ia play

I’m knackered. What with work, freelance stuff, studying, and then trips to hospital with PW, it’s all been a bit too much.

I’ve noticed that being tired has made me more abrupt and more likely to put voice to my frustrations. It isn’t very me and makes me uncomfortable, but it is more honest and there’s some satisfaction in saying how annoyed you are, rather than going home and kicking something (hopefully not the chickens).

Sorry if you’ve been on the receiving end but the chickens are grateful.

I’ve noticed that I don’t get stressed as easily working at home.

I’m getting non-work stuff done. My screen breaks involve stuff that would otherwise be done in evening and weekend. And if there’s a parcel to be delivered I’m in and that saves a Saturday morning trip to the main post office. That’s generally calming, I guess.

I cook for myself which is a happy activity. I eat well. Substantial breakfasts, fruit, decent lunch with fresh veg from the garden (canteen does tasty chips and overcooked veg ). No chocolate supplies because there’s no generous colleagues or holiday gifts. Still too much coffee but at least not as jitter inducing at the lattes from Mangiare.

Less exercise though as there are no walks to station and back. Occassional lunchtime plant potting doesn’t really count.

But a big part of it is setting goals and achieving them. The potential for getting distracted by new tasks and waylaid by events is much less at home. There’s also a curious pseudo-obligation to keep track off your achievements when you work at home to prove to yourself that you really are working.

I also communicate with a different set of people. At work I talk alot to the people I sit near. At home I email and call people and their location doesn’t come into it. I’m not a huge fan of phone calls (worst of both worlds compared to face-to-face or email) but lots of my meetings have no real need to be conducted face-to-face, particularly those with people I have know well already.

Corporations are increasingly using online games to recruit and train new employees, and just to better keep people in touch.If you’re thinking that maybe you should hide the video game controller from your kids because they’re spending too much time in front of the TV or computer, don’t. What you think is slacking may just be preparing them to become productive members of the workforce when they get older. Their future offices are likely to be heavily digital—especially if they work remotely—and their work may resemble the online games that many now spend hours playing.

The Name of the Game is Work

A quick experiment with a pedometer shows I walk a surprising amount for a desk bound office worker. 14,000 steps in an average day, it appears.

Now walking to station and back covers 4000 steps. The other 10000 steps are the rest of my commute, grabbing lunch and tearing about the office from meeting to meeting.

Not so desk bound, it appears.

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer, executive coach Maureen Moriarty, argues that a caring boss is key to helping workers and the business remain successful

“people most often leave workplaces due to poor bosses (not the organization). How employees feel about their jobs and organizations has everything to do with how their manager treats them”

I’ve been reading Cities in Flight by James Blish. This description of the impact of automation struck a note with me:

“like everything else in the world requiring an IQ of less than 150, it was computer-controlled. The world-wide dominance of the such machines… had been one of the chief contributors to the present and apparently permanent depression: the coming of semi-intelligent machines into business and technology had created a second Industrial Revolution, in which only the most highly creative human beings, and those most gifted at administration, found themselves with any skills to sell which were worth the world’s money to buy”

Aside from the lovely design (a book with curved corners!) I was interested in this dystopian view of a future formed (perhaps?) from the author’s familiarity with economic depression and cold-war. Novels of the future can be interesting for their views of what will continue as much as the things that will change.

The No Asshole Rule inspired my latest book buying round.

I’m keeping (occassional) track of the ways I discover new things (out of professional interest). In this case I was posting an old IA summit presentation to slideshare. At the end of the presentation, Slideshare recommended another presentation about Branding & Teams. I was curious about the connection so watched(?) the presentation. It mentioned No Assholes and I just had to buy it. See working principle #3 if you are not sure why.

I’ve always thought that there are two types of librarian. They can be identifed (and sorted into a suitable category) by presenting them with the aftermath of a shelving disaster in a library (perhaps like the one in the Mummy). All the books are in a big heap on the floor. Are they sent in an outraged huff or quietly pleased? After all, a heap will need sorting out. Do they like order or like ordering?

I’m firmly in the later camp.

(perhaps why I keep blurring The Pleasure of Finding Things Out and Sorting Things Out)

Ok, so now imagine that the librarian only just gets time to do a bit of ineffectual sorting before another shelf is tipped over in Sisyphean style. And all the time people keep wandering in and trying to find books.

I think this may be an IA torture technique.

(sorry about the dodgy metaphors)

A Whole New Mind proposes that business and hence our careers are changing under pressures from automation, abundance and outsourcing to Asia. Daniel Pink challenges the reader to consider their job and ask:

1. Can a computer do it faster?
2. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?
3. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?

He sees a rise in ‘right-brain’ jobs that emphasise skills like empathy and design.
Pink is only really addressing affluent westerners with the message “your jobs are going to India”. I found the failure to universalise the message occassionally jarring. I also don’t buy the idea that ambitious middle class mothers will be encouraging their kids to become nurses. I think there remains a difference between valuable, needed roles and aspirational, status roles.

I feel a bit like my reading list is eating its own tail. This time ‘A Whole New Mind’ referenced Pat Kane, Martin Seligman, Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi and Matthieu Ricard. Older reads that also featured were Isaiah Berlin, Powers of Ten, George Lakoff and Scott McCloud.

I think I may need to get out (of my reading rut) more.

In the last week I’ve had a succession of conversations with people about their inadequate managers and how incredibly depressing and demoralising bad bosses are.

Someone suggested that I’m surprisingly serene about my bosses. I guess, I’ve come to believe that unless you can always choose your boss and choose well then you need to find ways to progress regardless of who you work for. And to be happy regardless of who your boss is.

Now it has been a long time since I’ve suffered ‘the terrible boss’ but that period in my life was strangely productive. I can genuinely say I wouldn’t have my current job if it wasn’t for that boss. At the time it was very, very hard to see the relationship in a positive light.

It is very easy to get angry with your boss for not being the person you want them to be. We don’t like them to be flawed. We want them to be bigger, better versions of ourselves. That’s pretty unrealistic.

Over at zenhabits Albert Foong suggests it is:

“the disparity between how reality is and our beliefs about how reality should be causes our suffering”

So what can we do? Beyond recognising it is all our fault?

It helps to recognise that bad bosses:

• have something to teach you. It might takes you ages to figure out what that is but it is a point of principle for me to believe in this
• show you your own strengths. Seeing something done badly can help you rate your own skills more
• give you an opportunity to be the good person, to help them
• might be someone who you can form powerful partnerships with, precisely because you are so different

In my experience it isn’t enough to think this way, especially if you work for them for long. You also need:

• a mentor (someone you choose, someone you respect and who understands you. This is your real boss!)
• support network (peers you can talk to, who will listen, emphasise and can suggest stuff. You have to help them too but this helps with perspective on your own problems)
• an professional identity beyond this job. Speak, write, volunteer, network. Be more than your boss’s employee.

The first list is about getting something out of the relationship, about not putting your life and career on hold till you get away from this person. The second is about getting through emotionally.
And whilst I firmly believe that managers are here to make you happy, there’s certainly a case for saying the reverse is also true.