three months, you should have a detailed plan for a week. With a detailed plan, it will avoid you from distraction and unnecessary activities. Then, at the end of the week, you can track or measure your result and know how far your journey.
