Settling down on the new role

I blogged about a new role I had taken up to set up a software development team for a US client in Sri Lanka. This is a post to review the first month of my operation with the new team in place. For a few months it was just me ding all the work and I was mainly playing a coordinating role. I had the hardware setup in an office, but since the development was happening at yet another remote location, I was playing a more of a hands off role when it came to maintaining source codes, databases, backups, etc.

But when my team was coming on board that required me to setup the infrastructure to support a proper software development team environment. I managed to set that up with the arrival of the team members. Now the office has a proper software development environment that supports team software development. This infrastructure is currently being used by the on site and off site teams. My biggest worry was mainly in setting up this infrastructure. As I am not very good with setting up network infrastructures, I had to adopt a few trial and error methods to get the setup up and running.

Now that the infrastructure is in place, my next target is to get the team up to speed. My performance will greatly depend on the performance of the team. A leaders effectiveness is seen in his followers. A managers effectiveness is seen in his subordinates. In my case the effectiveness and the future of the whole off shore operation is in the hands of the team that I have recruited.

I think these guys have settled down in their role pretty well. They are very receptive to new ideas and the fact that they are relatively fresh, without much experience means that they can be moulded in the manner they want.

I too have seemed to settled down in my new role after these few months. I am no longer 'new' to the work that needs to be done and feel pretty comfortable with the work. My contribution is also a lot more productive. I still seem to run a lot of things by my CEO, but I think even that is gradually decreasing. I feel more and more comfortable to make decisions independently. I am also starting to think more entrepreneurial and make decision as if it is my company. This is a direct feed to my entrepreneurial streak that I have. And it is a good training for a future entrepreneur.