Identify ways in your control to work
Software delivery is hard work with the various problems and challenges to solve. It’s demanding and literally quite exhausting sometimes. The thing about all of this though, is with the challenges, do you let all of this whirl round, increasing your stress levels and pulling you down. What if I could tell you there is a better way?
Identify ways in your control to work.
Through my experience I have definitely cared too much and it has got to the level of burnout. Then I need weekends and holidays to counterbalance the work stress. I now look back at my previous self and say, I have some tricks to teach you.
- See the bigger picture
In the past I have often emotionally reacted and felt frustrated by particular challenges. An example might be where upper management decides that the feature you’re working on is no longer needed mid development and you’re to start working on something else. My past self would have been frustrated, why have they asked us to work on this for so long and just now decide to change tact? I would be annoyed and wonder why I was working at this place.
What I would now do is take a step back and ask why? Why have they decided to change tact? It might be that the new feature they want you to work on is going to drive customer satisfaction or business revenue. So stepping back and seeing the grander scheme of things can help you put things into perspective.
2. Ask good questions
Sometimes I have found myself in particular situations where I have been excluded from conversations resulting in finding information out last minute. An example might be that they have gone away figuring out how to build an Interim solution and have not included you in the conversation. In the past, the inclusion part would have really frustrated me. It still does sometimes, however, not as much as it used to. The thing in this situation is you could spend A LOT of time feeling frustrated or you can take action to show your value.
So in the example of this interim solution, ask the questions to get them to think. Have you thought about the added risk of moving the data twice? Have you thought about doubling the effort of development/testing? Can we just wait for the strategic solution?
In my example here, they ended up completely scrapping the interim solution. All I did was ask questions to get them to think. This has also shown the value we can add, by being a different point of view. Then next time, there’s a possibility they will include you earlier.
3. Challenges are mostly temporary (if you’re thinking of months and years ahead)
One big change for me is that I’ve started to go to the gym during the week. This remote working and flexibility feels like a real privilege and I remind myself to take advantage of this where I can. I feel sometimes we might forget how it was previously. The pressure and demand to be in the office. So reminding myself of how things used to be helps bring the appreciation of the now.
The focus on my health as a daily activity helps me to reduce stress without having the need to spend two days at the weekend recovering. “It’s only work” might sound a bit unprofessional, however, it is the reality of it. Jobs come and go. Nothing stays the same forever. The challenges we face today are going to be different challenges to the future. So realizing challenges might be temporary helps me. Future forward thinking.
4. Ask for help
In some challenges, I go to my boss/mentor/friend/colleague and ask them the question “what can I do?”. Other people may have experienced a similar challenge or have a different perspective they can provide. You shouldn’t be alone working through challenges. Let’s do this together and help each other out. Challenges are to be tackled through teamwork and support from others.
In summary,
- See the bigger picture
- Ask good questions
- Realise challenges are temporary
- Ask for help.
How do you identify ways in your control to work?
