“I want this horrible, sick feeling because it means I care about what I’m doing. It means I understand that I can really screw this up, and I really don’t want to. It means I care enough to make sure I have every detail right… This gut-wrenching sick feeling that I have right now, means I am growing in some new way and doing something new and potentially amazing … and potentially terrifying and horrible, too.”
Category: Knowledge Work
Thoughts on how to succeed (or at least stay sane) as a knowledge worker, or a manager of knowledge workers.
The Reward For Good Work
For me, my work and my reputation are tied together. I’m not known for social graces, being easy to work with, or having the best bed-side manner when helping others. But I am known for quality work, for pushing others to do better, and for clearing a path on which others can travel. Sometimes my technical ability makes up for my lack of empathy.
My experience exactly. I would add that as my reputation grows, I find that I get more interesting work.
What I Want From Tech Support
I’ve been working with a software vendor on the same support case for 15 days now, and it’s driving me crazy. It would be unprofessional to rag on the vendor here, but I will share a few thoughts on what I want from tech support that I consistently don’t get.
Better Questions
Organizational culture emerges from the process of answering questions. The answers aren’t necessarily articulated explicitly, but they’re expressed in the decisions people make, the way people treat each other, and in so many other ways. Organizational leaders may be unconsciously undermining the very culture they’re trying to create, but they can’t change it until they… Continue reading Better Questions
The Problem With GTD
I’m a fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, but it suffers from one major shortcoming, at least for me: it offers some great methods for managing inputs and outcomes, but it is little help for managing knowledge in a usable electronic form, largely due to its reliance on paper as a least-common-denominator representation of… Continue reading The Problem With GTD
Knowledge Work: Marshaling Inputs
I’m beginning a personal project to help me manage the barrage of different inputs I juggle every day. I know I’m not alone in this, so I’ll be sharing my thoughts here as I work through this project. I don’t know what form the end-result will take—could be software, could be a change of my… Continue reading Knowledge Work: Marshaling Inputs
Book Recommendation: Getting Things Done
Stressed at work? I highly recommend Getting Things Done by David Allen. The main thing I learned from GTD was how to manage my email—keeping my inbox empty and using a single folder for archived messages. It’s been several months, and I need to read it again, but even the few tips I remember from… Continue reading Book Recommendation: Getting Things Done
On Failing Successfully
Inspired by an episode of the “Ockham’s Razor” podcast: “I want to argue that failure doesn’t get the credit it deserves. If you want to understand success, you must appreciate the ubiquity of failure, and if you’re not regularly failing, you’re not trying hard enough.” -Mark Dodgson http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2008/2252771.htm “As our business grows, it becomes increasingly… Continue reading On Failing Successfully
Powerful Ideas 