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March 29, 2006
When your time is "too valuable" to do what you enjoy
I had a brief, but thought-provoking conversation with a friend of mine the other night. He's on the Windows team at Microsoft, and I was venting a bit to him about my frustration in my role at Real (bureaucrat) and how I want to get back to doing "real work."
He echoed several of the statements that have been made to me around here: that I'm "too valuable" to the organization to sequester me on a single project, and relating how he's had similar experiences, that as one of the senior technical folks in an organization, the pressure to move up into broader - and at the same time more shallow - roles is sometimes overwhelming.
Folks at work (my manager, his manager, my direct reports, and HR) keep telling me that I'm adding value - but I don't see it.
Ok, I guess that's not complete true.
I do sometimes see it - whenever I manage to inject myself into a design/planning conversation in time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat - or when I've managed to get recognition for some of my guys for going way above and beyond, but it just feels like I'm spending all my time fighting entropy.
Now, for example - as in right now - I have an hour before my next meeting.
What can I do in an hour?
I used to think an hour was a long time, enough to make real progress on something, but these days I've trained myself to hover over my email, waiting for the next (impending) crisis that demands a quick response.
My attention span, even for things I enjoy, or want to do, is shrinking. I'm turning into a member of the MTV generation, and it bugs the crap out of me.
Posted by dberger at March 29, 2006 9:18 AM
Comments
I don't remember what I posted, but it was me, and I didn't realize what you needed.
Oh, right, it was that entropy quote...
Fighting entropy is what it all is about; my whole job is fighting entropy.
Posted by: Bill Paley at March 31, 2006 6:48 AM