the smell of condensation on glass, electric cables running through woods

This blog will be a bit ragged.

On the one hand, I think it is useful to be fairly straightforward, but equally no point in being too candid, when a quick search on technorati and anyone can find all the unkind words you posted about them in nineteen oatcake.

Overall the blog entries that I enjoy reading are about what people think, and are reasonably candid, so I will try and stick to that style.

Having posted my idea of a self-sorting blog on the forum for Omni-Outliner, a Macintosh outliner application, no interest. I see the idea as vastly powerful and useful, though not necessarily easy to implement. Imagine all your entries, sortable and browsable in the way that iTunes or Amazon is, you liked this post, other readers also liked this one, similar posts include, ...

One thing I have found with software, it is hugely difficult to sell a concept, people like to see something tangible.

I will probably use Omni-Outliner myself, for when it comes to capturing the random stuff in my small notebook. The process of capturing seemingly random stuff is useful, as very often two not so good ideas can combine, or some opportunity simply arises to do something off your wish list.

I now have a few business ideas, that I would like to hawk round, and if someone offers me a couple of hundred pounds for a few minutes work, then that is good money.

I have also got some ideas for 2000AD scripts, that I can write up and submit when I have a bit more time. I did have a script published years ago, and although it never seems to impress anyone else, it remains something that I am hugely proud of. I could probably work on conveying a more professional image, but at my age, I am ill inclined to jump through hoops for someone else.

I am still trying to work out which hard drive to buy for backing up. Having done a fair bit of research, and then some more, I think I am narrowing down the issues. It is amazing just how long it takes to research and work up ideas. The temptation is always to be doing stuff, and think that thinking time is wasted time, but I am increasingly realising the thinking time is well worth the time spent. A proper way of backing up my computer is essential, especially now that I am starting to buy music from iTunes. Even more crucially, my daughters are buying music from iTunes and saving it to their accounts. If this music gets lost, then I will have some hot cross bunnies for sure!

For sake of being trivial, my iTunes purchases to date are
Laurie Anderson Oh superman
The Phenomenauts Re-entry - album
Holly Gollightly and the Brokeoffs
you can’t buy a gun when you are crying - album
The Mooney Suzuki
people get ready - album
Four Fifty One socks and shoes
the Fratellis flathead
the Red Guitars good technology

I would also suggest, If your breasts, by Ivor Cutler, which is only eight seconds long, so you can hear it in its entirety simply by previewing it. This makes me laugh soo much, but people might find it puerile.

Finally things are all a bit up in the air at work. My old boss is leaving on early retirement in the coming week. We have worked together for the past couple of years, and although some other people have come and gone, for a lot of the time it has been the pair of us getting through an awful lot of stuff between us. I have constantly been told that our branch was too small, and we had far too much work to do, but by and large we have done it, and done it very well too. Working well together does mean that you have to compliment each others skills, and specialities, and we have. By nature I am methodical and organised, more delivery focussed, whereas my boss is probably more thoughtful and considered, as well as vastly more knowledgeable. So it has worked well, I worry about delivery, she figures out what we will deliver. You get very used to simply leaving the other person to cover their area, and concentrating on your own area.

But all good things come to an end, she is off on early retirement, and I am still at my desk.

Obviously this presents quite a few issues, I’ll need to start working to a new boss, I’ll need to cover all the work of the branch until we can fill vacancies, and it can take months to fill a vacancy, although there are always temporary staff.

Factor in that I simply worked through Christmas, and seriously feel like I would just like to take off and veg out for a month.

Also I am not sure whether I want to stay in my current post, I would hate to leave the branch with no-one there, equally I don’t want to commit to another three years there. I don’t want to simply mark time, if it is just spinning plates, then I would prefer to do something new.

In usual fashion, I’ve been fairly vocal on all this, and had a very useful meeting with my new boss on Friday. I suppose I could really make an effort to seem a bit less flaky, and a bit more professional, but I really do feel pretty maxed out, so no point in pretending that I am Mr SuperWonderful, when I feel like, Little Mr OnTheVergeOfANervousBreakdown.

At the end of the day, my health comes before the job, you cannot simply grab at every opportunity, some you just need to let go by.

Anyway back to my “very useful meeting” with my new boss. We set out our respective positions, and agreed a way forward. I am now pretty confident that the situation is not quite as bad as I had anticipated, the workload should be less unrealistic than I had anticipated for the next few months, and we should get some new staff in post quicker than I had thought might be the case. Also I am to take on the lead for the branch, not just because I am the only one here, but so that we can get moving on some important pieces of work. Clearly we cannot really get motoring until the branch is fully staffed, which would be three staff. However, equally, we need to get some things moving now, or we are losing valuable ground.

I’ve agreed a plan of attack, and I’ll have weekly meetings with my new boss, so we should be able to figure out pretty quickly whether we are actually making any progress, and figure out a new plan of attack as necessary.

On the basis that I am spinning a few plates, but concentrating on putting the major work in motion, it sounds like interesting work for a few months. I did apply for a couple of other posts, for fear of just being swamped where I was, but I’m now considering cancelling those applications, and seeing how things pan out where I am.

Decisions, decisions.

There is a vast difference between the approaches required at the different job bands. At a more junior level, you have clear and finite objectives, and are expected to deliver them to the best possible standard. That was certainly the approach in my original department. However at a more senior level, you have a more general work area, and you are expected to make meaningful progress across it. However it is far more difficult to agree specific and meaningful objectives at the outset. Even if you can, these are easily set aside if something else comes up.

I suppose that this could simply be a rationale for not planning, but equally I suppose, if you have a bunch of staff working to you, it will soon become apparent what meaningful progress does look like, and what running about like a headless chicken all the time looks like. The higher up you get, the more of a judgement you have to make on how good to actually do something. Are you spending too much time on something that is simply not that important in the scheme of things.

I do feel a bit conflicted trying to be a whole branch of three people in myself. However if I am working to the clear remit of delivering stuff, rather than spinning plates, then I can be more proactive in my decision making, rather than being reactive, and worrying too much about what I am not doing. To be honest I am now quite excited about getting things moving, the feedback from my outgoing boss, was that often it is important to make decisions, even if they are wrong, rather than simply failing to make decisions. Whereas at a junior grade the work is more finite and quantitative, and a wrong decision is pretty obvious, at a more senior level, the work is infinite, and qualitative.

I always take the view that good people can make bad systems work, and bad people can make good systems fail. I suppose that what this is saying is that there is a vital interpersonal side, the getting the folk right element, that you cannot neglect. But it is all a bit voodoo, and subjective, so it is easy to neglect.

Edward de Bono has a theory of different hats, for different ways of thinking. What I am talking about is something similar.

One skill set is methodical and organised against well defined and finite objectives. At this level there are relatively few other resources to call on, because basically this is grunt work that takes hours to do. You co-operate so that you can offer mutual assistance and advice, but there can be equally productive ways of working without a lot of networking or mutual assistance.

The other skills set is creative and proactive working with an imperfect understanding and higher level objectives. At this level there are plenty of resources to call upon because this is where the right contacts, experience or ideas, can ensure progress very quickly and with little real effort. How effective your networks are is crucial at this work level.

If you are moving from one type of job to another, it is not simply a case of getting better and doing more, you really do need to do things differently, or it is not going to work.

Equally if you are working in one way, looking at someone working in the other style, they seem impossibly flaky, or unduly mechanistic. It is very difficult to perceive someone’s effectiveness if you are on the other side of this particular divide. Also it is very difficult to perform, unless you know what style is expected of you. Many posts are actually transitional, they require substantial elements of each approach. Very few posts are so senior that there are no mechanistic elements to them.

[I have worked to the principle that this blog is about me, so readers can form whatever opinions they like about me, but it is not about anyone else, so it is inappropriate to write about anyone else. This is not because I am not interested, or don’t think anyone else is, but simply because it seems inherently unfair. This means I don’t really say anything bad about anyone, but also, don’t say positive things about people when I could/should. At this point it would be wrong not to say how much I have enjoyed working for my old boss, she has been a tremendously easy and supportive person to work for. Not only that, she is one of the nicest people I have ever met, vastly nicer than I am. Also vastly cleverer than I am. It is inspiring to work with someone who is that nice, but who has managed to rise to a very senior position. Clearly you do not have to be a ruthless so and so to do well.

I have also been lucky enough to work with some other tremendous people over the past year, we had a secondee from a stakeholder organisation, and she was incredible, like a kid in a sweetshop, all excited at the possibilities, and undettered by how incredibly difficult everything seems to be. I also had a new member of staff, and really enjoyed training them up, and getting them to realise that they already had a lot of the key skills for the work, and encouraging them to think about the real point of what we are actually doing. There have also been countless other folk drafted in, or loosely attached to the project, and without exception they have all been positive and unstinting in their efforts, and a huge pleasure to work with. Had a single person been difficult, our seemingly impossible task really would have been impossible. My main regret is that I did not get a chance to work more with all these people. Heartfelt best wishes to anyone that recognises themselves in the above.]