I am intrigued by the FIRE movement where people work to get expenses as low as possible to retire early. I don’t adhere to the practices but some concepts can be borrowed from the movement. When considering changes related to our careers we tend to rely on vague criteria to determine if we should take…
Frustrating Work
The hard part of the job is the job. You were not hired for it to be easy.
Delayed Improvements
When does a delay in an improvement (like a software upgrade) at a company hurt the company?
Crafting the Perfect Email
If you are working to craft the perfect email or text to make sure you cover all of the bases and ensure there is no misunderstanding then you need to make it a phone call or a meeting.
Two Types of Quality Work
There are two types of quality work. The first type is meeting expectations (like no errors). This type is when the outcome is clearly understood. The second type is the type that means going above expectations and always trying to do better. This is applied to pushing your limits in tasks with unclear endpoints. An…
What I Have Learned in Quality
Your Manager Is Not Always Right
Your manager is not always right (that includes me as a manager too). They have good intentions and think they know what is best based on their experience and knowledge but a lot of it is based on their opinion.
Emailing like a Child
When a child wants something they blurt it out. It does not matter what is going on. You could be in the middle of a conversation or asleep. They don’t consider the situation or if what they have to say is important. They are impulsive and lack discipline in their communication. Many of us are…
Artist Version of Activation Evergy
Those of us in the technical world are not the only ones who struggle with activation energy in projects. Artists do too. Steven Pressfield wrote a book called The War of Art. In it, he calls it The Resistance, almost like an anti-muse. Artists are trying to make a career of the big projects but…
Overcoming the Activation Energy
There are methods to deal with the activation energy of big projects. You can lower the activation energy by listening to good music while working, putting yourself in a good environment, and cleaning your calendar of obligations. You can conserve energy to apply to the project by doing this work first or when your energy…
Activation Energy of Work
Tasks have an activation energy. The amount of energy that must be expended to start the task. Checking email has a low activation energy and developing a project plan has a higher activation energy.
Why Are Projects Hard?
Sometimes projects are hard because they are big. Sometimes projects are hard because checking email and completing your to-do list is easier.
You Need a Department Handbook: Make Your Job Easier
An independent business operates differently than you do as an employee or as your department does in a larger organization. Though there are some aspects of an independent business we should copy. One of those aspects is a department handbook. A department handbook can capture the standards you want to set for your team and…
Reduce Employee Stress and Get More Done: The Case for Replacing Email With a Ticketing System
What would happen if your IT department removed the ticketing system they use to manage requests and let the individual IT employees determine their priorities? This would be based on a mix of the authority of the requestor, the stated urgency, the preference to do the task, the time it came to their attention, the…
Mastering Responsiveness: The Art of Building Trust and Maximizing Impact
When we are new to a role and trying to build our team members’ trust, we need to be responsive. We need to prove that we can manage everything given to us. Though over time we need to reduce the responsiveness to allow us to complete impactful work. Your manager and team members don’t expect…
Redefining Work: The Value of Thinking in Problem Solving and Innovation
“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country You want to be known for solving hard problems not only executing tasks. Much of this work will occur solely in your head and no tangible artifact will be…
What Does My Manager Do All Day? A Candid Look into the World of Managerial Responsibilities
Whenever someone asks me what I am doing I always want to say “I’m doing manager sh#t” Periodically individuals ask me what I do as a manager because they are trying to determine if they want to become a manager (or wondering why I am in meetings all of the time). I always struggle with…
Three Primary Skills Employees Need to Develop
I have been a first-level manager for a few years now and I have identified a handful of skills that employees need to develop. The interesting thing is that employees are aware of their shortcomings in these skills but leadership has never made it a priority to develop these skills. Communicating project status. It…
Exploring the Concept of Pseudo PhDs and Building Expertise in the Work World
One of the reasons we work is for personal development. I like to ask the question “How many years of experience does it take to equal the output in a company of an engineer” due to my frustration that some individuals without engineering degrees produce the same or more as engineers. Outside of my frustration,…
Knowledge-Work Processes Should Flow Like Water
The first step in improving a knowledge-work manufacturing process is defining the workflow. I have always understood that the steps and order of a process had to be defined, but I did not fully grasp the concept of flow (I have never been the smartest tool in the shed). Recently I read an article that…