Tag Archives: Gemini

What exactly should managers manage?

Posted on 4 November 17 by Scot

At Facebook, moving into management is not a promotion. It’s a lateral move, a parallel track. Managers are there to support people and to remove barriers to getting things done. Managers focus on building a great team, creating a vision … Continue reading →

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Is being “busy” a good thing?

Posted on 31 July 12 by Scot

Ask people from Gemini how they’re doing and the response you’ll most often hear is “Busy”.  This response begs the question: Are we really busier than other observatories, or do we just like to think we are?  I suspect it’s … Continue reading →

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Resource Management: Focus on the workers, not the managers.

Posted on 22 May 12 by Scot

Inspired by the Norm Smith talk I recently heard (see previous post), I purchased his book Got Progress? and highly recommend it. I now have words to describe some of the unease I’ve been feeling about my workplace’s current project … Continue reading →

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Musings on the future of Astronomy

Posted on 31 October 11 by Scot

The future of astronomy seems clear to me right now. It goes through ESO. That’s not particularly bad, especially if you’re an ESO member, but if you’re not, things may be a little less good. With the addition of Brazil, … Continue reading →

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Balancing Two Boards

Posted on 19 May 11 by Scot

Gemini has two Boards – the Gemini Board from the international partnership agreement and the AURA Board. It’s actually a bit (well, OK a lot) more complicated than this. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is Gemini’s Executive Agency. They collect … Continue reading →

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Is Work Supposed to be Fun?

Posted on 31 January 11 by Scot

Well, it’s almost the end of January and I do want to get something posted before the month’s out.  Let’s see if I make it in some time zone, at least. Our work recently had an employee satisfaction survey taken, … Continue reading →

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To fix a problem, first look in the mirror, define it, and own it

Posted on 21 September 10 by Scot

There is an interesting discussion starting from a post I made on an internal work blog.  So, I thought I’d repost a slightly edited version of it here. I attended a rather disheartening informal lunchtime meeting recently at work. One … Continue reading →

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Who advocates for the Observatory?

Posted on 10 July 10 by Scot

I’ve been reading a book on corporate boards, so expect a few posts on astronomy governance coming up, starting with this one. I really knew nothing about how boards out in the “real world” operate, so reading this book has … Continue reading →

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