Archive for March, 2008

Back from Vacation

Friday, March 28th, 2008

We decided that a break was needed. We sent the whole team on vacation and said that they are not required to finish any work for the next week. The best part is, we all still worked. I realized that not having a deadline looming over me or the need to have things completed and turned in by the end of the day made work a lot more fun.

I used my week long break to just catch up on sleep. I also took my family to San Diego and we spent a day at Sea World. It wasn’t much but it was a nice change.

Other team members used the time to go away on a holiday, sleep, or just catch up on overdue projects. Everyone needs some time off now and again, hopefully we will be able to do this again sometime.

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Hi, my name is Amy, and I’m a recovering Workaholic.

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

You are all aware of my obsession with 37signals. Well, they recently posted an article stating you should Fire the Workaholics. In this article, there are 5 reasons. Sadly, I was able to relate to all five.

Enjoying 14 hour days

I work hard at Border7 and also with other ventures. My work day starts at 6am and doesn’t end till 2pm. Where I will take an afternoon nap for an hour. Then work again till about 10pm. There are a few breaks in between there, but that’s a long day. I am very productive and get a lot of work done during these time frames. However, depending on what is going on, I will work even longer hours and just get the project knocked out of the way. This is all good and dandy, but David makes a valid point, “when the burnout crash comes and it will, it’ll hit all the harder.” I usually get decommissioned for a day or two after pulling a few days of really long hours.

Shear Hours to Fix Problems

They make a valid point that working more does not necessarily fix the problem, especially when the problem is something creative.

Effect on Company Morale

Since I work a lot, other people may not feel they are working enough. They are working their full hours (sometimes overtime) and giving 110% effort, but I’m a workaholic, and exceed them by double generally. It could “lead to guilt, misery, and poor morale. Worse, it’ll lead to ass-in-seat mentality where people will “stay late” out of obligation, but not really be productive.”

Misguided Values

I miss out on a lot of the things going on around me so that I can work more. I’ve lost a few friendships from my workaholic ways. Even my friends here in the office like to go out and do things. Its even worse then, because I’ll decline, and when they ask why, I’ll have to say “to work”. This leads back to the reason before. Now they won’t want to go have a good time because they think I’ll think less of them. Not good for company morale, AT ALL.

Working with interesting people is more interesting than just working.

Luckily, everyone here says I’m interesting (or they’re lying since I sign their paychecks). But the point is still true. A person who only cares about work, and only lives to work, is not that interesting of a person.

Anyway, the first step in the program is simply admitting you are one, so again my name is Amy and I’m a workaholic. It feels great to get that off my chest.

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Small Size is Still Effective

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” -Betty Reese (per 37signals)

As you all should be aware, we’re in love with 37signals. Well they posted this quote a few weeks back and it made me realize that the size is not really important. A mosquito lives by eating blood. It’s small but effective. Some companies have problems because they over think things, hire too many people, and then when they realize that they could achieve the same results with fewer resources, people get hurt.

Personally, I rather be understaffed as it makes people be creative. You can easily get the same results that you would from a greater amount of people. However, you also need to know when you’ve reached 110% of your resources and are cutting it thin. What would you say is the line?

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Checklists are Insurance Against Overconfidence

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

We read Fast Company a lot over here at Border7. There was an article that really caught our eye discussing the value of checklists. Here at Border7 we use checklists a lot. We break down all our projects into small tasks that are check boxes. When the task is complete, you check the box - easy sense of accomplishment. This works wonders, when the checklist is actually used.

The reason why the article caught our attention is that our list of checklists has grown exponentially. After reviewing a few items on the list, it came to my attention that a lot of the items were already completed. I asked myself, “why aren’t these checked?” The problem with checklists is they take some getting used to. Personally, I’m a checklist person. I like having things broken down into pieces that I can measure. I always feel happy when I am able to check something off. Unfortunately, Ken, is more of a creative guy who does what he’s in the mood for, generally forgetting to refer to the checklist, while still getting it completed.

The article did an excellent job of arguing both of our sides to the checklist issue. Ken argues that the checklists are long and autonomous, making him feel that his job is really simple and not any fun. I, on the other hand, find that the checklist ensures that we don’t miss any important steps along the way of project completion.

The compromise: I don’t break projects down into tasks anymore. I let him do what is necessary to get it completed. However, we have a universal to-do list (browser compatibility check, web compliance check, check for typos, etc ) that his team has to complete before I sign off on any project. And although the checklist battle has ended in stalemate, I think that both sides will be happy with the outcome.

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Twitter - the power of micro-blogging

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

I was reading Inc this month and they had an article on Evan Willaims - the guy who created Blogger. I recall using Blogger before blogging was the thing to do (back when I was a freshman in high school living in Japan - wow that was a long time ago!). He and his team of engineers have created something out of a nonsensical idea called Twitter.

Twitter allows you to broadcast a message to a group of people. It truly is a nonsensical idea, but it has brought in a crazy amount of people to it in the past few months. Its virtually sending an IM to a group of people - your followers  - and them responding. Its an open forum where anyone (as long as you do not have your updates locked) can view your conversations, your day to day habits, etc and respond on it. It makes notifying a group of people painless, and asking for answers for general advice or questions simple to get.

Unfortunately I’m still trying to get in the habit of blogging. Hopefully I’ll get to use Twitter and all its glory soon.

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