May 18, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Giving Your Best
May 19, 2009 at 6:43 am
Again, you're nearly echoing certain chapters of Problems of Work.
A thought I heard once expressed it well to me, "You have to aim for the stars if you want to clear the tree-tops".
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
May 19, 2009 at 7:36 am
I wish it were so that I could always give my best effort in everything I do. I think if I were allowed to give that best effort I'd be a happier person in general. Instead, multiple times I've seen managers that are more interested in trying to control their employees instead of utilizing the talents and skills that they have on their team. One place I was hired at was really impressed with my database background, and said it was an important part of the job I'd be doing, but then in practice I only spent about 10-15% of my time doing database work. Needless to say I didn't even stay there a year. It was a shame because they really needed some good database people, but instead they had everyone being a jack-of-all trades kind of programmer, leaving their data model quite a mess.
Where I'm at now, it's definately better, as I am a dedicated database person, but I see they desperately need data modeling expertise, which I have, and end up having to frequently push back and redesign large pieces of our system in the development stage instead of being a part of the design stage of the process.
May 19, 2009 at 7:36 am
Never read that one, only his Sci-Fi.
May 19, 2009 at 7:53 am
I agree with the article. I find that when you give more than the minimum the rewards always seem to be greater. The reward might be a simple as more satisfaction with what you are doing.
May 19, 2009 at 8:54 am
To me, it is like the saying 'Trust in God but lock your car'. By all means do your very best but do keep an eye on how it is received/perceived, and the standards of excellence that are commonly recognized where you work. I have suffered several burn outs doing too much for the wrong people and have been faced with questions like 'you care too much' or 'we dont' need that level of perfection here'. The business(es) we work in are owned/operated by other people - some have great standards, some good and others below average. The majority have great ego built into people challenging their standards since that means admitting the other person/technologist knows more than they do. So understand to work within what they expect with no compromise on ethics such as error free tasks, tasks done on time, and personal integrity. That is the best we can do.
May 19, 2009 at 9:22 am
I think doing your best includes not overdoing it. Know your limitations.
May 19, 2009 at 9:36 am
One of Scott Adam's Dilbert cartoons is about an employees "numbing". This is when the employee realises that he/she is not appreciated, he/she is simply expected to be a cog in the machine and the futility of what he/she has been trying to achieve overwhelms him/her.
From that point on they simply do the 9-5, do what they are told and no more. Go with the flow and game what ever daft metric is this years management craze.
How many of you have had a numbing? More than a few of you I bet.
The challenge for managers is to nuture and direct the enthusiasm and drive of their employees. Don't be an IT Dementor sucking the will out of your staff. At this point I shoud like to point out that managers are employees themselves may also be caught in the same trap unbeknownst to their staff. They try to achieve 'X' but are blocked at every turn by their own senior managers.
There are one or two things I have achieved, not through technical prowess, but through the sheer dogmatic bloodymindedness necessary to wade through assinine bureaucracy.
I heard a quote that said "a professional is someone who does the best they can even when they don't feel like it".
Ultimately it is up to the individual to be self-motivated. I once made the observation to my uncle that there seemed to be so many people just cruising through their work doing the bare minimum but being receiving the same pay and recognition as some of us working our hearts out that I felt I was being a mug and perhaps I should emulate them.
His response was "but you would lose your self respect and once you've lost that you've lost everything". That comment has stuck with me not only for its intrinsic wisdom but also because it was made in the last 10 days of his life.
Everytime I am tempted to just go with the flow I think of him and issue a mental F$%k you to whoever or whatever is causing that feeling.
May 19, 2009 at 10:22 am
David.Poole (5/19/2009)
From that point on they simply do the 9-5, do what they are told and no more. Go with the flow and game what ever daft metric is this years management craze.
How many of you have had a numbing? More than a few of you I bet.
Sure, and sometimes I tell myself to do just the minimum. But whenever I get into a task something kicks in, perfectionism, self respect, the unwillingness to have to do it again later 😛 to where I try to do the best job I can anyway. And there are still our customers that appreciate the work we do.
I heard a quote that said "a professional is someone who does the best they can even when they don't feel like it".
Or someone who does the right thing even when no one is looking.
Ken
May 19, 2009 at 11:50 am
I would say know the customer/employer's limitations in addition to my own limitations. In other words using one's intuition to figure out what the customer/employer needs, what is his tendency to recognize/appreciate/reward those who go beyond and figure out what to deliver.Much as I respect technical expertise and professionalism I have equal regard nowadays for people who know intuitively what the work is worth and give it just that, not what is perfect in the technical world or some puritanical sense.
May 20, 2009 at 1:19 pm
This is emphasized whenever I take my son to Cub Scouts, "Do your best". I just wish that there was a way to prepare him for when your best is not good enough. I many times have tried my best and still fallen short of a design goal or timeline or missed a bug.
May 20, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Interesting article and thread... thanks Brian and Steve.
May 21, 2009 at 9:58 am
Thanks, Bob.
May 24, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I was on a phone job interview, and one of the question was: How do you know when you have done a good job?
I replied, If it pleases Sam Kaplan, then I know I have a done a good job, because he is my harshest critic.
There was a silence on the other end of the phone--for a very long time. And, I know you really don't want to take an interviewer aback, not if you expect to get the job. Finally, the interviewer continued, How else do you know you did a good job?
I said that if my manager said, "Good job, Sam," that was always a good thing. I no longer expected to get the job, and I didn't.
I think that even in cases of "numbing" when efforts are unappreciated, there are still opportunities to learn, opportunities to teach, opportunities to lift the spirits of colleagues, and sometimes the required work can be done quickly enough to carve out time for more important work on our own initiative.
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