Gregory's Server@gsuberland I have made a good part of my career performing "impossibility remediation" and really enjoy that. It's the projects that are achievable that I typically screw up on. There's no sense of achievement quite like saving a multi-million dollar project with hours to spare.
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8 comments
 @mike @gsuberland I got called back to a former workplace to do a "weekend save" of a $10M project. Many of the team who I led were called in too. CEO who I had never worked with comes in all panicky trying to come up with a plan and I'm "A & B you tackle component X; C & D you're on Y; E you take Z; I'll take U and work with E on V when that's done. Let's get to work!" and the CEO is still sitting there trying to figure out why the meeting is over. Sorry bro, we don't have time to panic. @alan @mike @gsuberland But this comes with a really bad downside. People start seeing management potential in you and think it's a good idea giving you projects. And then they expect that you constantly update project plans, document stuff keep track of other peoples task. And you are sitting in front of that stupid project plan and don't update the few words till it's time to go home. @Dr_Obvious @mike @gsuberland Nope. When that happens I just quit. Spent a year as VP Engineering with a staff of 30. Fixed all sorts of problems, made a bunch of unsatisfied customers happy, put in systems to keep things running, got bored, quit before I started to mess up. And there is the downside for me: the lean periods between heroic saves. Gig work before it was called gig work. @alan @mike @gsuberland I am currently working in a 24/7 high tech production environment. That often leads to panic fire fighter mode reactions where I can shine. That compensates a lot of boring tasks. @williampietri @Dr_Obvious @mike @gsuberland Yeah unrealistic launch dates aren't fun, but if they reached out to me at least there was funding. The ones that I liked the most were "national ad campaign launches in a week and we just discovered one of our vendors lied and is nowhere near ready." Okay, pay my retainer and agree to my rate and let's go!  @alan @Dr_Obvious For sure! If they're paying emergency rates, that makes it easier. And if people still enjoy the rush, more power to them. But I think I burned out on that. https://youtu.be/aKV7v2Oh71U |
@alan @gsuberland I have always done best in crisis situations, as when the adrenaline starts flowing I can stay calm and think properly at last. I've had people think I don't understand how serious a problem was because I wasn't freaking out, and I was just working out where to start.
Yeah, it's when there's a huge amount of time, no urgency, and a lot of planning to be done that my brain locks up.
It's great when we can use our brains the way they want to work, but I'd trade it for a bit of peace and quiet sometimes. 😁
@alan @gsuberland I have always done best in crisis situations, as when the adrenaline starts flowing I can stay calm and think properly at last. I've had people think I don't understand how serious a problem was because I wasn't freaking out, and I was just working out where to start.
Yeah, it's when there's a huge amount of time, no urgency, and a lot of planning to be done that my brain locks up.