I'm a big fan of goals. They can be really motivating, especially when I have a lot of control over how I go about achieving them. I've been struggling with having productive S.M.A.R.T goals at work though.
So this year I'm trying out something new. Instead of any specific goals, I hope to apply these three principles to the challenges that I come upon professionally.
Accept the Chaos
A job as a Site Reliability Engineer is an adventure at best and total mayhem on the, not so best, days. There are of course, ideals of minimizing interruptions and reliable planning that we embrace but I think it's healthy to accept that at least some chaos is just part of the job.
Embrace Spontaneity
Sometimes I hear about a project or an idea and I just completely fall in love with it. I just can't shake its sheer possibility. This year, I wanna let myself do that more often! If some chaos comes with the gig then making the best of an exciting opportunity seems like the best way to grow.
Reduce Work In Progress
After we begin a project and before we ship it to our users, there's work in progress. Every project is a work in progress for a period, some for longer than others.
Some Work In Progress is good for me! It means we're working on non-trivial stuff. It also helps me to have a few things in progress, so when I'm stuck on or bored/tired of a project for the day, I can switch to another fairly productive thing.
Too much work in progress is bad for me! I have to switch between projects too often and I usually don't make enough progress on any single one.
Excited to look back
I'm excited to look back at this commitment and see the effect that it would've had on my professional life!
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