It’s Friday already.
Every Friday, I’m both relieved and horrified. Relieved, cuz why not? No work tomorrow. Horrified, cuz goddammit, I didn’t get enough work done this past week.
For the most part, I think I’m satisfied with the quantity and quality of work I’ve done this week. I satisfied a direct customer request from my team’s biggest account. I fixed two bugs (which escalated from P3 to P2 severity) and got them merged to master. I outlined plans to fix a customer issue, while using it to develop a playbook for more quickly addressing similar issues in the future (when my colleagues and/or I might not be part of this team). I also started work on a large, (almost) entirely untouched piece of required work on my project, due in 4 weeks (right before Thanksgiving).
Finally, I got to visit San Francisco yesterday (the one trip across the Bay this month, I think), and finally used my dental benefits for the first time this year.
But there’s still so much on my to-do list.
I’ve definitely come to terms over the past several years that I won’t have time to do everything, and that prioritization is key. My dissatisfaction, and sense of uncertainty, I think, comes to down to feeling like I might not be prioritizing the right things, at the right time.
Ironically, I think the “fix” might come from work.
At work, I have a V2MOM, or my Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures. It’s supposed to guide my overall, strategic direction, while also streamlining day-to-day, tactical decisions.
While I can’t say that I review it every day, it does provide some semblance of guidance when I’m not sure what to do. At the very least, it documents what I’m supposed to do, and more importantly, why and how I should (concretely) measure my success.
I admit, when I first learned about it, the idea sounded a bit cliché. Even now, almost two years later, I rarely hear about it from my manager or my team, (except during performance reviews, and when annual V2MOM submissions are due). The only times I ever really hear about it are during executive all-hands!
Still, I think it might be worth a try in my personal life. At work, it’s fairly easy for me to prioritize what to do (and probably even easier to answer why various work items are needed). I probably only hear about the V2MOM at the executive level because they need guiding documents. But in my personal life, I’m my own chief executive officer (or chief vision officer).
FIN
