Beyond Writing Code

Category: work

  • Something’s gotta give

    Something’s gotta give

    You’ve already got a full schedule when the boss asks you to take on a special project. Or maybe an urgent issue just jumped up above everything else you were planning to do this week. Or you’ve got multiple stakeholders, and all of them insist on being your “top priority”.

    Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

    Before you start canceling evening and weekend plans so you can spend even more time than you already do at work: stop.

    You only have so many hours in the week when you will be able to work effectively. And anyway, sacrificing your personal time might be necessary in a pinch, but it should be a rare occurrence. That time is yours!

    When you start to see that you’ve got more on your plate than you can handle and still deliver the high quality of work you’d like to be known for, here are some strategies to find balance.

    Something else is de-prioritized

    If you’ve got room for five projects in your week, and your manager just approached you with a sixth, inquire about which of the other five you should set aside to focus on the new project. It may be that when your manager realizes you have five important things already planned, that sixth one doesn’t seem so urgent after all. Or maybe they agree that #1 and #2 are still your top priorities, but #3 could wait for later, and this new project should take its place in your workload for the week.

    Someone else to the rescue

    If none of your current projects can be dropped, perhaps there’s someone else who can assist with the new assignment. Or perhaps you can shift one of your items to someone else’s to do list in order to allow you to pick up the newcomer.

    Be warned however that simply adding people is often not helpful. If a colleague is assigned to help you with one of your projects, but you are going to spend more time explaining the project to your colleague than you would spend just working on it yourself, this might not be the time-saver you expect. There are great reasons for working collaboratively, but short term time savings is not always one of them.

    Scale it back a bit

    Let’s say you learn that all six of these projects must get done, and they must all get done by you. Can the scope of any of these projects be scaled back to allow you to handle all of them? Perhaps the columns on the table you’re coding don’t need a sort option, after all. Or maybe you can just handle the “happy path” case for the new screen, the error handling pieces can be taken care of next week.

    Step up now, step back later

    In some situations, you might legitimately have a time crunch that can’t be avoided. There’s a hard deadline next week, and there’s nobody else available to pitch in. If that’s the case, you might choose to negotiate putting in some extra time now in exchange for a little extra time off after the deadline has passed — if you can trust that your management will keep that promise. A few late nights this week might be rough, but next week when you’re cutting out early on a sunny day or taking a morning off to relax, it might all be worth it.

    Estimating your work is part of your job

    It isn’t easy to say “no” (or even “not this week”) to management or other stakeholders. However, accurately estimating how much time a project needs is part of your role. Your boss might not be aware that the “simple” item you are coding will take several days, or that you need several hours of preparation time for that workshop you are leading on Thursday.

    For larger tasks, you might need to break it down into sub-estimates. Then, when your supervisor says “what do you mean that will take six weeks??” you can calmly explain how you arrived at that number to help them understand everything involved with the project. And again, if they say “but I need it done in three weeks,” you have options: drop other work, get some help, scale the project back, and so on.

    Think of it as your manager relying on you, as a professional, to let them know how much time you will need to complete your work. This can help make it a little less intimidating to speak up when the boss arrives to add more to your already packed to do list. And finally, more good news: this gets easier with practice!

    Originally posted 16 May 2022 on Medium.

  • Boredom is an interesting thing

    Boredom is an interesting thing

    Okay, you’ve put off that dreaded task long enough. Finally, you get to work, but the time just drags on. You’d like to get it over with, but it’s just so… boring.

    Ho hum. Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

    Yes, it’s true that we all have work now and then that we’re just plain stuck doing. Tedious chores that, whether we like it or not, need to get done, and need to get done by us.

    Just the same, take a closer look at what you’re working on. Maybe your boredom is trying to tell you something. Here are some questions to consider.

    Is it necessary?

    Are you bored because, on some level, you recognize that this just isn’t that important? Could you — or your stakeholder — do without?

    Take a moment to review why the task is important, and if you truly can’t identify a reason, maybe you can skip it. On the other hand, if you do see a valid reason for it, focusing on the purpose of the task might help relieve your boredom!

    Is it the right way?

    Perhaps you’re having a hard time getting rolling on this item because it’s not the right approach. For example, maybe you need to gather some data and analyze it, and you’re combing through a spreadsheet trying to pull out the information you want. Could you (or a colleague) instead write a script to pull the data you want out, rather than sifting through it by hand? Or is there a better way to get the data you’re looking for? Does someone else already have this data extracted?

    Is it yours?

    Maybe you’re not the right person to be doing this task. Can you delegate this to someone else who might not mind doing this? Or have you been asked to take on something that you feel is really someone else’s responsibility, and therefore this seems like a waste of your time?

    Is now the time?

    Are there other priorities right now that should be taking precedence? Could be that your boredom is trying to tell you that, as important as this task is, it isn’t your top priority right now. If you’re handling something at someone else’s request, perhaps you ought to check with them to confirm what their timeline is. It may be that they never intended for you to drop everything and do this now!

    Check in

    Checking in with yourself, a trusted colleague, your manager, or your stakeholder when you’re finding something especially boring might guide you to the root cause of your boredom, and from there you might spot another solution. Or it might give you new perspective on the task, or ideas to help you get through it.

    Has boredom been a “red flag” for you in the past? Are there other emotions or thoughts that act as a signal that it’s time for you to re-evaluate something?

    Originally posted 10 May 2022 on medium.