It's not my job
Hey!
Welcome back to another week of musings. This week has been pretty chill for a change of pace!
I hope you had a restorative weekend, and let's get on with this week's topic.
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Things I discovered in the past week
- Unpacking DevOps Evolution and the Future of Digital Transformation is a good episode on DevOps in the Profound podcast by John Willis and Andrew Clay Shafer.
- As per my usual antics, I've switched note apps to Reflect.app, which seems like an upgrade to Roam but not as powerful as Obsidian, and maybe that's best for me. Still trying it out, though!
In the past, I've talked about my worry about whether I'm doing a good job or not. Recently, I had some of my usual reflection weeks and began thinking that I was doing some things that "are not my job."
As we progress through the ladder, there are more things that we, especially managers and directors, need to take on to help the organization succeed. Your role in picking these tasks is crucial, but remember not to burn yourself out by picking everything around you that seems "wrong."
While I understand that the work might not be as impactful or interesting, it's delimited enough in scope to pick up and close quickly enough to move forward and unblock other teams.
Closing Gaps
Generally, these moments when you need to take on other tasks outside your job will come when there's a gap that needs to be filled for a project or organization to succeed.
Sometimes, it might involve kickstarting a migration project, creating an execution plan, or conducting research if other matters exist outside the current team context. Other times, it might be finding the right person to fill the gap, who might want that challenge to stretch themselves, or delegating out right to another person to take on a task.
Overcommunicate
Thinking everything is an issue you need to fix is a recipe for burnout. It's always important to communicate effectively with your manager.
Your manager should provide enough additional context to view a gap or risk as something that can be deferred to a later moment. Sometimes, they have enough authority to reallocate teammates or change project priorities. Their additional context might also surface political context and why something cannot be picked up.
Constantly Review
As with talking with your manager, there's always a need to reevaluate these tasks because by taking all of them, you're continually diminishing your time during the week to tackle other issues.
In most cases, these additional tasks might not provide you with leverage, and they need to be done by someone, not strictly by you. These might be overhead tasks. So it's easy to pick up every task under the sun!
Your turn!
Do you generally take on tasks that are part of your job description? If you do, how do you deal with not having a recipe for burnout? Reply to this email to let me know your thoughts!
Happy coding!
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