Thursday, August 31, 2023
Summertime
Sunday, August 27, 2023
Inertia
Monday, August 21, 2023
Papercuts
I cannot take credit for this title. That goes to a podcast, Hello Internet, in which Brady Haran would occasionally list his papercuts. No, not the actual thing. But those little things in life that aren't really a big deal, really, but just drive you crazy.
So, today's papercuts are brought to you by unasked for "improvements" to software. Like Chrome's new location for downloads (who asked for this change? Was it you? Because I just can't even). Or Adobe Reader's new design, that apparently they are rolling out randomly. I got lucky today because another co-worker finally got the updates. And couldn't find anything. And I was just so glad someone could feel my pain.
Another papercut is certain companies who think they are doing you a favor by delivering a package before the date you requested they delivered it. Early is not always better. I frequently choose the delivery date because the earlier date (that, yes, you did give me in the list of options, and I DELIBERATELY didn't choose it) doesn't work for me. And yet they still look at what I CHOSE, and say, "This girl is dumb and doesn't know what she needs. We know so much better, even though we don't know actually know her at all, and even the data from our algorithms isn't knowledge of her, it's knowledge of the choices she makes when we choose what she gets to choose from. So we're going to deliver it on the earlier day, because surely she just made a mistake when she chose a later date."
There you have it folks. My papercuts for the day. Lucky problems to have.
Monday, August 7, 2023
I was not prepared for this
I know I'm new to the role of "management" and am still learning. But one thing I was not prepared for is how very 1 step forward 3 steps back it is. In the days of just being an employee (ah, beautiful days. Many good things about them), I finished work and it was...finished.
Now, somehow, for every piece of work I get done, I seem to have 3 new pieces of work to do! One task really ends up being the first step of a process, rather than a task that can be completed and really be done.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I think to an extent it is the nature of being in a role with more responsibility. The work I deal with is the work that is more complex, with more pieces to address. And that's okay. I generally like the challenge of the work I'm doing, and the variety in my day to day work.
But every now and then, I do miss being able to be done with a thing.