I am, as you may recall, trying to complete two full-time jobs when I am work. My core position is Technical Writer. By itself, that position would keep me busy forever. My secondary position is creating the Windows-based user interface. When my friend BSS left, I inherited his position.
This week, I was informed that it is very critical to the business that I am at my desk, ready to work @ 8 AM and that it is equally critical to not quit working until 5 at night. I recalled how, in 1992-1995, I worked at a company doing temporary data entry. That position had no benefits and was not considered "professional" by the company, even though the decisions that I made directly impacted the company reaching their contractual obligations. I worked at that job from 7:30-4:30. Our work day was 7.5 hours and you were expected to work those 37.5 hours a week. We were told that we had to be in our chairs at 7:30 and could not walk out the door until 4:30. We'd lne up and as soon as the second hand hit the 12, we were gone.
That same idea is now prevalent at my work. From a business standpoint, I understand it. There are a lot of things that must get done and, in order to do that, we, as a company, must put in the extra time.
From a human relations standpoint, I think it is a very poor choice. I think that if we are being trusted to be professionals and to use our professional judgment, we should not be treated as non-professionals. It seems to matter not that
I am at work at 7:30 every day,
I dialed in to work last Sunday from home and worked 4 hours (11-2 and then from 11-12),
I rarely take a full hour for lunch and with the weather so cold, I don't take my two 15 minute breaks.
None of those things "count" except in that I am getting my work done and that I am doing what I think needs to be done to get my work done.
This is my personal belief. IF you can get your work done and IF you have been putting in extra time and IF you are meeting your deadlines, then when you have to leave 15 minutes early to take your daughter to an eye appointment, you should not feel guilty. You shouldn't have to fill in a piece of paper to say "I have to leave 15 minutes early." That is my situation on Tuesday.
This blog has traced how I have dialed in to work on my own time to check things and to get things done by deadlines. I have come to the conclusion that, no matter how hard I try, I am hopelessly addicted to my work. Honestly, I think about what I need to get done and what I don't have done and what would make me get my work done. Right now, at work, I have immense things that have to get done
This deadline is immensely critical to the company. I believe that. I also believe that someone decided that we need to ship the early release of our next version of software on Monday, 12/22, so that our client can have these system changes that they want to implement prior to the beginning of the year. That same someone has allowed deadlines prior to mine to slip.
The other factor is that this early release of the software getting out the door is only 1 of about 5 hot projects that also have to be sent out the door.
In order to make this deadline, this is my insane schedule:
12/15 - Monday - development / @ night - piano lessons. I will probably have to dial in to work to get more development done.
12/16 - Tuesday - development/ @ night - eye doctor appt. I will probably have to dial in to work to get more development done.
12/17 - Wednesday - testing/ @ night - piano lessons and 8:30 Dudes final game
12/18 - Thursday - assembly of CDs, create install/ @ night - donate blood
12/19 - Friday - cut CDs, leave @ 11:30 / be @ Regina by noon when the kids get out of school (no bus service) and take Megan to her orthodontist appt.
12/20 - Saturday - take the van in to see if Dave @ Linder can put on the spare tire winch my father-in-law found @ a auto salvage yard in Dubuque and to investigate the oil dropping on my garage floor. Probably probably play @ 5:15 Mass
12/21 - Sunday - probably Christmas shop all day to get everyone's present purchased.
12/22 - Monday - package the CDs and get them out the door by 3 so that they arrive at the client's site in time. I will then, probably, try to get back to the 5 weeks of work sitting @ my desk, including creating a master HTML file for someone to create 59 new HTML files for the new systems I talked about previously. I also have to do some other stuff.
12/23 - Tuesday - I'd like to hope that I can spend the day immersed in doc changes.
12/24 - Wednesday - I work until noon, then am off until the following Monday.
Thursday 12/25, 12/26, 12, 27, through Sunday 12/28 - we are going up to Balltown on Christmas Day and staying until 12/28.
Monday - 12/29 - dive into the new systems or work on my backlog of projects.
Tuesday - 12/30 - dive into the new systems or work on my backlog of projects.
Wednesday - 12/31 - dive into the new systems or work on my backlog of projects.
Thursday 1/1/09 - Sunday 1/4/09 - off
Monday - 1/5/09 - back to work. Hopefully, the new systems are in my department and I can dive into those deeper.
Beyond 1/5/09, I'm hoping to get somewhat back to normal - if that exists. There are oodles of doc changes to write and oodles of user interface changes to develop. I am weeks behind in my list of projects. There is that much work to do.
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